[Closed] How do Thornton's do it?

But their toffee is awesome!

Yep, I shame myself every time I pick up 2 family sized sacks of toffee for a fiver, it barely lasts two days 😳

The shareholders obviously thought they had to, 'diversify' or something...

It is amazing that a specialist shop sells worse chocolate than the average supermarket. How it keeps going is a mystery.

Their chocolate ( like fro many companies) comes from a bulk supplier - Barry Callebaut. It will be bought on spec ... so I guess they have down graded their product. Mind you, it has been awful for many years ....

The previous 3 boxes I ate ( 🙂 ) were M&S ones and much nicer.

Thorntons supply m and s.

could say the same about Lindt the stuff is ghastly!

They sell what the public wants. The public don’t want ‘proper chocolate’. They want the sickly sweet stuff. So point having a shop full of proper chocolate nobody wants. Their toffee is nice though.

You can say the same about a great many products. Why do people by crappy coffee off the high street, drink crappy tea by the gallon, eat crappy curry out of a bucket from their local take away? There are better options of all those things but people don’t want it.

wrightyson - Member
Thorntons supply m and s.

POSTED 5 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

Even if this were true, it's not the same chocolate.

It is true. Well certainly used to be. Main factory is 10 mins from us and a mate was management there. They used to spend more time and care over the m and s stuff than their own. I believe they did/still supply Tesco as well.

At least it’s not Hershey’s. Why would you make chocolate that actually tastes like vomit?

Left Thorntons behind a long timne ago. Now addiicted to Hotel Chocolat.

They sell what the public wants. The public don’t want ‘proper chocolate’. They want the sickly sweet stuff. So point having a shop full of proper chocolate nobody wants. Their toffee is nice though.

You can say the same about a great many products. Why do people by crappy coffee off the high street, drink crappy tea by the gallon, eat crappy curry out of a bucket from their local take away? There are better options of all those things but people don’t want it.

This (apart from the toffee bit) it's just glorified crap chocolate that a large portion of the population adores.
Paul Young does some good stuff, not cheap though! Would still rather spend £20 there than in thorntons.

The public buys what is marketed to them and requires no thinking.

At least it’s not Hershey’s. Why would you make chocolate that actually tastes like vomit?

https://www.chemistryworld.com/podcasts/butyric-acid/1017662.article

It's all about the original toffee, love that stuff.

and it's like eating those cheap chocolate coins.

I love those 🙂

They market themselves as a premium product. And to the great unwashed whose idea of good chocolate is a Twirl they probably [i]are [/i]a premium product. It's a bit like asking "how does Stella Artois do it?" I suppose.

There's plenty better out there. Hotel Chocolat as seadog said, Montezuma, others. But they're not really household names in the same way Thornton's is.

In any case, it's all shit compared to anything you'd buy from an independent chocolatier in Brussels.

Im so glad to hear the opinions above re thorntons, hersheys and lindt, i can’t stand any of them, I honestly thought it was just me.
Thorntons toffe is lovely though.

It still has a long way to fall before descending to the depths of that cardboard covered chocolate ..Ferrero Rocher..now that is [i]real[/i] crap..

If you opened those cheap chocolate coins carefully you could reseal the case minus the chocolate, fool someone with an empty. I thought Thorntons was reserved for last-minute giftage, what kind of monster would buy that stuff for themself?

Back in t day some 15/20 years ago before the move to alfreton, Thorntons was located in belper, it could on some days make you feel queasy on a warm afternoon walking through the town due to the sweet sickly smell that would emanate from the factory. Especially the hard boiled section. I did a days trial on the chocolate packing line (ahem) and you could eat as much as you wanted whilst filling the formers. Busy busy old place back then.

What's wrong with Lindt? I quite like their 85% dark choccy bars.

No idea re thorntons but the asda 70% choc on offer last week was lush, 1 quid for 100g, went back for more and it was all gone so must have been poular.

What's wrong with Lindt?

Sickly balls

Edit: could easily be a Rick & Morty character name

Their dark chocolate isn't sickly at all.

years ago you were pleased to receive a box of Thorntons, now you wonder who you pissed off to receive a box

wordnumb - Member

what kind of monster would buy that stuff for themself?

I bought 8 boxes of the original toffee one day, from the factory store- it was all christmasy so they were cheap in February. Then I went to the pound shop and got £20 worth of haribo jelly babies. Lucky for me I'm already diabetic really.

Chocolate,almost as addictive for me as biscuits(see my other thread).

You lot any idea how snobby you sound?

Thorntons is ok as a cheap alternative to Cadbury's etc, imo. It's not fancy, but it's ok. Well, the dark ones are. Milk chocolate is worse with more cocoa solids in it, imo. If it's going to be milk it might as well be full of sugar and come in a purple packet.

Oh and I like Ferrero Rocher too. I also like Walker's crisps, Robinson's squash, Cadbury's Fingers, Lion bars, liquorice allsorts and even Vimto. I know, how dare I?

I like all of those things too, Mol. And Thornton's. (I know.)

Is there a nice milk chocolate other than Cadbury's Dairy lovely sugary Milk?

I like posh chocolate, but never found nice posh milk chocolate.

Lindor however... mmmm baby!

I agree about the continental specialist thing. Best thing I ever put in my mouth was some choc (very expensive) from a shop in Amsterdam. They know how to do it over there.

£20 worth of haribo jelly babies.

😯 😯

I'm a big fan of the jelly sweet, but just a handful of those makes me feel queasy.

I obviously need to JBTFU

You lot any idea how snobby you sound?

Yes.

Rob Hilton - Member

I'm a big fan of the jelly sweet, but just a handful of those makes me feel queasy.

I use them for riding so they get eaten a couple at a time, it's just that I go through enough to buy in bulk

(in the pound shop, even when you're buying £20 worth of haribo jelly babies, they still always offer you a cheap chocolate orange or 4-pack of polos at the counter. I'm not sure that's appropriate)

I use them for riding so they get eaten a couple at a time, it's just that I go through enough to buy in bulk

Sensible approach - Rob is a big fan of the bulk-buy strategy.

Unfortunately Rob is also a compulsive bulimic and that many bags of sweets within easy reach would make for a *very* unhappy episode.

Have I just wondered on to mumsnet?

molgrips - Member
You lot any idea how snobby you sound?

Yeah, almost as snobby as trying to get an aesthetically pleasing microwave oven.

😆 😆

Not even in the same category...

[url= https://www.chemistryworld.com/podcasts/butyric-acid/1017662.article ]https://www.chemistryworld.com/podcasts/butyric-acid/1017662.article[/url]

Thanks for the link.

That explains why it tastes so different but not why the hell anyone would want it in their mouth. The day my parents bought a bar of it back from a trip to the states for me nd my sister goes down as a bitter disappointment.

We used to do it too - in WWII, I believe. We just stopped and they didn't.

Well that explains why Hershey’s tastes so bad! 🙁

Cadburys is god awful as well. Except the Irish stuff, they still make it on licence to the original recipe, Home Bargains and such sell it as grey import and the difference is night and day.

Thorntons has been crap for years. Kinnerton grade.