Tooty Frooties: why and when were the Rowntree’s sweets discontinued?

NESTLE discontinued Tooty Frooties in 2019 after 60 years.

Nestlé discontinued the multicoloured fruit sweets as part of a shake-up to better align with customer preferences.

What were Rowntree's Tooty Frooties?

Tooty Frooties were chewy, fruit-flavoured sweets with a crunchy, multicoloured shell.

The classic sweet was launched by Mackintosh in 1963 and became an instant hit.

They were particularly popular in the UK during the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

Mackintosh merged with Rowntree's in 1969 to become Rowntree Mackintosh.

When the company was acquired by Nestlé in 1988, Tooty Frooties was sold under the Rowntree's name.

However, during the 2010s, there was a gradual decline in the popularity of the sweet.

Why and when were Tooty Frooties discontinued?

Nestlé has confirmed that the sweets aren't being made anymore.

The sweet treats were quietly axed in 2019 after 50 years.

A Nestlé spokesman said: "Sweet tastes and trends change over the years and Tooty Frooties have become much less popular in the decades since their launch.

"In 2019, people prefer the jelly and foamy sweets you find in Rowntree’s Randoms (now also discontinued) and that’s why we’ve decided to concentrate on new products under the Randoms brand." 

The news first dropped on X, after Nestle's Customer Care account responded to a query from a man named Philip Reynolds.

All good things come to an end we're afraid."

Nestle on Tooty Frooties

Philip wrote: "Nestlé are you seriously discontinuing Tooty Frooties? STAP IT!!!"

Nestlé responded: "Unfortunately we've had to say goodbye to Tooty Frooties, Philip.

"Our love for Tooty Frooties will always be there, but for now, we have to let it go."

The firm added: "All good things come to an end we're afraid.

"That goes for our Tooty Frooties too!

"We're always working on lots of new exciting creations so you never know what you might get in future!"

Fans of the sweets were outraged by this revelation, with one person branding it "unforgivable".

And even celebrities objected to the axing, with TV presenter Ben Shephard saying: "What? As if we haven't got enough to deal with right now."

Good Morning Britain's Charlotte Hawkins added: "No Nestlé don't ditch Tooty Frooties! They're the best! The bad news this morning they are being discontinued... however on GMB we're doing our best to save them!"

The trend in recent times has been for jelly and foam sweets.

During 2019 Nestlé revamped their Rowntree's line of sweets with new modern packaging.

They've also made several changes to the flavours - making all of the green Randoms apple flavours instead of lime.

Rowntree's Randoms Squidgy Swirls were also discontinued from its range of products.

It is not likely that the product may appear again as a limited edition as Rowntree's told X users they had absolutely no packets of the product left. 

What is similar to Tooty Frooties?

If you're looking for a decent alternative to Tooty Frooties, then Skittles are your closest bet.

However, you can also still buy Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles and Fruit Gums, which both remain hugely popular.

Elsewhere, Nestle has announced that they have discontinued Polo Fruits and Polo Gummies.

It comes just a few days after Nestle axed another popular product in their UK lineup.

It confirmed it has made the “difficult decision” to discontinue the Caramac bar in 2023, but made a return in 2024 for a limited time only.

In 2023, Nestlé reported that revenues fell in the first nine months of the year, as falling volumes and currency headwinds outweighed the impact of higher prices.

At the time, the company's CEO, Mark Schneider, said he had "confidence that real internal growth, the sum of volume and mix, will turn positive in the second half of the year and again become the main driver of growth going forward”.

He added: "Pricing will be more targeted, by brand and by country.”