I Just Learned Why They're Called 'Roses' Chocolates, And The Secret Meaning On Their Packaging

Ah, the Celebrations vs Heroes wars ― not since the correct pronunciation of “scone” has the UK been so divided. 

Roses and Quality Street face a similar battle, and unlike those young whippersnappers (Celebrations came out in ’97, while Heroes launched in ’99), the more classic pair are 86 and 88 respectively. 

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about the odd link between Quality Street’s name and Peter Pan. 

But why are Roses called that, and where’s the hidden meaning in their packaging?

There are two theories

Cadbury’s Roses entry on Waitrose’s site says the chocs were “Named after Dorothy Cadbury’s favourite flowers, roses.”

Dorothy Cadbury was “a skilled botanist, collecting plant specimens from across Warwickshire and far beyond,” Warwickshire Museum writes. 

She also became the director of the Cadbury factory from 1919 to 1952 ― Roses came out in 1938, when she was very much running things. 

So, that theory would make an awful lot of sense. 

However, some have also suggested that the name comes from a mechanical sweet-wrapping company founded in 1906 by the Rose brothers. 

The Gainsborough company was the first to invent a machine that could wrap differently-shaped sweets (pivotal to Roses’ marketing and brand), and Cadbury did seem to use them for the product.

There was a hidden meaning in the packaging, too

If you look closely at an old “rose” on a box of roses, you might notice something sneaky. 

@NoContextBrits recently pointed out on X (formerly Twitter) that the centre of the flower seems to mimic Cadbury’s own swirly capital C. 

“I was today years old,” the post’s caption read.

However that only applies to packages made before 2020, when the company changed the branding.