THE sight of dancing tea cakes was a surreal experience for anyone tuning into the opening ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Game. For cake maker Tunnock's, however, the appearance paved the way to a gold mine as sales of the popular hot brew accompanier have rocketed in the time since.
The company have reported a whopping 15 million rise in tea cakes sold. That's taken the overall turnover to a record £50 million.
It's forced further investment in the Lanarkshire business with new machine purchases and altered shift patterns to keep up with the rising demands.
Operating director Fergus Loudon revealed that the clamour for tea cakes started almost instantly after the product was seen dancing around inside Celtic Park.
He said: “The Games organisers contacted me last February and asked if we would be happy with them using our brand, but I had no idea what they were planning.
“When we sat down to watch the opening ceremony we were absolutely flabbergasted.
“After that the phones started ringing off the hook. There was an enormous worldwide spike in the demand for tea cakes.”
It's hardly surprising such a spike occurred since around one billion people watched the ceremony around the globe.
TV critics and sports fans questioned some of the production choices, but there's no doubting it was warmly received by Tunnock's.
Loudon added: "The Commonwealth Games were absolutely phenomenal for us. Somebody said to me recently 'Did Tunnock's support the Games or did the Games support Tunnock's?'"
