There are several essential things most people in Scotland (and elsewhere) are likely to add to their list of things they'd need to survive on a desert island, but we are guessing that more than a few would have Tunnock's Teacakes or Caramel Wafers written down in the top five.
Few things made visiting an elderly relative's better than the obligatory offering of some form of Tunnock's treats, be it the luxurious Teacake, the delicious Wafer or on the odd occasion the mildly exotic Snowball.
In fact, most Scots would probably have 'do a Tunnock's factory tour' on their list of 'Scottish things to do before you die'.
It's the one ice breaker guaranteed to bring any Scottish people in a room together: "What's your favourite Tunnock's - the Teacake, the Caramel Wafer, the Caramel Log or the Snowball?"
Almost as iconic as Irn Bru, smoked salmon, haggis or whisky, here are 10 things you (probably) didn't know about one of Scotland's best love confectionery companies:
Thomas Tunnock with his son Archie. Picture: TSPL
The company grew from these humble beginnings into a successful private baking company before striking it rich with their confectionery line.
In a recent interview with the Telegraph, Boyd Tunnock, Thomas' grandson said: "Between the wars, my father [Archie] was the biggest private caterer in the Glasgow area. I have all his daybooks from 1933 to 1942 – we take them to exhibitions and someone will say, 'Your father did my granny’s wedding,' so we’ll look it up and there it is."
Originally bought for just £80, The company now makes 80 tonnes of caramel each week – 1.5 tonnes an hour.
Caramel is poured out of bubbling cauldron. Picture: TSPL
They buy in around 25 tonnes of coconut a month and around 15 tonnes of cocoa butter each week.
With these ingredients they make between ten and 12 million biscuits and cakes each week, including around 5 million wafers (referenced on the wafer packaging) and 3 million tea cakes.
The Tunnock's Boy. Picture: Wikimedia
The Uddingston-based biscuit company ships to more than 40 countries worldwide and is very popular in the Middle East, with Iraq and Kuwait, making up around 20 per cent of its total exports.
The family baker recently revealed that Yemen had taken delivery of 300,000 Caramel Wafers in the last 12 months alone.
Caramel Wafers are also a big hit in Kuwait, where they are known as 'boy biscuits’ after the face of the Tunnock's boy (who has never been named) on the box.
The first products exported by the company were Caramel Logs to Newfoundland, Canada in 1957, while Trinidad loves Caramel Wafers and Wafer Creams and even the Faroe Islands are reported to eat around 125,000 Caramel Wafers a year.
All this success and the company still only has one export sales manager and he apparently doesn’t travel abroad.
Boyd Tunnock with staff on the caramel wafers production line. Picture: TSPL
Boyd Tunnock, the inventor of the Teacake, carries a very special notebook in which he has written down all that he needs to know about the family company. The notebook's contents, which includes all the latest sales figures and company statistics, also has the recipes for his signature creations and ideas for future recipes.
Apparently, he even keeps a small circle in the notebook, drawn onto the inside cover, with which he measures the baked biscuit bases for the Teacakes to ensure they are just the right size.
The Tunnock's dancers at the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony. Picture: TSPL
That's right, you could have bought and owned one of these amazing pieces of memorabilia. We wish we had, just so we could have been as cool as the guy in the bottom right.
The giant Teacakes were sold as exclusive, limited-edition mementos and even came complete with hologram and letter of authenticity.
Tunnock's was such a hit at the Opening Ceremony that Waitrose revealed that in the weeks following the performance sales of Tunnock’s Tea Cakes soared by 62 per cent!
In fact, the company even reported this year that they made a whopping 15 million rise in tea cakes sold since the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
See also:
• 10 things you (probably) didn’t know about Irn-Bru
• 8 things you (probably) didn’t know about McCowan’s Highland Toffee
• Tunnock’s drop iconic lion branding to be more ‘British’
The Tea Cake company’s clothing collection includes t-shirts, hooded sweaters and beanie hats.
The Tunnock's T(ea) Shirt with the caramel wafer logo. Picture: Tunnock's
They have also sold cufflinks with caramel wafer logos and a Tunnock’s Rubik’s Cube.
Tunnock's products have even been miniaturised and sold as doll house furniture.
Dolls house maker Sheena Hinks holds her miniature Tea cakes and Irn Bru creations. Picture: TSPL
They have even served as inspiration for a wedding cake, with Mathew Watt, 37, and wife Siobhan, 34, going a bit further than the average couple with their love for the Teacake.
The couple spent £395 on this super-sized chocolate sponge wedding cake, topped with red and silver icing to recreate the famous wrapper.
The Tunnock's themed wedding cake. Picture: TSPL
Mr Watt, an interior designer, told the Scotsman: “On the day, the cake actually got more attention than we did, but that wasn’t a bad thing. We were very happy with it.”
And they are not the only ones to share their love of Tunnock's on their wedding day, the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, is said to have commissioned Tunnock's to make her wedding cake.
Tunnocks exhibition at the Glasgow Print Studio. Assistant Olivia Bliss moves the artworks around. Picture: Robert Perry
In 2010, the Glasgow Print Studio held an art exhibition, Tunnocked, in which artists honoured the humble Teacake as well as its cousins, the Caramel Wafer and the Snowball.
Among the 40 different pieces of art inspired by the delicious products created by Tunnock's, was one Caramel Wafer which had been placed behind glass for emergencies, so essential was it to artist Harry Magee.
Chris Martin, the Coldplay singer, has said of his favourite treats: "You can’t choose between the Caramel Wafer and the Tea Cake – they’re like Lennon and McCartney, you can’t separate them."
While Howard Donald, of Take That fame, was delighted after fans from Manchester bought him a Tunnock's Teacake birthday cake which was presented to him on stage in Glasgow.
Singer Amy MacDonald even suggested she'd have loved to have been one of the dancers inside a giant Tunnock's at the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony.
The First Minister admires a Tunnock's Teacake for a photshoot at the Uddingston factory. Picture: Phil Wilkinson
Alex Salmond apparently offered a Caramel Wafer and a cup of tea to Rupert Murdoch while he was entertaining the boss of News International at Bute House.
Alex Salmond reassured MSPs during the subsequent FMQs when he was questioned about the visit, that there was no fancy stuff involved. “There were no oysters. All you get at Bute House is a cup of tea and a Tunnock's caramel wafer.”
We are sure MrMurdoch was more than happy to accept the offering!
Workers pack Teacakes at the Tunnock's factory. Picture: Robert Perry
Tunnock's, teamed up with rival Lee's, to challenge a ruling that saw them pay tax on their snowballs, placing them under “standard-rated confectionery”, which classified them as a biscuit.
Judges Anne Scott and Peter Sheppard, from the First-Tier Tax Tribunal, tested a plate of treats including Jaffa cakes, Bakewell tarts and meringues – all classified as cakes for tax purposes – as they made their decision.
Ms Scott then said: “A snowball looks like a cake. It is not out of place on a plate full of cakes. A snowball has the mouth feel of a cake.”She added: “Although by no means everyone considers a snowball to be a cake, we find that these facts mean that a snowball has sufficient characteristics to be characterised as a cake. For all these reasons, the appeals succeed.”
Tunnock’s received a rebate of just over £800k after both companies won their appeals.
With a net worth of £75 million pounds - the minimum needed to make the cut in Scotland - Boyd Tunnock was put on the Sunday Times Rich list in 2015.
And here's a couple of bonus facts.....
A squirrel enjoys a Tunnock's Teacake taken from a bin in Glasgow's Kelvingrove park. Picture: Mike McGurk
This cheeky chappy was spotted enjoying a Teacake in Kelvingrove park one afternoon.
Picture: Argyll Holidays
They're known and loved across the country, but now fans of the Tunnock's Caramel Wafer can take a holiday in one - as Argyll Holidays have a specially designed caravan.
Featuring the iconic gold, red and white branding, the Tunnocks caravan wafer is located on the Drimsynie Estate in Lochgoilhead and was unveiled in the summer of 2021.
Find out more about the caravan and book on the Argyll Holidays website.
