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Thomas Tunnock Limited, commonly known as Tunnock's, is a Scottish
confectionery Confectionery is the Art (skill), art of making confections, or sweet foods. Confections are items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates, although exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confections are divided into two bro ...
company based in
Uddingston Uddingston (, ) is a small town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on the north side of the River Clyde, south-east of Glasgow city centre, and acts as a dormitory suburb for the city. Geography and boundaries Uddingston is located to t ...
, Scotland. It is headed by
Boyd Tunnock Sir Archibald Boyd Tunnock, (born 25 January 1933), is the current owner of Tunnock's, a family-owned confectionery business based in Uddingston, South Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary authorities of Scotland. It bo ...
, grandson of Thomas. In 2013, a joint report by Family Business United and Close Brothers Asset Management named it the 20th oldest family firm in Scotland. For two seasons, 2019 and 2020, Tunnock's sponsored the
Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Isle of Mull The Isle of Mull or simply Mull ( ) is the second-largest island of the Inner Hebrides (after Skye) and lies off the west coast of Scotland in the Council areas of Scotland, council area of Argyll and Bute. Covering , Mull is the fourth-lar ...
. In September 2010, Tunnock's workers in
Uddingston Uddingston (, ) is a small town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is on the north side of the River Clyde, south-east of Glasgow city centre, and acts as a dormitory suburb for the city. Geography and boundaries Uddingston is located to t ...
,
Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...
, conducted two 24-hour strikes during contract negotiations. At main issue were salaries, with management having originally offered an increase of 1%, followed by a second offer of 2%. The dispute was resolved in October 2010 with agreement on a 2.5% increase backdated to the start of July 2010, followed by a 2.5% increase in July 2011. In November 2015, Tunnock's made a donation of £250,000 to an appeal for an independent lifeboat station at St Abbs.


Scottish identity

Tunnocks has been described as an iconic Scottish brand https://www.scotsman.com/arts-and-culture/dancing-teacakes-are-recipe-soaring-sales-1530670 "The iconic Scottish company was founded by Thomas Tunnock in 1890" and its packaging features the Scottish
lion rampant The lion is a common charge in heraldry. It traditionally symbolises courage, nobility, royalty, strength, stateliness and valour, because historically the lion has been regarded as the "king of beasts". The lion also carries Judeo-Christi ...
. Having been a Scottish, family owned company since it was formed, this remains a feature of its identity. In an April 2012 interview with '' The Herald'', Managing Director Boyd Tunnock described himself as "Nationalist British" on the question of
Scottish independence Scottish independence (; ) is the idea of Scotland regaining its independence and once again becoming a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom. The term Scottish independence refers to the political movement that is campaignin ...
. In the
2014 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony The opening ceremony for the 2014 Commonwealth Games was held at Celtic Park in Glasgow, Scotland, between 21:00 and 23:40 BST, on 23 July 2014. Proceedings Countdown The ceremony began with a dramatic countdown, starting at 30 seconds, which ...
in
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, dancers dressed as Tunnock's teacakes danced around the main performers near the start of the Scottish-themed show. Sales of Tunnock's tea cakes were 62% higher at
Waitrose Waitrose Limited, trading as Waitrose & Partners, is a British supermarket chain, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. In 1937, it was acquired by the John Lewis Partnership, the UK's largest employee-owned b ...
the day after the ceremony.Tunnock's sales take the teacake after Commonwealth Games ceremony
accessdate: 3 December 2016
In 2016 this association with Scottish identity raised concerns about the company playing down its origins, when an advertising campaign on
London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...
chose to omit the Lion Rampant and label their teacakes as "Tunnock’s Great British Teacake". Boyd Tunnock explained "Down south, people wouldn’t know it as Scottish." In July 2017 Tunnock's announced it would be branding their wafer creams sold in Japan, as "Made in Great Britain". The company, however, did not have high hopes of success in the Japanese market. "The Japanese don’t like caramel wafers. It’s a cultural thing - they say they are too chewy."


Teacakes

The Tunnock's Teacake is a sweet food often served with a cup of tea or coffee. It was developed by Sir Boyd Tunnock in 1956. The product consists of a small round
shortbread Shortbread or shortie is a traditional Scottish biscuit usually made from one part sugar, white sugar, two parts butter and three to four parts plain flour, plain wheat flour. Shortbread does not contain leavening, such as baking powder or bakin ...
biscuit covered with a dome of
Italian meringue Meringue ( , ) is a type of dessert or candy, of French origin, traditionally made from whipped egg whites and sugar, and occasionally an acidic ingredient such as lemon, vinegar, or cream of tartar. A binding agent such as salt, flour or ge ...
, a whipped
egg white Egg white is the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg. In chickens, it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms a ...
concoction similar to
marshmallow Marshmallow (, ) is a confectionery made from sugar, water and gelatin whipped to a solid-but-soft consistency. It is used as a filling in baking or molded into shapes and coated with corn starch. This sugar confection is inspired by a medicina ...
, although somewhat lighter in texture. This is then encased in a thin layer of milk or dark
chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...
and wrapped in a red and silver
foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...
paper for the more popular milk chocolate variety, with blue, black, and gold wrapping for the dark. Retired RAF bomber pilot Tony Cunnane told of how Tunnock's Teacakes became a favourite ration snack of the
V bomber The "V bombers" were the Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom, United Kingdom's strategic nuclear strike force known officially as the V force or Bomber Command Mai ...
nuclear deterrent flight crews based at
RAF Gaydon Royal Air Force Gaydon or more simply RAF Gaydon is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located east of Wellesbourne, Warwickshire and north west of Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. RAF Gaydon opened in 19 ...
, especially after discovering that they expanded at high altitude. In 1965 this ended after one was left unwrapped and exploded on the instrument panel and led to a ban by the RAF. In April 2025 the RAF Centre of Aerospace Medicine gave the all-clear for the teacakes to be used in flights again, after tests in an
altitude chamber A hypobaric chamber, or altitude chamber, is a chamber used during aerospace or high terrestrial altitude research or training to simulate the effects of high altitude on the human body, especially hypoxia (low oxygen) and hypobaria (low ambien ...
found the teacakes did not explode.


Caramel wafers

The Tunnock's Caramel Wafer, officially the Tunnock's Milk Chocolate Coated Caramel Wafer Biscuit, is a bar consisting of five layers of
wafer A wafer is a crisp, often sweet, very thin, flat, light biscuit, often used to decorate ice cream, and also used as a garnish on some sweet dishes. They frequently have a waffle surface pattern but may also be patterned with insignia of the foo ...
, separated by four layers of
caramel Caramel ( or ) is a range of food ingredients made by heating sugars to high temperatures. It is used as a flavoring in puddings and desserts, as a filling in bonbons or candy bars, as a topping for ice cream and custard, and as a colorant ...
. The bar is coated in chocolate, made from cocoa and milk solids. The wafers are wrapped in red and gold coloured foil.
Dark chocolate Dark chocolate is a form of chocolate made from cocoa solids, cocoa butter and sugar. It has a higher cocoa percentage than white chocolate, milk chocolate, and semisweet chocolate. Dark chocolate is valued for claimed—though unsupported— ...
wafers, wrapped blue and gold, are also available. The
University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...
had a Tunnock's Caramel Wafer Appreciation Society, founded in 1982, disbanded in 2016. In 2022, Tunnock's were the pitch sponsor at Uddingston Rugby Club, turning their padded posts into wrapped Caramel Wafer bars.


Other products

The other products in Tunnock's lines are largely based on the core products. The ''Caramel Log'' is similar to the Caramel Wafer, but with the addition of roasted
coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...
to the outside of the bar. ''Wafer Creams'' and ''Florida Orange'' have chocolate and
orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...
flavoured cream in place of the caramel. A ''Snowball'' is similar to the Tea Cake, with the addition of grated coconut to the exterior of a soft chocolate shell but with no biscuit base. Despite pressure to do so, Tunnock's does not make any
own brand OWN may also refer to: *Old West Norse, a North Germanic language *'' Once Was Not'' (2005), an album by Cryptopsy * One Warrior Nation, what The Ultimate Warrior calls his fans *Oprah Winfrey Network, a U.S.-based cable and satellite television c ...
biscuits for
supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...
s. In 2013, Tunnocks's entered into an agreement with
Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...
to sell a range of branded items produced by
Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
-based promotional materials firm Orb. Fergus Loudon, sales manager for Tunnock's stated: "As well as teacake tea towels, aprons and china mugs, there will be the ideal gift for the many caramel wafer fans – a ‘yard of caramel wafers’." As of 2015, the products continue to be sold both through Tesco and directly from Orb.


References


External links

* {{Use dmy dates, date=January 2016 1890 establishments in Scotland Bakeries of the United Kingdom Biscuit brands Bothwell and Uddingston Brand name confectionery Chocolate-covered foods Companies based in Glasgow Companies of Scotland Companies based in South Lanarkshire Family-owned companies of Scotland Food and drink companies established in 1890 Food manufacturers of Scotland Marshmallows Scottish brands Scottish confectionery