It was a happy donut day surprise for some of Tauranga city's essential workers on Friday, when one of their colleagues at Council nominated them for a fun competition.

Caro Richards, a legal administrator at Tauranga City Council, called in to Mamas Donuts Cameron Road on Thursday to buy a dozen donuts for a meeting.

"They had a competition running for essential workers on Friday and I remembered reading about it being World Donut Day. on Friday June 3, so I filled in the form and entered it," says Caro.

Tauranga's Mamas Donuts team had posted on their Facebook page: 'We want to celebrate our front line, first responder & essential worker whanau with a box of 50 ORIGINAL GLAZED donuts this coming Donut Day ... Let's show them our love whanau."

After filling in the form, Caro headed off to her meeting with a dozen donuts.

"Then I got a call saying I had won 50 donuts for the waste collection drivers at Tauranga City Council.

"They are lucky well-deserved winners. The waste team worked tirelessly during the pandemic shut downs."

She says it was pouring with rain on Friday.

"I collected the donuts on Friday morning and delivered them to the team. During the shut downs that did what was needed to keep rubbish going the best way they could through rain and hail," says Caro.

"They always have a 'rubbish' week when it's raining, taking care of all the rubbish.

"A big thank you to Mamas Donuts for running the competition for essential workers on World Donut Day. They are very happy people."