The owners of a small family-run bakery on the Suffolk coast were left “shocked and excited” after being praised before an audience of millions in an Oscar acceptance speech from one of their loyal customers – an award-winning film director.

While international brands were paying huge sums to advertise in one of the most-watched television events of the year, Orford’s Pump Street Bakery gained its worldwide exposure through the more modest offer of a tasty free snack.

Suffolk film director Mat Kirkby told last night’s audience of Hollywood A-listers that he was “particularly happy” to win the Oscar for best live action short film because it meant he would receive one of the bakery’s “fantastic doughnuts”.

Joanna Brennan, who founded the bakery in 2010 with her father Chris, said the news came as a “delightful surprise”.

“First of all, we were delighted for Mat, because we’ve all been rooting for him, and then to see he had mentioned the bakery was just amazing,” she added.

“It’s been a mixture of shock, excitement and disbelief – I’ve been on Twitter and Facebook all morning responding to the hundreds of messages we’ve received.”

Mat, who lives in Shottisham, is a regular at the bakery’s cafe, and is reported to have spent time there working on the script for his winning film The Phone Call, co-written by James Lucas.

The bakery’s freshly made doughnuts are said to be a particular favourite of Mat’s, and so he was promised at least one free for winning the Oscar.

They are baked each day from scratch before being fried and filled with either custard, made freshly on site, or rhubarb or raspberry jam, which is ordered in, having been cooked at a lower temperature to retain more of the fruits’ flavour.

Ms Brennan says Pump Street’s focus has always been “quality first” and has shied away from “gimmicky” advertising.

Though she may not have sought such coverage, the Oscars is said to receive the largest premium from advertisers, with its American broadcasters charging a reported $1.95 million for just 30 seconds of screen time in front of an estimated 43 million viewers.