TWO men found themselves in a sticky situation after they tried to rob a Tugun bakery yesterday.

The two entered Sticky Buns bakery on Golden Four Drive about 4.30am with a steak knife each and demanded cash from baker and owner Simon Fowler.

They were described as about 183cm tall, proportionate build and were wearing hoodie-type jumpers covering their faces.

Mr Fowler went to the back of the store and came back out armed with two knives, which sent the thieves running scared, with no cash.

Mr Fowler's wife Lisa said her husband, who carries the nickname “the angry baker”, was the wrong baker to mess with.

“I wasn't here at the time, but from the sounds of it he was like Crocodile Dundee with his two knives,” she said.

“Even if the thieves had taken all the money in the till, it only would have been our float.

“I probably would have done the same thing as my husband if I was in that situation, but it really depends on the circumstances.”

Sticky Buns employee Marie Chamberlain said Mr Fowler was a hard worker.

“Simon works so hard, and he said he wasn't going to let two thieves ruin that,” she said.

“He's a good person and he and Lisa put in so many hours in the business.

“I arrived just after it happened, and Simon said he was glad there was no other staff on at the time.”

Mrs Fowler and Ms Chamberlain said that is what the thieves get for messing with a sleep-deprived angry baker.

Detective Inspector Brian Swan of the Burleigh Heads criminal investigation branch said the police did not condone or encourage people to fight back or use force against armed offenders.

“I can tell you from my own experience in charge of a homicide investigation some years ago in Logan where a female shop assistant fought back against an armed offender during an armed robbery and she's no longer with us,” Det Insp Swan said.

“Now there's a family out there without a daughter, or without a sister.

“If anyone was to find themselves in a situation like that, they should comply with the offender's request.”

This would-be robbery would have been the 46th on the Gold Coast since the start of the year, with police admitting robberies were not an easy crime to solve.

“They are particularly difficult to investigate, particularly when they are a crime of opportunity and in some circumstances we don't have CCTV footage to go by, we have vague descriptions,” Det Insp Swan said.

“They do take some time to solve quite often and that's why we do continue to work on these offences.

"We don't just spend a couple of days or hours, we continually work on all unsolved armed robberies and that's part of our normal routine.

“In my experience it sometimes takes years to solve armed robberies, but we don't give up on them.

“There is no doubt we have experienced a spike in armed robberies in the month of April, but we are working very hard to solve those matters.”

Det Insp Swan said there was no CCTV footage of the attempted armed robbery, and it appeared the store's camera had not been working for some time.

The offenders were last seen running north on Golden Four Drive.

Anyone with information that could assist police should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or via crimestoppers.com.au.