Jacket potatoes surge in UK as social-media vendors turn them into a fast-food hit

Once a modest lunch option, jacket potatoes have staged a comeback in the UK, drawing long queues at new shops and market stalls as social-media-savvy vendors turn the humble spud into a fast-food sensation. Brothers Jacob and Harley Nelson, who run SpudBros, say filming customer interactions and showcasing loaded spuds on TikTok helped them go “stratospheric” in 2023; they now have nearly 5 million followers, a sponsorship with Preston North End FC and celebrity tie-ups.

Jacket potatoes have been popular in Britain for nearly 200 years—one early mention appeared in the Preston Guardian in 1846, and Victorian historian Henry Mayhew recorded heavy sales in mid-19th-century London—and recent data point to renewed interest: a poll commissioned by Subway found 94% of UK adults say they eat a jacket potato once a week, the number of businesses with “spud” in their name rose from seven in 2023 to more than 40 in 2024 and passed 70 last year, and by the end of 2025 Waitrose had seen large potato sales rise by a third with searches for “jacket potato” up 178%.

An on-site visit to SpudBros Express in Soho described a compact menu of five set options, with items such as the Spudfather and garlic chilli chicken priced at £10.50.

Key Topics

Culture, Jacket Potato, Spudbros, Tiktok, Spudman, Preston