They were once a lunch option that inspired little excitement – but the jacket potato’s time has finally come. After decades in epicurean exile, the humble spud has made a roaring comeback in the UK and piqued the interest of foodies across the world. A-listers, tourists and trend-hopping teenagers are queueing for hours to get their hands on them. For Jacob Nelson, who sells loaded spuds that have gone super-viral on social media, this was all part of the plan. “We thought: how can we make the jacket potato sexy again?” he says.

The 30-year-old, who runs SpudBros with his brother Harley and dad Tony, was among the first crop of social-media savvy spud vendors to give the jacket potato a much-needed makeover. After a slow start in lockdown, the brothers spoke to some youngsters in Preston Flag Market, where they had set up shop, to find out why they were shunning spuds. “It was an absolute ghost town,” says Harley. “We spoke to one student walking past us. He said to get on social media.” The pair listened, filming their interactions with customers while showing off their mouthwatering loaded spuds, and subsequently went stratospheric on TikTok in 2023.

Jacob and Harley Nelson, the founders of SpudBros. Photograph: Garry Cook/Alamy

Now, they have nearly 5 million followers on TikTok, nabbed a sponsorship deal with Preston North End FC, and have teamed up with celebrities including Will Smith, Liam Neeson and Mr Beast to show off their spuds. “It’s just crazy,” says Jacob. Their success is part of a spud renaissance. One of the world’s oldest street foods, yaki imo, for example, has been sold on the streets of Japan since the 1600s. So the rebirth of jacket potatoes is a reinvention for modern times.

An image of baked potatoes being sold on the streets of London, c. 1840. Photograph: Heritage Images/Getty Images

Jacket potatoes have been a popular dish in the UK for nearly 200 years. One of the first recorded mentions was in the SpudBros’s Lancashire hometown Preston Guardian in 1846, but they really took off in the mid-19th century when, according to Victorian historian Henry Mayhew, about 10 tons of jacket potatoes were sold each day, mainly to labourers, in food markets across London. They remained popular in the 20th century, becoming a cafe staple on high streets across Britain before waning in popularity.

Now, it seems, they’re on the up again. According to a poll commissioned by Subway, which entered the spud game itself last year, 94% of UK adults say they eat a jacket potato once a week. The number of jacket potato businesses is also soaring: in 2023, just seven food-related businesses with the word “spud” were opened in the UK. In 2024, this shot up to more than 40 and, last year, it passed 70. The number of people seeking to cook a jacket potato at home is also rising: by the end of 2025, sales of large potatoes were up by a third at Waitrose compared with the year before, while searches for “jacket potato” on Waitrose.com were up 178%.

‘Potato Queen’ Poppy O’Toole. Photograph: Ellis Parrinder

Despite not being terribly photogenic, spuds are also going great guns on social media, sparking transatlantic debates and catapulting potato-influencers to culinary stardom. In 2024, Americans went viral after sharing their horror over the British love of a loaded potato stacked with tuna and baked beans. Meanwhile, Poppy O’Toole, who is known for championing the humble spud by sharing the many ways they can be roasted, mashed and fried, has amassed nearly 5 million TikTok followers and published five cookbooks. Even Kim Kardashian has professed her love for a potato topped with sour cream, butter and bacon bits.

So, are spuds worth the renewed enthusiasm? I headed to SpudBros Express in Soho, central London, to give one a go. Plastered outside the shop is a bold declaration: “The Greatest Spuds on Earth.” This permanent space is a snazzy upgrade from their market tram, a little like a Wonka factory for potatoes, with sacks of spuds sitting in one corner, fancy cast-iron potato ovens roasting away, and a production line of workers dishing out tasty ’taters at speed. There are five set options, including “cheese, beans and chewna [tuna] mayo” and “garlic chilli chicken”, both coming in at £10.50, but I went for another popular option: the chilli con carne-based Spudfather (also £10.50).

Sammy Gecsoyler with his SpudBros Express bounty. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian

I watched as the potato handler prepared the base: one and a half King Edward spuds, a generous swig of melted garlic butter, a rather alarming amount of cheese and chilli con carne, topped with crispy onions, sour cream and SpudBros’ signature “spicy tram” sauce (a sort of spicy mayonnaise). The box was hefty (mine weighed nearly 1kg) and I let it sit for five minutes, everything melting together. By the time I opened it, the sour cream seemed to have cooled the now slightly congealed spud. Digging in was harder than you might imagine using a fiddly wooden fork, but each bite was a real treat – the spuddy mix was silky smooth and the chilli was packed with flavour. Could I finish it? Absolutely not; I could barely manage half.

The next day, I went for the garlic chilli chicken spud, which came topped with lashings of garlic butter and cheese, followed by chicken curry, fresh chilli, crispy onions and a cooling raita. I was really excited for this one (it sounded delicious) but sadly the curry tasted as if it had been made in a hurry (or batch-cooked), with the onions needing a bit more browning. The spices lacked depth and the raita, which contained grated cucumbers, along with the slightly underdone onions, gave the dish a less than desirable crunch.

By the time I had eaten my fill, it was midday and the lunchtime queue was in full swing. According to 21-year-old shift leader Alfie Thompson, this was nothing compared with peak season: “Over Christmas, we were selling over 400 potatoes a day.” When he joined the team about a year ago, there were “queues all the way down the street”, he says. As people monitor their spending post-Christmas, Thompson says things have quietened down, though the usual stream of customers continue to trickle through.

Clockwise from left: the Spudfather; tuna mayo; and garlic chilli chicken jacket potatoes at SpudBros. Photograph: Christian Sinibaldi/The Guardian

Among those waiting were many teenagers and tourists who had flocked to SpudBros after seeing the business’s videos on social media. But they’re not the only potato fans: 38-year-old Toby Jamison, from London, was “never really a fan of jacket potatoes” growing up but says he has been inspired by the newest crop of social media spud pioneers (which includes Tamworth-based vendor SpudMan, who has more than 4 million TikTok followers). “When you realise there’s so much more than the standard options,” says Jamison, “it really opens things up.” Especially if, like him, you “don’t like tuna and cheese, or coleslaw”.

Now that my spud standards had been raised, I had another stop to make: Subway. Since the sandwich shop began selling jacket potatoes last year, the reaction has been mixed. Some social media users have complained of cold spuds and bland fillings (apart from baked beans, they consist of their regular sandwich toppings) and, when I ventured inside, I wasn’t filled with much confidence.

The potatoes are on display behind the glass counter, cold. They’re popped in an oven for a couple of minutes then cut open for filling. I asked for extra olives, sweetcorn and peppers on top, to beef up the portion, which is much smaller than SpudBros’. The end result was still uninspiring: the ’taters, which cost almost £7 each, were placed into a white box with some of the vegetables sliding off the watery beans and grey tuna.

But of course, it’s really all about the taste. It wasn’t terrible – but it felt like a throwback to the sad, bland offerings you might have tolerated in the school canteen. And, despite my hope that the spud skins would crisp up in the oven, they remained limp and slightly chewy. SpudBros Express 1, Subway 0.

Queen Camilla with TikTok star Spudman, at Clarence House in London. Photograph: MediaPunch Inc/Alamy

It’s not all just about the spectacle of social media, where lavish, calorie-dense toppings take centre stage. Dr Joanne Lunn, health and nutrition lead at Waitrose, attributes the booming interest in jacket potatoes to a “growing awareness of ultra-processed food”. So, are they healthy? Broadly, yes. They are low calorie and contain a variety of important nutrients, including iron and potassium. That said, the “size of the potato is really important”, says nutritionist Jo Travers. She recommends going for a spud “the size of your fist” because eating a potato that is too large “can spike your blood sugar and then crash it”, which can lead to feeling fatigue. She also notes that potatoes don’t contain a great deal of fibre and that, to turn them into a more complete meal, fibre- and protein-rich toppings are key. “Beans are perfect and chilli is great. It gives us fibre, protein and also micronutrients like iron. Tuna is another great option because of how much protein it contains,” she says.

The dramatic turnaround for the jacket potato comes at an interesting time. In 2024, baked potato specialist Spudulike shut its doors in the UK after gracing high streets for nearly 50 years, despite a last-ditch attempt by chef James Martin to revamp the menu (his makeover included a new arsenal of toppings such as butter chicken, peri peri wings and a rather large and fully intact hotdog).

According to food industry expert Jane Milton, big brands are often too slow to hop on top of culinary trends and make the most of sudden social media popularity. “When I was at school, there were potato shops on every high street,” says Milton. Now, she says, they are back again but in a “slightly different” way – instead of undercooked potatoes sprinkled with meagre amounts of cheese, we’re seeing mountains of melted cheddar, oozing melted butter and colourful topping combos including crispy onions, bright and punchy sauces, and fresh herbs such as coriander and chives. “There’s a lot of excitement and theatre about what they’re doing,” says Milton. Both SpudBros and SpudMan wear headcams to film their encounters with customers. There has also been some questionable experimentation with toppings – in a 2024 sponsorship with Mecca Bingo, SpudMan gave out ’taters loaded with lobster, caviar, and gold leaf at bingo halls in Blackpool and Stevenage – that have attracted interest, if nothing else.

At a time when the food industry is struggling under the weight of soaring bills and staffing costs, jacket potatoes are also a more economic option for shops and stalls. “There is definitely a good margin and a relatively low amount of skill needed,” says Milton, who calls them a “good bet”. According to Milton, the main piece of kit required is a potato oven (which can cook up to 200 spuds in 90 minutes), and staffing requirements are minimal. “If you’re in a place that has high footfall, you could very easily turn out a couple of hundred spuds over a lunch break,” she says.

One for the ages … a perfect jacket potato. Photograph: JohnGollop/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Jacket potatoes are also increasingly being sold as takeaway items, which means “you’re not having to pay to clean up somewhere or do the dishes”, says Milton. They’re also great for avoiding costly food waste; unlike sandwiches, “you’re not making loads in advance and hoping they’ll sell”. King Edwards (the most common choice for a crispy and fluffy potato) hold well and the various toppings are kept separate until the point of sale.

“The basic benefit of a jacket potato is that it allows you to have something as healthy or as luxurious as you want,” says Milton. “It’s a good blank canvas.”

As for the SpudBros, they are hoping to take this British staple around the world. “We could become a global brand,” says Harley. “It’s something we’ve dreamed about.”