TikTok star Spudman serves 5,000 jacket potatoes at Suffolk Show

BBC News

30-05-2025

TikTok chef Spudman said the Suffolk Show was the "best two days of the year" for his business after selling thousands of jacket potatoes to attendees.Spudman, whose real name is Ben Newman, used 5,000 potatoes to produce more than 3,300 portions from his food truck during the two-day agricultural event at Trinity Park in Ipswich, Suffolk.With more than 4.2 million followers on TikTok, did Spudman's presence help or hinder other food vendors at the show?
With the average cost of a jacket potato from Spudman being £8, the social media star would have made an estimated £26,000 worth of sales at the event.Mr Newman, who took time to pose for selfies with fans, said the most popular order at the show was his cheese and beans jacket potato, but his pulled pork offering also "absolutely flew out"."We prepared for it to be busy but this was manic, it was the best two days of the year so far," he added."Everyone was warning me that the event gets like 75,000 people through the gates, but you always take that with a pinch of salt, but it was packed."It's a brilliant show and the people of Suffolk are lovely - I will absolutely come back."
'It's been quieter'
Jill Hales, of Jilly's Jacket Potatoes, told the BBC her number of customers had "definitely gone down" this year.While complimentary of Spudman, Mrs Hales said she had to throw away 75 potatoes after not being as busy as she had anticipated."It has been quieter on the potato front, I must admit, and I do wonder if a lot of people have gone over to the Spudman instead of coming to me," she said."We used to have a bit of a rush at tea time, but that didn't happen and friends on the other side [of the event] said they didn't have any customers by 14:00 BST because [Spudman] had affected them."He is a really nice man and he came and introduced himself, but I am going to be at the Norfolk Show and if he is there then I would ask for my money back and not go."
'He gave us a shoutout'
Shaun Sabiny, from the Highland Crispy Duck, said the arrival of Spudman in the county had attracted more people to the Suffolk Show and more customers to his stall.He added Spudman had been great for the event by attracting large crowds and promoting other traders on his social media pages."Him being here has worked to my benefit because he put a shoutout [about us] on his [social media] feed and we had a queue after that, so it's great, and he is a great guy," he said."It's crazy, the guy is literally serving jacket potatoes with anything else that your local cafe would, so it's completely different and I don't see any competition at all."At the end of the day we are all traders here and we're all here to achieve the common goal, which is make money and give the good people some good food."
'Spudman was great for show'
Kevin Reade, of Reade's Hog Roast Event Caters, said he would usually sell about £10,000 worth of food over the two days of the show.When he spoke to the BBC he said takings were slightly down compared to previous years, but stressed that Spudman was "great for the show"."I think it's a bit of a gimmick, but he is a really nice guy and I met him this morning and he had one of my hog roasts and said it was excellent," he said."Even my grandson wanted a picture taken with him, how bad is that? I have been doing this for 40 years but he has never wanted one with me."
Spudman told the BBC he wanted to use his platform to help elevate other small businesses."We are here to support the other traders, we make videos with them, we eat their food, and we try and support as many of them as we possibly can," he said."If you go on my TikTok there are videos from other traders - I love going into other businesses and showing my followers something other than jacket potatoes."We are here to promote, we're not here to take anything away from other people - it's not about us."
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