Preston’s Spud Bros have confirmed plans to open up multiple franchises across the UK and worldwide. 

The humble jacket potato tram serving customers on Preston Flag Market since 1955 is now set to become a global brand.

The Spud Bros, Jacob and Harley Nelson have turned the local business into a worldwide success story and put the city firmly on the map with people coming from across the UK and beyond to queue up for a spud.

Read more: Working a lunchtime shift with Preston’s famous Spud Brothers

Jacob and Harley Nelson have taken social media by storm, with four million followers on TikTok and 1.5 million across Youtube and Instagram – and behind them sits the fatherly guiding hand of Tony Nelson as well as supportive mother Helena.

Within the last eighteen months, the SpudBros have expanded massively with upgrading the tram and branching outside of Preston with pop up events in Manchester, Birmingham and a branch of ‘Spud Bros Express’ in Soho, London. 

Last weekend (Saturday April 19) they did an event on The Flag Market in Preston where they gave away over 1,000 free spuds funded by social media super star Mr Beast.

Tony Nelson (Jacob and Harley’s dad) spoke to Blog Preston on his thoughts of the franchise expansion. 

He said: “I’m surprised how quickly it’s all developed. I’m not surprised that it has happened but the speed of which the lads have taken off with the socials and the TV and all the other bits of stuff that’s going on at the moment, it’s been really interesting and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

“We’re just exploring all those opportunities at the moment and just seeing where that takes us.

“We want to be getting to maybe 30 or 40 outlets over the next few months. It’s exciting times ahead.”

The Times profiled the SpudBros in its weekend edition and indicated they were eyeing launches in Amsterdam and Las Vegas, and Tony confirmed both of those locations as well as saying closer to home Manchester and Liverpool were also being considered.

Going back to the 1950s

Tony went on to speak about his favourite memory during the SpudBros journey, he said: “The most memorable moment is probably when we opened the new tram on the Flag Market. We went back to 1955 prices for the people at Preston and we got the original ‘Spudman’ Keith Roberts Senior to to open the tram for us.” 

Tony spoke about his thoughts on the future of the Spud Bros franchise, he said: “I’m looking forward to seeing it expanding to see how that sort of plays out.

“The lads have got some absolute off the wall ideas of what they want to achieve in the future and I’ll be honest with you, some of it I think will happen.” 

Subscribe: Keep in touch directly with the latest headlines from Blog Preston, join our WhatsApp channel and subscribe for our twice-a-week email newsletter. Both free and direct to your phone and inbox.

Read more: See more of what’s on in Preston