Viral potato-makers SpudBros have been accused of ‘bullying’ a small business over their use of a similar name.
Jacob, 28, and Harley Nelson, 21, became a TikTok sensation after they started sharing videos of themselves serving up hot potato snacks to customers from their tram in Preston.
The duo have now amassed more than four million followers and even expanded to a central London store, attracting visitors from across the world
But they have now been accused of bullying a similar business in Portsmouth for using a similar name.
The Spud Father opened its doors in Portsmouth last month, aiming to captialise on the hot new food craze.
Owner Rumen Islam, 27, started the business with hopes to use bold flavours for his own spin on the snack.
Just a month into operating, he has now been threatened with legal action from Spud Bros over the use of the name ‘The Spud Father’.
Now fans online have fought back and have criticised SpudBros for attacking the ‘small’ business.
In a statement on social media, The Spud Father wrote: ‘I never thought I’d have to write something like this.
‘After months of graft — long days, late nights, and putting everything we have into The Spud Father — we’ve now been threatened with legal action from Spudbros over the use of our name.
‘They’ve trademarked several potato-related words and are now trying to stop us from using “The Spud Father.”
‘It’s gutting. We’ve poured our heart and soul into this — from the name, to the menu, to every bit of branding and hard work behind the scenes. This isn’t just a business to us — it’s something we’ve built with pride, passion, and community spirit.
‘To suddenly face the threat of losing it because a bigger company wants to throw their weight around… it’s hard to put into words how disheartening that feels. The stress and worry have taken a real toll — mentally and emotionally.
‘Thank you to every single person who’s stood by us, sent messages, and kept us going through this. Your support means the world.’
Rumen also shared his disappointment on a video on TikTok, where he spoke about the toll which it had taken on him.
He told his followers he will take time away from the stand due to all the stress caused by the threat of legal action.
Rumen said: ‘Unfortunately I think we will have to change our name. It is hard, we are a really small business.
‘It has taken a long time, a long journey of hard work, so many different emotions to try and get this up and ready.
‘We are a small business, a really small business. I am born and bred in Pompey, we opened this for the locals, we know a lot of our customers.
‘For someone else to come and say “yeah, that is it” is quite disheartening.
‘The past few days have been quite hard. It looks all good on the outside but it does get to you subconsciously all the comments, people saying this, that and the other.
‘It has been hard for me personally because I have put all my hard work, hours, time, into it and the past few days I have been taking so many breaks just to compose.
‘We will be changing our name. As much as we don’t want to, we will have to.
‘I didn’t really want to open today because I thought forget about it, but I thought we have a lot of supporters, a lot of people helping us, I didn’t want to disappoint anyone.’
Supporters of the Spud Father have raced to Rumen’s defence online and have called out SpudBros for ‘bullying’ smaller business.
In comments on the accounts recent video, they pleaded for the brothers to let the other business be.
One user wrote: ‘Stop bullying Spud Father, there is plenty of business to go round for everyone – all ships rise in high tide.’
Another commented: ‘Justice for the spud father !!!!!’
‘Bit strange that you’re threatened by a similar business over 260 miles away? Anways [sic], justice for spudfather,’ another replied.
Another said: ‘Guys, seriously – why are you going after SpudFather? You do good things otherwise, please. Leave these guys alone. Support other businesses don’t make their lives difficult.’
It is not the first time a rivalry has broken out between vendors selling jacket potatoes.
Around the same time the SpudBros were becoming a bigger name in 2024, Ben Newman, 39, known as Spud Man, was also growing his following with a similar business in Tamworth.
Mr Newman started his TikTok account in 2021, posting livestreams of his customers ordering their meals.
He also met with US singer Teddy Swims and Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, while he was serving potatoes at a London screening to promote the pair’s Deadpool and Wolverine film.
Meanwhile SpudBros Jacob and Harley took over their TikTok account from their dad, Anthony, 57, who managed to get a whopping 60,000 followers.
The business was founded in 1955 by Ernie Rhodes, who then passed it on to his nephew Keith Roberts in 1978.
Exactly 30 years later, Keith passed the company to his son, who was also called Keith, but he passed away in 2020.
Anthony then took over the business, and the two brothers have served jacket potatoes five days a week ever since.
Jacob quit his job as a sales manager to work at the company full time and the duo decided to start posting on TikTok to market themselves to the thousands of students that live in Preston.
The Nelson brothers have recently expanded their business, bringing it to Archer Street in London’s Soho, while Ben claims to have supported his nine children with his jacket potato truck.
The once low prices meant customers took to TikTok to tell each other to visit Spud Bros over business competitor Spud man, who faced backlash for charging up to £12 for a jacket potato, despite a plain jacket potato with butter costing him 46p to make.
Earlier this year another similarly named competitor entered the market when Spud Hut opened outside London Bridge station.
Many other similarly named businesses also exist across the country, including Spud Life in Newcastle, Station Spuds in Bognor Regis, SpudSea in Southsea and Spud Factory in Gosport.
