Spud Hut opens in Newton Aycliffe inspired by SpudMan and SpudBros

Julie Rowland and Corell Keller can hardly keep up with demand for their baked tatties, selling out on their first two days open this week.

Inspired by ‘SpudTok’ craze of social media users sharing their jackets on TikTok, the 51-year-old decided to take the leap and set up her very own business on the industrial estate on Woodham Road

Since topening the pair have  served dozens of potatoes to hungry customers with toppings ranging from pulled pork to chicken tikka.

Spud Hut, Newton Aycliffe pictured owner Julie Rowland and Corell Keller (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

Julie said: “I’ve always worked with food, and I thought, ‘there aren’t many places around the town that do jacket potatoes’, it’s mainly like burger vans and things like that around here.

“There’s such a hype with jacket potatoes on social media, so I thought I’d give it a go and see what happens.

“But it’s been mental. Absolutely crazy since we opened!”

Julie and her family have owned nearby Aycliffe Autos since 2012. When a nearby unit came up for sale six weeks ago, they decided to branch out.

She added: “My husband opened the garage in 2012, and our three boys work for us, as well as my brother and nephew,

“This unit came up for sale and my daughter‑in‑law said, ‘try it,’ so that’s what we’ve done.”

The menu lets customers choose everything from cheese, tuna, beans, coronation chicken, coleslaw, prawn mayo and hot daily specials.

Since opening, Julie said she has been “blown away” by the response, with the team selling out two days in a row.

She said: “On Monday when we opened, we didn’t know how many spuds to cook, so we had the oven going constantly and kept it going – we were sold out by 1pm.

There’s a large variety of toppings to choose from. (Image: THE NORTHERN ECHO)

“Yesterday we doubled everything, and we were sold out again by 12.30pm.

“I had more deliveries come today because everything just keeps selling out – I don’t like turning people away.”

Initially planning to open in January, Julie said she never expected such a high demand.

She said: “We never expected any of this, everybody’s been amazed. I didn’t think it would be like this and go this well straight away.

“Today, our first customers were outside again this morning at 10am waiting for us to open the hatch, and they came and ordered immediately.

“We were going to open in January, get Christmas out the way, and then we thought, you know what, we’ll give it these few weeks in December, see how it goes, and then we know what we’re looking at for January. But it has just gone crazy.

“It’s been amazing seeing everyone enjoying our food, I hope we can keep this going and continue on into next year.”