restaurant chain
A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...
and
franchise
Franchise may refer to:
Business and law
* Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees
* Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...
specialising in
baked potato
A baked potato, known in some parts of the United Kingdom (though not generally Scotland) as a jacket potato, is a preparation of potato. It may be served with fillings, toppings or condiments such as butter, cheese, sour cream, gravy, baked b ...
es (potatoes being known as "spuds" in
colloquial
Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom normally employed in conver ...
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in ...
) that first opened in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
in 1974. Spudulike sold baked potatoes with various fillings, other potato based meals, and
British School of Motoring
The British School of Motoring (BSM) is a driving school in the United Kingdom, providing training in vehicle operation and road safety.
BSM has around 1000 driving instructors. RAC's parent company, Aviva, sold BSM to Arques Industries AG in ...
(BSM) in 1979, which helped Spudulike to rapidly expand its business as a franchise operation. It later demerged from BSM, and in May 2001, it bought ''Courts Quality Foods'', owner of rival potato brand Fat Jackets. Spudulike had fifty outlets across the United Kingdom in 2001, including twenty ''Courts'' franchises.
The company entered into one
company voluntary arrangement
Under UK insolvency law an insolvent company can enter into a company voluntary arrangement (CVA). The CVA is a form of composition, similar to the personal IVA ( individual voluntary arrangement), where an insolvency procedure allows a company ...
in July 2019, in an attempt to restructure its debt, then on 1 August, filed for
administration
Administration may refer to:
Management of organizations
* Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal
** Administrative assistant, Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an admini ...
, with all thirty seven remaining outlets closed. Potato firm Albert Bartlett acquired a number of stores of Spudulike in September 2019, and reopened them in October 2019, with an updated menu. In October 2021, TV chef James Martin teamed up with Albert Bartlett to launch an updated Spudulike menu.