Social & Search: How Hospitality Brands Can Turn Social Visibility into Long-Term Growth – Lessons from “Spudman” and “Scran”.
Social media has become one of the most powerful forces shaping hospitality. For many consumers, especially Gen Z, TikTok is now a starting point for discovery. Whether it’s finding a new café, booking a restaurant, or even planning a trip, people increasingly turn to short-form video for inspiration.
The impact can be enormous. A Bedford potato van found itself serving 1,000 customers a day after TikTok fame. A Glasgow takeaway made headlines worldwide after posting ice cream fries. A boutique London café was overwhelmed with 200-person queues after an influencer repost. And in travel, TikTok has been credited with driving a 410% increase in content views and inspiring direct bookings.
Social media can put a business on the map overnight, but without the right infrastructure, it can just as quickly expose cracks.
This report explores what happens when hospitality brands go viral, how consumer discovery is shifting, and why turning social media spikes into long-term visibility is the key to longevity.
Spudman Potatoes, People, and “just being real”
Ben “Spudman” Newby didn’t plan on becoming a TikTok star. “I just needed to tell people we were open,” he said. But his honest, lo-fi clips of serving jacket potatoes struck a chord. His following grew to 4.2 million. Sales jumped from 200 potatoes a day to over 1,000. Celebrities like Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds dropped by.
The buzz came with strain. Selfie-seekers blocked customers. Staff had to scale up fast. New trailers were built. But Ben’s principle was unwavering:
“The first and last potato of the day has to be exactly the same.”
@spudarmy freebie time. #spudarmy #jacketpotato #tamworth #bakedpotato ♬ original sound – spudman
In Scotland, Scran took a different route. A few years after launching, Kyle’s mother suggested combining fries and ice cream as a gimmick. Within an hour of posting, the dish was going viral. Soon Scran was in multinational newspapers and radio, and customers were travelling from across the UK to try it.
@scrantroon Ice Cream Loaded Fries⁉️🤔🍟🍦 #foryou #fypシ #fyp #trending #scran #troon #junkfood #yum #loaded #icecream #fries #scoops ♬ Little Bitty Pretty One – Thurston Harris
The attention forced operational changes, new equipment, adjusted shifts, but also proved existential. “If we didn’t have social media, I don’t think the business would have survived,” Kyle said.
The Wider Hospitality Context
Spudman and Scran aren’t isolated cases. Across hospitality, social media is reshaping how people discover and choose:
Restaurants & Bars: 58% of TikTok users have visited a restaurant after seeing it on the platform (MGH, 2025).
Travel & Tourism: TikTok has seen a 410% increase in travel content views since 2021, with 32% of users booking stays they discovered there (Influencer, 2024).
Hotels & Experiences: Globetrender (2024) found that 23% of UK consumers use TikTok to get holiday inspiration, and almost 1 in 5 booked trips directly from TikTok content.
How Gen Z Are Changing Search
TikTok is the fourth most popular search engine among digital natives, behind Google, YouTube, and Bing (Adobe, 2024).
Google itself concedes: “40% of young people, when they’re looking for a place for lunch, don’t go to Google Maps or Search. They go to TikTok or Instagram” (Prabhakar Raghavan, 2022).
64% of Gen Z and 49% of millennials have used TikTok as a search engine (Search Engine Land, 2023).
Consumers choose TikTok for:
Relatable answers (65%)
Video-first results (69%)
Personalised recommendations (47%)
This shift doesn’t mean ‘search is dead’, but that discovery increasingly begins elsewhere. People see a hotel on TikTok, then search for booking options. They watch a cocktail bar trend and then look up opening hours on Google.
Why Going Viral Doesn’t Guarantee Success
Going viral on social media can look like the dream for hospitality businesses, but the reality is often more complicated. Sometimes the surge in attention is more chaotic than profitable. London’s It’s Bagels, for example, literally ran out of eggs (and staff) when a viral TikTok brought 200-person queues (Independent, 2024). Consumer trust isn’t always boosted either: 45% of US diners say restaurant posts can actually make them more skeptical, and 21% admit they’ve been put off entirely (Menu Tiger, 2025). As Swiss Butter’s CEO warns, there’s also the danger of novelty bias, where hype shifts expectations and people start valuing buzz over quality. And backlash can spread just as fast as praise, a viral TikTok criticising Spain’s 2-Michelin-starred Mugaritz in 2024 pulled in over 8 million views and triggered a surge of negative reviews.
Consistency Wins Where Going Viral Doesn’t
The hospitality brands that thrive are the ones showing up, day in and day out, across search, social, and customer touchpoints. Authentic, lo-fi content i.e not overly polished production, consistently outperforms in terms of engagement: user-generated content (UGC) campaigns generate ~50% higher engagement than brand-only content. Meanwhile, 92% of consumers trust organic, user-generated content more than traditional advertising.
Ignoring your audience comes at a real cost: nearly 73% of diners will defect to a competitor if a restaurant fails to respond to messages or comments.
In short: you can’t lean on the random magic of going viral. You need search visibility, consistent content, community engagement, and a feedback loop to build reputation over time. Viral hits are fun and exiciting, but they don’t pay the bills, at least not consistently.
The Role of Search
Virality generates demand. But without search visibility, that demand is wasted. After viral exposure, consumers Google the business name, menu items, or queries like “food near me open now” (searches for which grew 875% YoY).
Restaurant-related searches overall grew 33% YoY (Search Engine Land, 2025).
Yet “restaurants near me” searches fell 12% YoY, showing behaviour shifting to social-first discovery.
Search and social now form a loop:
Consumers discover on social.
They validate on search.
They convert through bookings, reviews, or visits.
Digital PR extends the loop. Media coverage from viral moments provides backlinks and authority signals that strengthen long-term SEO visibility.
Social as Market Research
Social doesn’t just drive traffic. It gives hospitality businesses unprecedented insight into their audiences.
The content consumers prefer when searching TikTok: video tutorials (62%), product/service reviews (39%), personal stories (38%).
For travel, 37% of UK TikTok users actively save content into “future trip” folders (Globetrender, 2024).
For restaurants, top motivators include appetising food (53%), fun experiences (45%), and unique menu items (40%) (MGH, 2025).
Why Diversification Matters
One of the clearest lessons for hospitality brands is don’t put all your eggs in one basket. TikTok may be driving huge discovery right now, but platforms evolve, algorithms shift, and regulations can change overnight. (Hello, U.S)
If your business relies solely on a third-party app for visibility, you’re vulnerable. Building resilience means spreading your presence across multiple channels, not just TikTok and Instagram, but also Google Business Profiles, local SEO, review platforms, newsletters, and even owned communities like loyalty schemes or WhatsApp groups.
Diversification also multiplies opportunities:
Capture more attention: Different demographics favour different platforms (Gen Z on TikTok, older audiences on Facebook, travellers on Instagram).
Build deeper relationships: Owned channels like email or membership clubs let you connect with your audience further
Turn followers into advocates: A multi-channel approach creates brand communities who don’t just follow trends but champion you consistently.
In other words, virality gets you noticed, but loyalty keeps you in business. Hospitality brands need to chase the spikes while also nurturing the steady, long-term relationships that outlast them.
Key Takeaways for Hospitality Leaders
Show up where your audience is. TikTok and Instagram for Gen Z; Facebook and Google for older demographics.
Plan for spikes. Virality will test staff, supply, and systems. Prepare operationally and digitally.
Use social for insight, not just promotion. Decide when to let content performance guide product, service, and campaign decisions.
Invest in search and digital PR. Capture social-driven demand with optimised sites, Google profiles, reviews, and backlinks.
Play the long game. Virality gets attention. Consistency and visibility build sustainable growth.
“Its just a potato, people come for the experience”
Ben and Kyle’s stories mirror the wider hospitality truth in that social media can put you in front of millions overnight, but it’s consistency, community, and search visibility that ensure you stay there long after the scroll has moved on.
