Sorted Food

Sorted Food is the British YouTube food channel and food community founded on March 10, 2010 by four school friends from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire: chef Ben Ebbrell, Mike Huttlestone, Jamie Spafford, and Barry James Taylor. Built around the dynamic between Ben as the trained chef and the three normals trying to learn from him, the channel has grown to 2.92 million YouTube subscribers, 1.39 billion lifetime views, multiple cookbooks, and the subscription-based Sidekick recipe app, all run by a now-16-person team out of London.

TL;DR

• British YouTube food channel founded March 10, 2010 by four school friends from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire
• Founders: Ben Ebbrell (chef), Mike Huttlestone, Jamie Spafford, Barry James Taylor
• James Currie joined as developmental chef around 2014, left May 2021, rejoined permanently in 2025
• 2.92 million YouTube subscribers, 1.39 billion lifetime views, now-16-person team based in London
• Subscription-based Sidekick recipe app, multiple cookbooks, and live events including Sorted Live

Key facts about Sorted Food

Origins from a London flat to a 16-person team

Sorted Food started in 2010 when Ben Ebbrell, a trained chef who had attended culinary school, realized his three high school friends Mike Huttlestone, Jamie Spafford, and Barry James Taylor had no idea how to cook. The four had grown up together in Potters Bar, Hertfordshire and shared a flat in London after school. The channel launched on March 10, 2010 as a way to get students cooking, with early episodes filmed in begged, borrowed, and stolen kitchens using equipment borrowed from a housemate who was a film student.

The editorial framework was clear from the start: one chef (Ben), three normals (Mike, Jamie, Barry), and the comic and educational tension between them as Ben tried to teach the others to cook. Mike Huttlestones android delivery of the catchphrase Ebbers and the affectionate Adult Child characterization across the cast turned the channel into a parody-adjacent vehicle that lived somewhere between cooking instruction and group comedy. The format was sticky in a way that pure recipe content rarely is.

Sorted Food career timeline

• March 10, 2010 Sorted Food YouTube channel launches with Ben Ebbrell, Mike Huttlestone, Jamie Spafford, and Barry James Taylor
• ~2014 James Currie, who met Ben in culinary school, joins as developmental chef and later as on-camera personality
• November 1, 2014 Channel crosses 1 million YouTube subscribers
• 2015 to 2017 Multiple cookbooks publish; brand collaborations with Jamie Oliver and major food brands extend reach beyond YouTube
• September 2, 2018 Channel crosses 2 million YouTube subscribers
• 2019 to 2020 Subscription recipe app Sidekick launches, extending the editorial brand into a structured weekly meal-planning product
• May 2021 James Currie announces he is leaving the channel to focus on a professional chef career; returns as occasional guest over the next few years
• June 2021 Sorted Food welcomes new team members documented on the official blog as the team expands beyond the original four founders
• 2024 to 2025 James Currie returns to the channel on a more permanent basis in 2025; team grows to 16 people
• November 2025 Ben Ebbrell joins The Food Fight podcast live from the Next Bite 2025 conference, addressing consumer-driven meal trends
• 2025 to 2026 Channel passes 2.92 million subscribers and 1.39 billion lifetime views

Sorted Food signature style and editorial approach

The Sorted Food editorial signature is group dynamic plus structured cooking content. Each video puts the original four (plus James Currie or other team members) in a situation that combines comedy, food-themed challenges, and underlying recipe instruction. Recurring formats include ingredient-and-gadget reviews, head-to-head cooking battles, blind taste tests, traitor-style challenges from Sorted Live events, and Jamie Oliver-parody collaborations where Jamie himself appears as an exaggerated version of himself.

The shows tone is consistently warm, self-deprecating, and friendship-driven. Where competitor cooking channels emphasize technique authority or aspirational presentation, Sorted Food emphasizes the comic chemistry of long-time friends who can poke fun at each other while still actually learning to cook. The structure makes the channel particularly accessible to younger viewers and to people who have not previously engaged with food media because it feels closer to comedy than to instruction.

Notable work: Sidekick app and live events

The Sidekick subscription recipe app, launched in 2019 to 2020, is one of Sorted Foods most ambitious editorial extensions. The app provides structured weekly meal plans, ingredient lists, and step-by-step cooking guides built around the channels editorial voice. The subscription model has been studied as a creator-economy case for how YouTube-native brands can build direct-revenue products that depend on but extend beyond the underlying channel.

Sorted Live events extend the brand into in-person formats. The traitor-style live challenges in 2024 generated significant fan feedback, with viewers requesting board-game adaptations of the format. Beyond the apps and events, the cookbooks catalog includes Sorted Beginners and themed releases that translate the channels editorial voice into print.

Awards and recognition

• November 2014 Channel crosses 1 million YouTube subscribers
• 2018 Channel crosses 2 million YouTube subscribers
• 2015 to 2024 Multiple cookbooks publish through mainstream publishers
• 2019 to 2020 Sidekick subscription recipe app launches
• 2025 to 2026 Channel passes 2.92 million subscribers and 1.39 billion lifetime views; team grows to 16 people

Impact and cultural relevance

Sorted Food is among the longest-running British food YouTube channels and one of the most commercially successful YouTube-native food brands globally. The friendship-and-cooking format the four founders pioneered has been imitated extensively but rarely matched, in part because the underlying chemistry of long-time real friends is difficult to manufacture. The Sidekick app demonstrates how a YouTube brand can build durable subscription revenue that does not depend on platform algorithm dynamics.

Within the broader British food-YouTube ecosystem, Sorted Food sits alongside Barry Lewis and Donal Skehan as the defining UK-Irish creator brands of the past 15 years. Where Barry Lewis emphasized the family-cook framing and Donal Skehan moved between TV and YouTube, Sorted Food built the most ambitious multi-product creator-economy stack of any UK food channel.

Sorted Food FAQ

Who founded Sorted Food?

Sorted Food was founded by four school friends from Potters Bar, Hertfordshire: chef Ben Ebbrell, Mike Huttlestone, Jamie Spafford, and Barry James Taylor. They launched the YouTube channel on March 10, 2010 from a shared flat in London.

What is Sidekick?

Sidekick is Sorted Foods subscription recipe app, launched in 2019 to 2020. It provides structured weekly meal plans, ingredient lists, and step-by-step cooking guides built around the channels editorial voice.

Who is James Currie on Sorted Food?

James Currie is the developmental chef who joined Sorted Food around 2014, having met Ben Ebbrell in culinary school. He left the channel in May 2021 to focus on a professional chef career, returned as an occasional guest, and rejoined permanently in 2025.

How many subscribers does Sorted Food have?

The Sorted Food YouTube channel has 2.92 million subscribers and 1.39 billion lifetime views as of 2026. The original four founders are now backed by a 16-person team based in London.

When did Sorted Food start?

Sorted Food started on March 10, 2010 when chef Ben Ebbrell launched the channel with three school friends from Hertfordshire who he wanted to teach to cook. Early episodes were filmed in borrowed kitchens using equipment from a film-student housemate.

What is next for Sorted Food

Sorted Food continues to publish regular YouTube videos and grow the Sidekick subscription app, alongside cookbook releases and Sorted Live events. Follow them on Instagram (@sortedfood).