The character arc of Poppy O'Toole
Born 17 January 1994 in Bromsgrove. Between then and now sit an apprenticeship in a Michelin-starred kitchen, close to a decade of professional cooking, a London job furloughed and then lost in the 2020 pandemic, a first video posted from home to make her siblings laugh, the potato recipes that earned her the name Potato Queen, millions of followers, and a shelf of bestselling cookbooks. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of her life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Poppy O'Toole?
The redundancy that made a Potato Queen.
She was born in Bromsgrove in 1994 and, after leaving school in her late teens, took an apprenticeship under the chef Glynn Purnell at his Michelin-starred restaurant in Birmingham, working her way up to chef de partie. From there she cooked at The Wilderness in Birmingham and in London kitchens, including a members' club in Mayfair. By 2020 she had close to a decade of professional cooking behind her, all of it inside restaurant walls.
The pandemic took that away. Her London job was furloughed in March 2020 and she was made redundant that August. Back at her family home and out of work, she started posting on TikTok in April 2020, at first only to make her siblings laugh, and a simple hash brown recipe found an audience she had not gone looking for. She kept returning to the potato, built a run of dishes around it, and the platform gave her a name: the Potato Queen.
Her line does not run straight up. The lowest point, the day she lost the job she had trained for, is the exact place the climb begins. Within a year her following had grown into the millions, her first cookbook arrived in 2021, four of her books went on to top the Sunday Times bestseller list, and she became a familiar face on British cooking television. Her line is worth reading because it turns hardest at the bottom.
The moments
Poppy O'Toole's timeline.
The 1990s
Born in Bromsgrove
Milestone, and it changed her direction. Born 17 January 1994 in Bromsgrove, in the West Midlands of England.
The 2010s
A Michelin kitchen start
Milestone, and it changed her direction. In her late teens she took an apprenticeship under the chef Glynn Purnell at his Michelin-starred Birmingham restaurant, working up to chef de partie.
The 2020s
Furloughed in the pandemic
Setback. Her London kitchen job was furloughed in March 2020 as the pandemic closed restaurants across the country.
First video on TikTok
Milestone, and it changed her direction. On 1 April 2020 she posted her first video, a hash brown made at home to make her siblings laugh, and it found an audience she had not gone looking for.
Chase kitchens, or post online
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: start posting recipes online, taken, or wait for kitchens to reopen. She kept posting, and within months the potato recipes had made her the Potato Queen with millions of followers.
Made redundant
Setback, and it changed everything. In August 2020 she was made redundant from her kitchen job, and the cooking she was sharing online became the way forward rather than a hobby.
Crowned the Potato Queen
Milestone, and it changed everything. Her potato recipes and a series counting down the days of Christmas with potatoes took off, and the audience gave her the name Potato Queen.
Followers in the millions
Milestone. Within roughly a year of her first video her following had grown into the millions across TikTok and beyond.
Her first cookbook
Milestone, and it changed everything. Poppy Cooks: The Food You Need was published in September 2021, one year on from her first video.
A regular on television
Milestone, and it changed her direction. From 2022 she became a regular guest on the BBC's Saturday Kitchen and other cooking programmes.
The air fryer bestseller
Milestone. The Actually Delicious Air Fryer Cookbook was published in 2023 and became a Sunday Times bestseller.
The Potato Book arrives
Milestone. The Potato Book, published in February 2025, gathered the dishes that had made her name into one collection.
Four number one cookbooks
Milestone, and it changed everything. By August 2025 four of her five cookbooks had topped the Sunday Times bestseller list.
Still cooking for millions
Everyday. She continues to create recipes for millions of followers, with a new cookbook announced, still the Potato Queen.
The line reaches today still climbing, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. She still cooks for millions who found her in a hard year, and the redundancy that looked like the end reads, on the line, as the beginning.
In her words
Quotes by Poppy O'Toole
I wasn't really doing it for any other reason than to help in a time when I couldn't actually do anything else than make some nice food.
Everyone should be entitled to have fun with food and enjoy themselves.
Your turn
Every story draws a unique line.
Hers turned on a bad year she did not choose. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about three minutes.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Poppy O'Toole, verified 16 September 2026.
- poppycooks.com, About Poppy, verified 16 September 2026.
- Penguin Random House, author profile of Poppy O'Toole.
- The Sunday Times Bestseller List.
- Polyester Zine, Keep Your Eyes Peeled for Poppy O'Toole.
- O'Toole, Polyester Zine, Keep Your Eyes Peeled for Poppy O'Toole.