About James Lamprey
James Lamprey is an internet sensation well known for creating fun and interesting recipes. His recipes have been viewed more than 100 million times across many different platforms. He has amassed more than 2.8 million followers across these platforms. Most recently, James has become a fan favorite on the new platform TikTok.
TikTok has introduced a whole new audience to James’ recipes. While James’ Facebook page fans tend to consist of older fans, his TikTok fans tend to be much younger. James loves the challenge of creating recipes for different platforms to reach different audiences. One thing that never changes is James’ mission to get more families in the kitchen to share life long experiences with one another. James loves hearing stories of fans sharing memories with their families in the kitchen re-creating his recipes.
James’ Early Years
Born October 9th 1975 in Prince George’s County Maryland in the suburbs of Washington DC, James grew up in the shadow of the Nations Capital. He is the youngest of three siblings. Like most kids, James had always dreamed of becoming a professional football player.
James never made it to the NFL but he did focus on self development and preparing for the future. He began working while in high school at a large fast food chain where he gained a great deal of real world work experience.
Career Path
Graduating high school in May of 1994 James wanted to attend college but the expense was higher than James or his family could afford. College/university seemed a pipe dream. He started an entry level job at a fortune 500 company. Working hard, James quickly moved through the ranks.. He attended college at night and on the weekends to earn multiple degrees in business management and Finance.
James never thought he would become a chef. He took a different path than most in this profession. While most chef’s start out learning their craft in kitchens, James started a Youtube channel FunFoods in 2010 where he experimented with different recipes and ingredients. He quickly found an audience that enjoyed sharing his passion of food.
Reaching New Audiences
After years of growing his FunFoods Youtube channel, James expanded to other social platforms. Most notable is the FunFoods Facebook page that has a following of nearly 400K. James achieved great success on Facebook and had a few viral videos on the platform. In 2016 he posted his “Mountain Dew Ice Cream” video and it quickly achieved nearly 30 million views.
Capitalizing on the success of his Mountain Dew ice cream video James started experimenting with more recipes where he used Mountain Dew as a main ingredient. In 2020 Mountain Dew reached out to James for help creating the Mtn Dew Cookbook “The Big Bold Book of Mtn Dew Recipes”. The book sold out in minutes on the Mountain Dew website. James quickly became well known for making unique recipes using this ingredient.
James has since expanded to all the popular social sites under the name @FunFoodsYT. He creates content that is unique to the format of the platform and has grown his reach substantially.
Recently, he started a TikTok account under the name “Officialfunfoods” where he experienced hyper growth. He gained more than 1 million followers in his first 3 months and has over 30 videos with more than 1 million views each. Some of his videos have over 10 million views. One video got more than 5.4 million views in a 24 hour period (Shark Infested Jello).
Live Shows / Speaking
In January of 2021 James was a guest on Good Morning America. James shared his popular Cinnamon Toast Crunch milkshake recipe to viewers.
James has performed at different live shows in recent years. He has performed main stage live cooking demo’s at LA Cookie Con in 2018 & 2019 and in 2018 was part of a trio judges for the LA Cookie Con cake decorating competition along with Ron Ben-Israel & Chef Jamika. In 2017 James hosted a decorating class at the Big Chocolate Show in New York.
In addition to performances, James has spoken at different events. He has been on panels at Playlist Live Orlando and at many marketing events including the Digital Marketing Conference & Expo, Seattle Interactive Conference & Influencer Marketing Days.
Charity
Charitable giving is an important part of James’ upbringing. He has been a supporter of the Maryland Special Olympics for many years. James’ mother was a special education teacher before she retired after over 30 years of caring for students with special needs. Each year James raises money for the Special Olympics and participates in the annual Polar Bear Plunge where he plunges into the cold Chesapeake Bay in late January to show support for special athletes.