How US man makes $1 million from a restaurant that’s never served a customer

An American man runs a restaurant that brings in about seven figures annually.

Still, there’s a catch. He’s never had a customer.

Drew Talbert’s immensely popular creation is Bistro Huddy, a fictitious restaurant that can only be found on TikTok.

Here’s all we know about it.

Source of income

The comedy skits concerning the food service profession on the fictitious restaurant’s TikTok account have amassed almost 4.5 million followers.

His business is doing so well that he is now earning an income in the “upper six-figures range annually,” even though he has never served a bite, according to New York Post.

All thanks to merchandise sales, Patreon subscriptions, and brand partnerships.

“We put ourselves in a financial situation we could have only dreamed of five years ago,” the former server-turned-comedian told NBC News, adding, “We went from month to month, barely scraping by, to now be(ing) able to save for retirement.”

Making simple videos, Talbert and his spouse work on the writing and editing process for about five or six hours.

Talbert credits their short turnaround time to their background in acting and social media.

“There’s an excitement about seeing just regular people that look like us,” Talbert said.

The fictional restaurant

Bistro Huddy is named after his son, Hudson.

After spending 22 years working in restaurants, Talbert went on to seek a career in acting and became a teacher at a nearby sketch comedy school, as per NDTV.

His wife sent him sketch comedy videos on TikTok during the COVID-19 lockdowns, which encouraged him to make his own.

Apart from his massive fan base on TikTok, he also boasts 776,000 Instagram followers and 1.5 million YouTube subscribers.

From addressing the difficulties of being a waiter, handling rude customers, or supervising an overbearing superior, Talbert has created educational videos regarding how restaurant employees are compensated and the low minimum pay servers receive in response to the expanding conversations surrounding tipping culture.

Using his wife’s outfits and wigs from his sketch comedy lessons, he plays several parts in a skit based on an incident he had while working.

“Everyone’s looking for their niche,” Talbert said, as per New York Post, adding, “I was able to use my sketch comedy background that I’ve been working on for years. The writing, the acting, the characters — all these things kind of came together.”

His avid followers have requested that Talbert make Bistro Huddy into a sitcom. He is happy with the reputation he has established, though he has spoken with literary agents and other people who are interested in raising his profile.

“It doesn’t get much better than what’s going on right now,” he said. “We have full creative control. We’re at home with our kids.”

He has one bit of advice for his followers as of right now, according to NDTV, “Tip your servers.”

Its popularity

His fans now watch Bistro Huddy for the well-known plots and drama surrounding a main group of characters, such as Amber the hostess, Clint the barman, Pickles the line chef and Terry the manager.

They say his skits bring back memories of their time working in the restaurant business, while others claim the characters are so believable that they fail to realise they are all “played by the same guy,” as per the New York Post.

The blonde waiter Nicole, who is sarcastic and typically gets her way, is the popular fave. It currently has 693,400 followers. Talbert claims that his wife, whom he met while working at a barbecue restaurant, is the source of inspiration for Nicole.

“People see Nicole, and they picture this gorgeous blond — they don’t even see me anymore,” Talbert explained. “People have now projected their own idea of what these characters would be in real life over me. I am just the conduit.”

Influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is a social media marketing strategy that uses product mentions and endorsements from influential people, explains sproutsocial.com.

These people have a devoted social media following and are recognised as authorities in their field.

Influencer marketing is quite effective because social influencers have earned a great deal of trust from their followers over time.

According to the 2024 Influencer Marketing Report, 49 per cent of consumers say that they are influenced to purchase at least once a month. According to the survey, 86 per cent of consumers make a purchase that was influenced by an influencer at least once a year.

It should come as no surprise that the Influencer Marketing Hub’s most recent report projects the sector to reach $24 billion by 2024.

With inputs from agencies