Drew Talbert is making roughly seven figures a year from his restaurant, but he’s never had a customer.
Bistro Huddy, a fictional restaurant that exists only on TikTok, is Talbert’s wildly successful creation that has earned him 4.5 million followers on the platform, where he posts comedy skits about the food service industry.
Despite never having served food, the business is thriving thanks to brand partnerships, Patreon subscriptions and merchandise sales, and he now earns a “high six-figure range annually” in revenue.
We put ourselves in a financial situation that we could have only dreamed of five years ago, the former comedian-turned-server told NBC News.
We went month to month, barely scraping by, until now[ing] able to save for retirement.
Bistro Huddy, named after his son Hudson, draws on Talbert’s 22 years of real-life restaurant experience for the viral sketches, in which he dons one of his many wigs to play multiple characters who are co-workers, customers and more.
“Bistro Huddy” has become the Gen Z version of “Cheers” except all the characters are played by Talbert himself.
There’s the restaurant manager, Terry, as well as a line cook named Pickles, a hostess named Amber, and a bartender who goes by Clint, all played by Talbert, who auditioned for acting roles and took improv classes while working. in a restaurant.
Some people even have their own TikTok profiles, like Bistro Huddy employee Nicole B., who already boasts more than 693,000 followers on the app.
Die-hard Bistro Huddy fans say the sketches remind them of their time in the restaurant industry, while others say the characters are so compelling they forget they’re all “played by the same guy.”
People see Nicole and take pictures of this gorgeous blonde, and they don’t even see me anymore, Talbert explained. People have now projected onto me their idea of what these characters would be in real life. I’m just the channel.
Talbert started doing sketch comedy online during the pandemic after his wife introduced other creators to the platform, and it paid off. In addition to his gigantic following on TikTok, he boasts 776,000 fans on Instagram and 1.5 million on YouTube.
At the moment, he’s not looking to expand his brand, despite talks with literary agents and other people who could help turn the show into a proper sitcom, relishing the reality of having “full creative control” and the ability to be at home with the children.
“Everyone is looking for their place, Talbert said.
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 just kind of came together.”
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Image Source : nypost.com