This American earns $1 million a year with his completely fictitious restaurant

He named his fictional restaurant Bistro Huddy after his son Hudson.

Bistro Huddy has never served a single customer, and yet Drew Talbert’s fictional restaurant has 4.5 million followers and 252.9 million likes on TikTok.

Mr. Talbert, a former waiter, founded Bistro Huddy in 2020 and since then he and his wife have quit their jobs to focus full-time on building their online brand. In addition to producing POV sketches about life in the restaurant industry, Talbert generates revenue through Bistro Huddy merchandise, Patreon subscriptions and brand-sponsored content, NBC reported.

“We have reached a financial situation that we could only dream of five years ago,” Talbert said. “We were barely scraping by from month to month and are now saving for retirement.”

Mr. Talbert says his nine sources of income related to Bistro Huddy bring in an annual sum in the upper six figures, allowing him and his wife to buy a home.

In today’s fragmented media landscape, social media influencers like Talbert can bypass traditional Hollywood and media gatekeepers and reach their followers directly. With his large fan base, Talbert has turned a series of skits into multiple business ventures.

Mr. Talbert, who worked in the restaurant industry for 22 years, also pursued an acting career and taught at a local improv and sketch comedy school. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, his wife introduced him to sketch comedy videos on TikTok and inspired him to create his own.

One of his first viral videos was a sketch based on an encounter he had while working as a waiter. In it, he played several characters, including the waiter, a customer (wearing his wife’s clothes and wigs from his sketch comedy class), and the customer’s child.

“Everyone is looking for their niche,” Talbert said. “I was able to use my sketch comedy background, which I’ve been working on for years. The script, the acting, the characters – all of those things came together.”

He named his fictional restaurant Bistro Huddy after his son Hudson.

After Mr. Talbert secured his first brand partnership, which replaced his waiter income, he never returned to service. Since then, Bistro Huddy has grown steadily.

Mr. Talbert and his wife collaborate on writing and editing, which takes about five to six hours — a quick turnaround that Talbert attributes to her experience as an actor and on social media. Still, Talbert is careful to keep his videos simple.

“It’s exciting to see normal people who look like us,” Talbert said.

Initially, Talbert’s videos revolved around the challenges of working as a waiter, dealing with rude customers or managing an overbearing boss. With discussions about tipping culture growing, Talbert also produced educational videos about restaurant employee pay and the low minimum wage that waiters earn.

Today, his followers tune in to Bistro Huddy to see familiar storylines and drama with a solid cast of characters, including manager Terry, assistant chef Pickles, hostess Amber and bartender Clint.

The fan favorite is Nicole, a sarcastic blonde waitress who usually gets her way. The TikTok account @nicoleserves, which Talbert created for Nicole, has 693,400 followers. Talbert says Nicole is inspired by his wife, whom he met when they both worked at a barbecue restaurant.

“People see Nicole and imagine this beautiful blonde – they don’t even see me anymore,” Talbert said. “People have projected their own ideas of what these characters would look like in real life onto me. I’m just the conduit.”

Fans were so inspired by Talbert’s series that they made their own cuts, came up with new storylines for the Bistro Huddy staff, and even turned the videos into cartoons. There is also a Bistro Huddy Fandom wiki page with detailed character biographies.

In addition to his TikTok presence, Talbert has 1.55 million followers on YouTube and 768,000 on Instagram.

Many fans have asked Talbert to turn Bistro Huddy into a sitcom. While Talbert says there is “potential” for that and he has had conversations with literary agents and others interested in expanding his profile, he is happy with the brand he has built.

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

For now, he has some advice for his followers:

“Tip your waiters,” Talbert said.