Before Outer Banks, Rudy Pankow Was Bussing Tables And Washing Dishes At This National Chain

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Celebrities. You know, "they're just like us." It may come as a surprise to some, but celebrities are, indeed, humans. And, if you don't come from money, you've got to make some. So you may have to rise and grind (coffee) or put some burgers on the griddle daily, then clock out and follow your dreams. Before they hit it big, many celebrities worked in fast food restaurants — with McDonald's and Baskin-Robbins employing many celebrities for an hourly wage. Rudy Pankow, star of Netflix's "Outer Banks," didn't work strictly in "fast food." He was sort of fast food adjacent at The Cheesecake Factory at The Grove in LA, where he eschewed the server limelight, preferring to remain backstage (or back-of-house in restaurant parlance) as a dishwasher and busser.

On the podcast "Happy Sad Confused," which can be viewed on YouTube, Pankow said, "I signed myself up for the dish room, and I was back there for about six or seven months, then they promoted me to busser. I'm pretty sure they asked me, like, 'What do you want to be?' And I was like, 'busser,' and they were like, 'Oh, okay. This kid's weird.'" He said he didn't want to become a server, although he would have likely made much more money, because he'd have "too much responsibility," and it would, potentially, be more difficult to ask for time off and get a shift covered to follow his acting dreams. "... And that's where I stayed until 'Outer Banks' happened," he said. Certainly, any given restaurant in LA right now has an actor on the verge of stardom, but what about the general star power of The Cheesecake Factory?

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Way back in 1985, Kris Jenner showed her appreciation for The Cheesecake Factory in her music video for the song "I Love My Friends" (playing with the Randy Newman song "I Love L.A."), which her daughter, Kim Kardashian, reposted on YouTube. The song was to celebrate Jenner's 30th birthday. In the song's lyrics, her family is "big on," among other things, bible studies and Cheesecake Factory. And jumping forward to 2010, Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry said on X, "Had Cheesecake Factory tonight with the family. They got the best appetizers! Now I need a good night's rest tonight cuz we got NOLA tmw." And, it turns out, Golden State won that game, so there may be some power in The Cheesecake Factory's giant menu.

In a chat with The Cut, Blake Lively went so far as to say that The Cheesecake Factory "should have Michelin stars." And on X, Cardi B attempted to get the chain involved with her vodka-infused whipped cream brand, Whipshots, saying, "Cheesecake Factory ...let's do a Whipshots collab .....I already like y'all cocktails let's do like a Irish Cream drink with Whipshots." The Cheesecake Factory responded with a couple of positive-looking emojis, but it appears that the collaboration hasn't gone beyond the communication on X.

As for the reviews on Rudy Pankow's star power, The Cheesecake Factory at The Grove comes through with a meager 3 stars on Yelp, a semi-solid 4.2 stars on Google, and 4.3 stars on TripAdvisor. But, regardless of the meal, you might just want to get your photo taken with the busser because, you never know, you know?