13 People Who Made It Into Fast Food Business

• Many celebrities, politicians and entrepreneurs started working in fast food chains.

• Jeff Bezos said working the grill at McDonald’s taught him responsibility.

• Former President Barack Obama worked at Baskin-Robbins during his high school years.

Would you be shocked to learn that many successful entrepreneurs and celebrities have already made money flipping burgers?

From Jeff Bezos to Brad Pitt to Barack Obama, these celebrities prove that even the most successful people can have humble beginnings and learn many valuable lessons working at fast food chains.

Here are 13 successful people who started working in fast food.

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos started out working on the grill at McDonald’s.

Before becoming the second richest person in the world with a net worth of $212.4 billion, according to Forbes, Bezos worked at McDonald’s.

In Cody Teets’ book “Golden Opportunity: Remarkable Careers That Began at McDonald’s,” Bezos revealed that he worked at the grill and that the job taught him responsibility. Business Insider previously reported that Bezos worked at McDonald’s during the summer as a teenager — and that his father was also employed at McDonald’s.

“My first week on the job, a 5-gallon ketchup dispenser in the kitchen was left open and poured a prodigious amount of ketchup into every hard-to-reach crevice in the kitchen,” Bezos told Teets. “Since I was the new guy, they gave me the cleaning solution and said, ‘Go ahead!’”

“I was a grill man and never worked the cash register,” he continues. “The hardest part was keeping up during peak hours. The manager at my McDonald’s was great. He had a lot of teenagers working for him and he kept us focused even while we were having fun.”

Rachel McAdams also worked at McDonald’s when she started out.

By her own account, the actress was not a star employee at the fast food giant and even accidentally broke an orange juice machine while she was at work, US Magazine reported.

“I worked at the local McDonald’s for three years,” McAdams told The New York Times in 2008. “I’m not sure why they kept me: I’m a bit of a dreamer and lazy, so they let me just be the ‘friendly voice’ that greeted you at the door. I was slow—putting the sweet and savory packets into the customer’s to-go bag while the line stretched out the door.”

Barack Obama served ice cream at Baskin-Robbins in high school.

Obama was working at a Baskin-Robbins ice cream parlor near his grandparents’ home in Honolulu in the summer of 1978.

“Making a scoop of ice cream is harder than it looks. Rows and rows of rock-hard ice cream can be brutal on the wrists,” the former president wrote of the experience in a since-deleted LinkedIn post.

“My first summer job wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it taught me valuable lessons,” Obama said. “Responsibility, hard work, balancing work, friends, family and school.”

Before she became famous, Madonna worked at Dunkin’ Donuts in Times Square.

The “Material Girl” singer told Howard Stern in a 2015 interview that she was fired after pouring jello topping on a customer.

“I think I was there for about a week,” she said, revealing that she was fired for playing with the jelly doughnut machine and not taking it seriously.

Brad Pitt dressed up as a chicken while working at El Pollo Loco.

The award-winning actor opened up about his brief stint as El Pollo Loco’s mascot with Ellen DeGeneres in 2019.

Pitt told the talk show host that before he became a famous actor, he dressed up as a chicken for the opening of the fast food chain’s location at Sunset and La Brea in Los Angeles, and that he had “no shame” about the job.

“Man must eat,” he laughed.

Jay Leno started cutting potatoes at the Golden Arches.

CNBC reported that the comedian and late-night host worked at a McDonald’s restaurant in Andover, Massachusetts, as a teenager before he became famous.

“I worked at a restaurant on Main Street for two years, from 1966 to 1968,” Leno told Cody Teets in “Golden Opportunity: Remarkable Careers That Began at McDonald’s.” “That was back in the good old days when they still had roast beef and strawberry shortcake, which I was a big fan of.”

“I had huge forearms from cutting those potatoes,” he continued, explaining that he was responsible for cutting potatoes to make the chain’s famous French fries each day.

Queen Latifah’s first job was at Burger King when she was 15.

Long before she was nominated for an Oscar, Latifah learned the value of a dollar while working at her local Burger King restaurant.

“If my brother and I wanted to have money in our pockets, we had to get a job. My first job was at Burger King when I was 15. We had to find ways to generate income,” Latifah, who at the time went by the name Dana Owens, told Parade in 2011.

Pink previously worked at the McDonald’s drive-through.

In a 2015 interview with Food and Wine, Pink revealed that her family encouraged her to start earning her own money when she was a teenager.

“I was a drive-thru girl at McDonald’s. I had a Janet Jackson microphone, I had power,” the singer told the magazine, according to Pop Crush.

Before founding Def Jam, Russell Simmons made $2.25 an hour working behind the counter at Orange Julius.

Simmons told Forbes that working at Orange Julius provided him with a good learning experience, even though the job didn’t last long.

“I got fired after a month, so I learned that you have to be inspired by your work,” he said.

Gwen Stefani’s work at Dairy Queen led to the formation of her hit band No Doubt.

The Los Angeles Times reported that “The Voice” judge worked at Dairy Queen when she was younger, where she also worked with her brother Eric Stefani and friend John Spence.

The group formed their first band, Apple Core, in 1986. They later renamed themselves No Doubt and won two Grammy Awards, no doubt thanks to Dairy Queen.

Eva Longoria worked at Wendy’s before she became a big actress.

Longoria first alluded to her job as a burger flipper at Wendy’s in her speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, The Huffington Post reported.

She later revealed that she had worked while underage in order to pay for her quinceañera — with a signed parental permit that allowed her to work before it was technically legal to do so.

“I wanted to have a quinceañera when I was 15, but my family didn’t have any money,” the actor told Redbook, according to People. “I got a job at Wendy’s and paid for it myself. I couldn’t wait to get to work and make my own money.”

Megan Fox dressed up as a giant banana while working at the Tropical Smoothie Café.

“I worked at a Tropical Smoothie Cafe in Florida when I was 15,” the “Jennifer’s Body” star told Bang Media in 2009, according to Digital Spy.

“I had to go out on the street in a giant banana costume and dance to try to attract customers,” she continues. “There was no anonymity, the costume had a big hole cut out so everyone could see your face.”

“My friends from school would drive back and forth and yell all sorts of unbelievable obscenities at me,” she said.

Jennifer Hudson said her “first and only real job was at Burger King.”

“I used to sing at the drive-in. That was my microphone,” Hudson told People in 2018.

Read the original article on Business Insider