The guest, who asked the restaurant to allow him to remain anonymous, was eating at Souk Mediterranean Kitchen in Toledo on December 12 when he left the massive tip for the 28 employees, including those who were out that day. After splitting it up, each staff member took $ 200.
“There were a lot of tears, now I’m tearing them apart,” Moussa Salloukh, owner and chef of Souk, told CNN. “Your restaurant staff becomes your family and everyone cares about each other. I’ve been out there in the kitchen to give employees hours to pass by and put gifts under the tree for their kids, so that was so huge for us. ”
Several employees who could not afford a Christmas tree or gifts for their family due to the pandemic told Salloukh that the tip was the only thing that “made this possible.”
“Many of them had the feeling that someone was looking at them and watching them. It gave us a lot of hope, it was just a beautiful thing for 28 strangers you don’t even know,” Salloukh said.
Salloukh opened his restaurant in October 2019 and, like many other businessmen, was struggling to keep it alive due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But now, when the restaurant gets back on its feet, Salloukh says the kind gesture is a “reminder” that despite the obstacles and struggles, everything will be fine.
“The restaurant was a tribute to my mother and everything was going very well until March, when we had to close,” he added. “Financially there was a big impact, but we did almost everything to survive. Then all of a sudden these gentlemen come in and give us a $ 5,600 tip for all our employees.” Thanks “not enough.”