Customer Leaves Generous $5,600 Tip For Employees Of Ohio Restaurant

Dozens of employees of an Ohio restaurant can now afford Christmas presents for their families because of a tip from a generous diner.

"There was a lot of tears, I'm tearing up now talking about it," Moussa Salloukh, owner and chef of Souk Mediterranean Kitchen in Toledo, told CNN about the $5,600 tip. "Your restaurant staff becomes your family and everyone cares about each other. I've been staying out of the kitchen to give employees hours to get through and put gifts under the tree for their kids, so this was so huge for us."

The guest who left the tip on December 12 told the restaurants he wanted to remain anonymous. Divided evenly among all 28 staff members, each employee received $200 of the tip. Salloukh explained to CNN that the gesture made it possible for employees who otherwise couldn’t afford Christmas gifts for their families because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to buy them.

“A lot of them felt like someone was. Looking and watching down on them,” Salloukh. said. “It gave us a lot of hope. It was just a beautiful thing to do for 28 strangers you don’t even know…’Thank you’ isn’t enough.”

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