Man's kind Facebook post rallies community to save struggling restaurant
When a perfect plate of fish and chips helped Colin Ross tackle his hangover, he decided to do the restaurant a favor, too.
Ross visited Whitbie's Fish & Chips in Lethbridge, Alberta the morning after a night out, thinking that a good meal might make him feel better. It did -- and Ross was blown away not only by the food's deliciousness, but by the restaurant's emptiness.
“I just came in and walked in the door and saw this old guy just sitting there in a chair,” Ross told BuzzFeed Canada. That man was restaurant owner John McMillan, who'd been struggling so much to attract customers that he was unable to give himself a paycheck.
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Ross offered to help McMillan with a marketing strategy, but McMillan "sloughed him off." So Ross took matters into his own hands and wrote a Facebook post instead.
In the post, Ross praised the food -- "absolutely amazing," he wrote -- as well as the way McMillan runs his business. "And the owner was a gem, a real classy stand up guy," he wrote.
"Thank you Lethbridge show this man some support!" he added.
And Lethbridge came through. Ross's post has been shared over 8,000 times since it was posted, and the lines at Whitbie's have been snaking through the restaurant and going out the door.
On Tuesday, McMillan had his best day of business in over seven years of operation.
Best of all, it looks like Whitbie's has more than a few new fans — and, we hope, future regular customers.
On social media, Ross expressed joy at his community's effort to help -- and enjoy -- a wonderful small business. "This is what being Canadian is all about," he wrote.
Topics Facebook
Chloe was the shopping editor at Mashable. She was also previously a culture reporter. You can follow her on Twitter at @chloebryan.
