A surprising act of kindness by a longtime customer spurred a “pay it forward chain” at Fontenot’s Fresh Seafood & Grill on March 15. Ashley Bobo, a frequent patron of the Winter Park restaurant, and server Sue Taylor shared the story with Sky-Hi News.

“So many of us go about our days without stopping and appreciating the true generosity that surrounds all of Grand County,” Bobo wrote. “Fontenot’s had a pure and true example of this on just a normal crazy spring break Saturday.”

On a random night towards end of winter, the restaurant was full of tourists, as well as a few loyal customers when a table in Taylor’s section started the giving chain anonymously.

While the staff were busy “trying to make sure all visitors had an amazing experience keeping the magic of Grand County alive for all vacationing here,” Bobo described. “They didn’t think too much of the tried-and-true local table that they knew they could count on being patient and kind during this busy time.”

When Taylor checked on this table, she got a rare request. The customer asked if he could pay for the table near him, which included a father and two kids visiting Grand County.

“This father was attentive and giving his all to his children,” Bobo wrote. “The local appreciated watching this dedication and parenting style.”

This local paid the family’s tab anonymously and left quietly after his good deed. Taylor informed the dad that their meal was taken care of.

Surprised and touched, the dad wanted to give back in some way, so Taylor suggested that he “pay it forward.” But as a visitor, he wasn’t sure which table to choose.

“We’re really close with our customers, because we’ve all worked here a long time … and I’d just met this new couple that had been coming in recently,” Taylor recounted.

She recommended he pay it forward to the couple, since they were “locals and new to town.”

That astonished, yet grateful couple then picked another table and paid their tab for them. Then, one family in the chain decided to pay for two tables at once, which stretched the giving even further.

This spontaneous wave of generosity continued for the entire night with at least 15 tables paying it forward.

“What was noticed by the staff was that this small act of kindness sent forward a different level of engagement for each tables’ conversations and interactions, while the each person was trying to decide who should be the next to have it paid forward,” Bobo wrote.

The kids in the restaurant especially had a lot of fun with this idea. By the end of the night, various tables sparred in good spirit about who the last beneficiary would be. Once it was time for the restaurant to close, two separate couples benefited from everyone’s generosity before them with a free meal.

“They were both local young couples,” said Taylor. “That was cool because they both had dinner paid for them from the whole line. There was no one else to pay it forward to.”

Taylor added that the two couples bought each other shots at Fontenot’s bar, plus tipped the bartender a great amount.

“I’ve worked in the restaurant business since I was 14, like 40 years or 35 years, and I’ve never had anything like that happen before,” Taylor said. “It was very cool.”

She added that over her decades in the industry, she’s seen people buy each other drinks, or even a meal in a one-off instance – but nothing like that night.

A local started the trend, and it ended with local couples receiving free meals. However, most of the people in the restaurant that night were tourists. Taylor said she is glad for that, because it showed those people what a giving place Grand County is.

“The joy of these acts of kindness continue to spur conversation and engagement amongst the locals,” Bobo wrote. “Keep it up, Grand County. We are what make the county great.”