Man in French town pays for everyone’s food

The unexpected surprise happened at 12h30 on Monday (November 12), said Adrien Tavitian, sales manager at the Sandwiche House shop in the centre of town, which received the unexpected payment.

A local man in his fifties, who had previously been a sporadic visitor to the shop to buy the odd coffee or croissant, suddenly turned up and paid €238 on a card.

This amount covered all of the food left in the shop that day, including pastries, cakes, sandwiches, pizzas and paninis.

The man wanted “everyone to eat for free”, he said, according to Mr Tavitian.

The mystery donor stayed in the shop for around five minutes after the payment, but did not take anything to eat himself, and left on the city’s tram without further comment or explaining any further reason for his actions, Mr Tavitian said.

Around 20 customers were able to eat for free that day as a result, including a regular customer who received a free pizza.

Mr Tavitan said: “He is a client who comes in from time to time in the mornings to get a coffee or a croissant, but he has never done this kind of thing. You could see that it really meant a lot to him.”

A customer who was in the shop at the same time as the mystery man, said: “He was dressed normally, nothing special about him - an everyman! We spoke for about five minutes and he was really kind and friendly, but he didn’t want to say much more and was quite evasive.

“He then boarded the tram and continued his journey.”