'COVID Bandit' Left $1,400 Tip For 7 Café Employees To Share

ESTES PARK, CO — Restaurant industry workers have been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, so it's always a warming moment when a waiter or waitress is left a large tip by someone who appreciates their work and recognizes their struggle.

The latest generous tipper in Colorado is a man who wants to be known as the "COVID Bandit," according to a 9News report.

The man, a regular at the Notchtop Café in Estes Park, left a $1,400 tip on a $20 bill while he was there for lunch last week. He told his waitress it was to be split evenly among the seven employees working at the café at the time.

"I think it's wonderful," Notchtop Café owner Nailya Khametvalieva told 9News. "I think we need some good energy like that, especially with the circumstances restaurants are going through ... things like that bring hope to my staff."

The good-willed $1,400 "COVID Bandit" had a conversation with his server about the difficulties residents of Northern Colorado have faced over the past year in the midst of the pandemic and the wildfires that have hit Colorado and other western states, Khametvalieva told the news station.

The gift "has touched many lives," the café wrote on its Facebook page.

Before he paid for his bill, the tipper asked the server how many people were employed by the café.

He wrote, "$200 for each employee today!" on the check that included the $1,400 tip.

Since then, eight other customers have left $100 tips for the staff, Khametvalieva told the news station.

"It makes us feel like we're not alone here," she said.

Read more via 9News