A story that started off with what appears to be a prank played on a local restaurant has had two happy endings.
“On Wednesday evening the cashier took a call for a takeout order to be picked up on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.," said Kevin Syrette, the owner of Stackburger, told SooToday. "It was a big order. I'm talking over $400."
“I had to do 30 hamburger patties for 10 double burgers and 10 singles but we can only fit 20 on the grill at once," he continued. "We had 20 milkshakes, five chicken sandwiches, five poutines, five fries. It was a very big order. This was a $430 order.”
Big takeout orders are not unusual at Stackburger.
“We get a lot of big takeout orders from different organizations and companies in town, like Algoma Steel," Syrette said. "It's a normal thing for us. So the cashier took the order and what we do is we get a call back number just in case, but we've never had to use a call back number in 10 years in business. People show up either a couple minutes before or a couple minutes after the takeout time. It’s not a big deal."
That wasn’t the case with this order.
“We were excited about it. We started getting it ready for one o’clock as our regular customers were coming in. We got it all bagged up. It was 1:30 and we were waiting. Nobody came. Then it was 1:45 and I was a little bit worried, like ‘where is this person?’” Syrette said.
The phone number provided by the person who placed the takeout order — the person identified themselves as ‘Chris’ — was called but the local 705 area code number was out of service.
"It was two o’clock. We're trying to figure out ‘what do we do?’ The food was still hot and still good so I said: ‘Well, let's give it away,’" Syrette said.
After some discussion, Syrette and his team decided to donate the food to Pauline’s Place.
Located on Wellington Street West, Pauline’s Place addresses homelessness for youth, women and families by providing temporary emergency shelter and basic necessities such as food, clothing and hygiene products.
“One of our former cashiers works there so we called them and they said they would take it. We had one of our workers drive it over there. We felt like it was the right thing to do.”
Syrette said he felt a great sense of disappointment over the prank takeout order.
“Why would somebody feel the need to do that to us? We're a small business. We're not a chain. To have that happen, it was like: ‘What did I do to anybody to deserve that?’”
Syrette said that Stackburger, moving forward, will verify any phone numbers given during a takeout order with a call back before any food is prepared.
Giving the food to Pauline’s Place eased that sense of disappointment, to an extent.
“It felt great," Syrette said. "You have to give back. In my business I’ve sponsored kids in hockey, soccer, baseball, bowling and dance. We try to give back a lot. My first thought was: 'Let's give that food to somebody. Let's give it to somebody that needs it.'"
The story soon spread across town, thanks to Stackburger Facebook post and a subsequent thank you message on the Pauline’s Place Facebook page.
However, the positive aspect to the story did not end there.
“Last night my cashier called and said that somebody came in and said they read the Facebook post," Syrette said. "They asked how much the bill was and they paid it. My cashier was like: 'No, no, it's okay' but they refused and they paid it last night."
The person who paid the bill — $439.20 — told the cashier they wanted to remain anonymous.
“When the cashier called and said that somebody just came in and paid it was an overwhelming feeling," Syrette said. "It just tells me of the strength of our community. It just shows how the community comes together in times like that."