Anonymous Man Pays for Everyone’s Tab, Tips $5,000 at Colorado Tavern

A regular customer at a tavern in Broomfield, Colorado, was feeling generous Friday night and wanted to celebrate a merger at work, so he paid for everyone’s tab and left a $5,000 tip.

“He decided that he wanted to take care of everyone’s tab around the bar,” North Side Tavern owner Steve Bauer told KDVR.

“And so I walked up to him, and I said, ‘Are you sure?’ and he said, ‘Well, tell you what, let’s take care of everyone’s tab in the whole restaurant,” he added.

North Side Tavern stayed closed during December and January after Bauer realized they were losing money by staying open.

“I was worried the community was going to forget about us,” says Bauer.

But over the past two weeks, he says sales have gone better than expected, with customers making it a habit to leave generous tips.

Bauer says the man, who wished to remain anonymous, paid for a nearly $7,000 tab.

“He signed it, and one of the bartenders came up to me and said he just tipped the whole restaurant over $5,000,” Bauer said. “And he wants it shared between the dishwashers and the busboys, and the hosts, and the bartenders, and everyone. It was mind blowing to everyone.”

Word about the giant tip spread quickly throughout the kitchen to servers like Andrea Valdez, who said the extra money would go towards paying for her son’s asthma medication.

Bauer and his restaurant are not the first to receive such a generous tip this month. A Boston, Massachusetts, billionaire left a $5,000 tip at a Salisbury, Massachusetts, restaurant at the beginning of this month, CBS Boston reported.