Jamaican-owned restaurant in Canada, Nicey’s Eatery, is extending kindness by offering a customer’s entire order for free after he braved a snowstorm on Monday (January 17) to get his fix of culinary delight only to find it closed. 

The restaurant owners, in an Instagram post on Tuesday, said they were terribly sorry and wanted to make it up to the visibly distraught but yet-to-be-identified man. 

“To our loyal customer, we don’t know who you are but we will be looking out for you. We are terribly sorry the restaurant was closed. We feel your disappointment and hope to see you soon. What ever you had on your mind to purchase today, that meal is on us,” Nicey’s Eatery wrote.

The now-viral CCTV video shows a man drudging through the Toronto snow before making his way to the outdoor patio of Nicey’s. The man, arriving around 1:33 pm, then fell to his knees in anguish at the realisation the restaurant didn’t bother to open amid the historic snowstorm. 

The man then put his hands back into his pockets and slowly dragged himself in a sad march back home, triggering giggles across the internet. 

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While many expressed empathy to the man, the Twitter timeline was tickled by the viral video, with users saying that he unknowingly set himself up for a cold plate of disappointment. 

Based on the reactions, the phenomenon of closing early due to the slightest change in weather seems like a tradition across Caribbean societies. 

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Some Twitter users said the man’s dedication to Nicey’s only solidifies how good the food from the popular eatery is, as to risk getting frostbite for Jamaican food takes great gusto.

Nicey’s Eatery, which has been a staple for Torontonians for 30 years running, operates on Markham Road in Scarborough. Owner Valerie Lai, in an interview with the Daily Hive in Canada, said no one has yet come forward but, for his troubles, he deserves a free meal. 

“I had to watch that video multiple times, and each time, I felt his pain. I was in disbelief that someone would come out of his house to buy food,” she explained.

“It’s wonderful to know our Caribbean cooking motivated him to storm through the mountain of snow. My heart paused and felt terribly sorry we were closed.” Lai added.

A January 18 report from Reuters indicated that a winter snowstorm creeping up the East Coast of the United States into Canada was expected to dump more than two feet (60 cm) of snow in some areas, grounding planes and stranding motorists.

“Traffic was snarled in Toronto, Canada’s largest city, as the snowstorm brought visibility to near zero, shut subway lines and left motorists stranded on local highways for hours,” Reuters reported on Tuesday.

“Buses were at a standstill and passing pedestrians helped push cars up a street at a main commuter route in central Toronto. The region was predicted to get up to two feet of snow, and an extreme weather warning was in effect. Authorities asked residents to stay off the roads,” the article detailed further.