Running a restaurant is tough, from managing staff to unruly suppliers, but it was all worth it for Apollo. The P.O.C. opened his restaurant, Kilimandjaro, in Middlesbrough, and it was a hit. After the first initial hump, the restaurant found its niche in sports enthusiasts who would crowd the space after every big football game.
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The affordable prices and Apollo’s kind demeanour made the place a favourite for locals. But Apollo sank to his knees when three new faces walked into the restaurant carrying a note between them. Unsure of how to react and prompting a strange chain of events.
1. The Restaurant
The lively atmosphere of Kilimanjaro was flooded with football fans every weekend, who all loved the restaurant’s speciality, Waka Waka Chicken. The place quickly became a local spot, and everyone in town visited it regularly.
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This meant that Apollo knew every face that walked into the door. From the kids to the elders and everyone knew Apollo and his team. So, when the three unknown faces opened the restaurant doors on one busy day — something was already off.
2. Busy Day
Later down the years, Apollo would admit that he was so distracted and busy taking care of the kitchen and managing servers that he never noticed the new faces, which was his first mistake.
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Though at the time, everything was going smoothly. During the hectic weekend shift, everything seemed typical for Apollo and his Kilimandjaro team. Customers were pouring, and service was going smoothly on that particular day.
3. Not From Around Town
If you aren’t familiar with Middlesbrough, you wouldn’t know that the city has a very particular accent, which is hard to ignore. So, it didn’t take long for the waitress to take the three strangers’ orders to confirm that they were not locals.
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If it weren’t as busy, the waitress would have chatted with the newcomers and asked for more details, which was the restaurant’s second mistake! Instead, she took the orders and left, with so many other tables, to take care of the newcomers who were quickly forgotten about.
4. Enjoying Themselves
Funnily enough, after the whole incident, the waitress now even remembers what the young lads’ orders were; two of them went from the Waka Waka Chicken with cheese, while the third ordered Waka Waka Chicken without the cheese.
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She even remembered that the trio looked to be enjoying themselves, and just half an hour later, the plates were cleaned off, and they were ready for the check. As the waitress cleared up, she also remembers being asked about the restaurant’s special sauce, which one of the boys claimed was better than another well-known chicken restaurant, Nando’s!
5. Cards Aren’t Accepted
Yes, we know the heading did give away what was about to happen next, but there is more! The food cost £35, $43 for all our American readers. The trio handed out their credit cards as the server approached their table.
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This was when the waitress informed them that it was cash only; the trio looked flustered and fumbled around in their pockets, unsure if they had enough to cover the bill. They then introduced themselves, Tom, Alex, and Harry and said the words no restaurant owner or server ever wants to hear.
6. Leaving The Restaurant
They didn’t have any cash! Again, the waitress looked at them dumbfounded, and just as she was about to cross with them, her attention was again diverted, leaving the boys to figure this situation out for themselves.
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Their solution wasn’t a solution; by the time the server returned, the table was deserted. It looked like the police newcomers had decided to walk out on paying for their bill, and now she had to tell this unfortunate news to Apollo.
7. Unexpected
Despite having extensive experience in the restaurant industry, this was the first time in Apollo’s career that customers had left without paying and in such a rude manner. So naturally, he was furious and sad since he was robbed of his payment and the server of her rightful tip.
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Apollo couldn’t believe that between the three of them, they couldn’t pay their nominal bill, and if they didn’t have cash, why didn’t one go to an A.T.M. while the others waited here? So, naturally, he was furious and upset.
8. The Land Of Honest People
Apollo himself had faced many ups and downs in his life, he knew what it was like to have little to no money, and he felt sad that the boys didn’t feel like they could come up to him and tell him the truth since he would have understood completely.
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Later, in an interview with Gazette Live, Apollo revealed that his formative years spent in his home country of Burkina Faso gave him a profound duty to honesty and a penchant for hard work. His home country’s name translates to “The Land of Honest People.”
9. Taking Drastic Measures
So, this event and how Apollo would go on to handle it would mean a lot to him in the grand scheme of things. He had an image as a trustworthy and understanding individual and expected the world to reflect his core values.
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But the trio changed his perspective and forced him to view the world differently. The news spread quickly around town; everyone was shocked and wanted payback. The community was ready to find the boys again and get revenge.
9. No Hope
Deep inside his heart, Apollo felt that the young boys hadn’t meant to defraud him of the check and had run into some issues. Soon they will return, but everyone told Apollo to toughen up instead.
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Tom, Alex and Harry were the topics of gossip for the coming weeks and with each passing day, Apollo was told to make sure that no incident like this ever happened to him again, with loyal customers asking him to be more vigilant and firm.
10. An Unexpected Letter
And just as the whole thing was dying down and losing attention, a mysterious letter was dropped at the restaurant. It was heavy and wasn’t addressed to anyone. Nevertheless, the server had taken a peek inside and rushed it to Apollo.
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Apollo was more confused than ever; he was still not over the trio disappearing and now a strange letter at the restaurant. What was happening, and was this connected to the boys? As soon as he opened the envelope, he had his answer.
11. It Had $50!
As Apollo opened the envelope, he was shocked to see £40 (roughly $50) in notes fall out onto his desk. The waiter who had found the envelope was waiting with bated breath next to Apollo, excitedly waiting to see what it was all about.
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“We open the envelope; there’s some money,” the owner told Gazette Live. As you can expect, the money was sent by Tom, Alex, and Harry, the three men who had abandoned the restaurant just days before and with it, they sent a letter explaining their motives.
12. They Were Sorry
Apollo had a massive smile on his face. All the days he had spent questioning people and their motives after the incident was being wiped clean, the more he stared at the envelope and the letter within.
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It seemed like there was hope for humanity. “It is my companions’ and [my] sincerest apologies…we forgot to pay our bill,” one of them wrote. “It was very unlike us, which is why we are very remorseful.”
13. They Planned On Paying
The letter went into great detail about what happened that day. According to the boys, they had been travelling to the town for the first time and were excited to try Apollo’s restaurant.
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And when they were told that their cards wouldn’t be expected, they still had planned on paying the bill, but things had taken a dramatic turn, and they felt terrible that they never got the proper chance to do the right thing.
14. They Looked For An A.T.M.
It turns out that the three friends had only left so abruptly because they were rushing to find an A.T.M. and had spent nearly 30 minutes or so searching in vain. It was a rather stressful time for them since they had to catch the last train home.
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With the minutes left till the train left, the trio made a collective decision to stop their search for the A.T.M. and go straight to the station. They recounted in the letter” “This diverted our attention from finding an A.T.M. machine and led to us running down to the train station and just making our train.”
15. Not From Nearby
The letter also confirmed everyone’s suspicions that the trio was not locals and travelling. So naturally, this made paying back the restaurant harder, yet the boys stated that never once did they feel good about what happened.
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Despite all the difficulties they would face to pay back what they owed Kilimandjaro on the train, they had decided that come hell or high water – their paycheck would be paid. First, however, they also said they were sorry it took them this long.
16. They Loved The Restaurant
Apollo was dumbfounded and full of feelings. He had hoped the boys would come back and pay their bill, but he never thought they would do it in such a thoughtful way. Nevertheless, Apollo’s optimism was back and stronger than ever.
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But that wasn’t all of it; in the end, Tom, Alex and Harry vowed that they would go on to give the restaurant five-star reviews on TripAdvisor and any online platform they could find to make up for not paying for their bill, initially.
17. Faith In Humanity Restored
According to Apollo, after reading the message, he was “absolutely gobsmacked.” He said, “It was surprising [and] shocking when we first received the letter.” In his opinion, it wasn’t every day that strangers would go out of their way to do such a thing.
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He said, “I thought those people had disappeared from the planet.” While he came from a country and land of honest people, his time in the U.K. had shown him little kindness, and yet, here, these strangers were again proving that there were still good people.
18. Did They Return?
The perfect ending to this tale would have been a reunion of the boys with Apollo at the restaurant, but sadly, that never happened. So instead, Apollo framed the letter and turned it into a piece of history for the restaurant.
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While the boys’ words were kept close in his heart and just like they had promised, each of them left a good review on TripAdvisor. One of them read “, “I would highly recommend it to anyone in the area and would return if I ever found myself in Middlesbrough again.”
19. No Longer Open
Sadly, his restaurant closed down a few months later despite Appollo’s perseverance and hard work. No real reason was given, but an obvious guess would be issued with finances.
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There are still other locations of Lilimandjaro around the country, so if you want to try their special sauce, which is way better than Nandos according to the trio, give them a quick visit!
20. Feeling Blessed
What about Apollo? He doesn’t seem to have let the restaurant being shut down get to him. He regularly uploads pictures of himself with his family, with his most recent showing him driving a new car with two simple words: “Feeling blessed.”
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He also has become the chairman of Thornaby F.C., a soccer team and has started selling his chicken sauce which is hitting grocery store shelves soon. We don’t know anything about where the trio is now, but hopefully, they know what impact their letter made on Apollo and us.