Award-winning chef is praised for his ‘life-changing’ act of kindness after giving a homeless man a job as a kitchen porter
- Gary Usher gave the man a job as a kitchen porter at his Manchester bistro, Kala
- Sharing the moment on Twitter, the 37-year-old received more than 32,000 likes
- The award-winning chef said he was ‘made up’ following the meeting on Sunday
An award-winning chef has been praised on social media for hiring a homeless man after meeting him outside his restaurant.
Gary Usher, who trained at Michelin-starred Chez Bruce in London, offered the man a job as a kitchen porter at his Manchester bistro, Kala, on Sunday.
Taking to Twitter to share his heartwarming tale, the 37-year-old had received more than 32,000 likes by Monday morning and was dubbed a ‘life changer’.
He said he was ‘made up’ following the meeting and that the man – known only as Derick – was set to start work on Wednesday.
Good work! Gary Usher (pictured), who trained at Michelin-starred Chez Bruce, offered a homeless man a job as a kitchen porter at his Manchester bistro, Kala, on Sunday
Mr Usher explained on Twitter: ‘Leaving Kala last night about midnight in my chef jacket and got talking to a homeless guy.
‘He asked me for cash and I didn’t have any and there wasn’t a cash point anywhere. As I walked off he shouted, “Mate got any jobs?”.
‘I walked backed to him and said “f****** right I do”. He said he’d do anything. I replied, “mate, you don’t need to do anything, I have a kitchen porter position available and you could do some food prep too”.’
The chef said the pair of them were ‘made up’ following the exchange and met the day after to discuss the start date.
‘I’m buzzing,’ he wrote. ‘I’ve been offering jobs to people on the streets for ten years. Derick is the first person in that time to turn up.’
Social media users were quick to praise the chef and offered their congratulations to an equally ‘buzzing’ Derick.
The moment: Taking to Twitter to share his heartwarming tale, the 37-year-old received more than 32,000 likes by Monday morning
‘You seem a genuinely helpful person who’s aware of the importance of giving people a chance, you might well have changed his life forever! Great stuff,’ one said.
Another wrote: ‘Nice touch Gary. Someone done the exact same to me 18 years ago. I am now very happily married and 17 years clean plus sober. Peace and Love (sic).’
‘Great to know that there are still people like you who can make good things happen. I blubbed about six sentences in,’ one admitted.
One enthusiastic follower said: ‘You might have just changed someone’s life! That’s a pretty cool thing. Respect!’
Mr Usher revealed that he had spoken to Derick’s daughter Chantelle, from Scotland, who encouraged her father to accept the restaurant role.
She tweeted that the chef was ‘a legend’, to which he responded: ‘It’s your dad that’s the legend. What an absolute f****** star! Can’t wait to work with him X.’
Reaction: Social media users were quick to praise the chef and offered their congratulations to an equally ‘buzzing’ Derick
‘Seriously I don’t think I’ll have a better day in 2019,’ he added.
The Elite Bistros group founder continued his Twitter thread by asking his followers for advice on how to get Derick on his payroll, since he has no home address.
‘Can someone help me? What do I do about him having no address? How does it work with him having no details? Whatever it is I’ll sort it. I just need to know,’ he wrote.
Homeless shelters, charities and local support centre representatives replied within minutes to offer their support.
The Elite Bistros group founder continued his Twitter thread by asking his followers for advice on how to get Derick on his payroll, since he has no home address
Mr Usher thanked people for the ‘lovely, lovely words’, yet insisted the congratulations should be given to his new employee.
‘Lovely, lovely words being sent my way and that’s great, thank you, but it wasn’t me that asked for the job,’ he wrote.
‘Can’t even imagine how hard it must have been to turn up at the restaurant today. It’s genuinely been a lovely, lovely day seeing Derick and speaking to [his daughter].’
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