Jelly Roll wasn’t kidding when he said he wanted to buy a plate of fried chicken for the whole city of Little Rock, Ark.
Before he played his Beautifully Broken Tour stop in the city on Tuesday (Oct. 22), Jelly hopped on social media and explained that he was opening up a tab at downtown fried chicken restaurant Gus’s Chicken for anyone who wanted to come grab dinner.
There was a backstory behind the gesture of good will. Gus’s is right next door to a venue called the Rev Room, which Jelly played “probably 20 times” early on in his career, and he always used to grab a plate of chicken after those shows.
He’s since moved up, of course: This time he visited Little Rock, the singer sold out the city’s arena venue. His idea to offer free chicken at Gus’s was a symbol of his support for younger acts, and a little bit of motivation to keep playing and keep working on music at every stage in their careers.
Now, Jelly is sharing the aftermath of his chicken free-for-all. He shared a screenshot of the receipt from Gus’s to his Instagram Stories, which shows he purchased $11,368.12 worth of chicken for the people of Little Rock.
But that’s not all. Jelly also left a whopping $7500 tip. That’s more than a 65 percent tip — well above the going rate of 20 percent for good customer service.
According to local news station KARK, Jelly’s generosity left a big impression on Gus’s employees.
“A difference for me with the blessing because I’ve got bills and kids, so it definitely helped me,” says employee Shantell Miller. “We don’t have a lot of people who come and do that.”
Jelly’s Beautifully Broken Tour is set to continue through October.
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Gallery Credit: Carena Liptak