For visitors at a certain deli shop in New York, it pays to be good at maths as the store owner offers free food to customers if they correctly answer a simple math question.
When you stop at your local grocery shop for some eggs and milk, you don’t expect to be quizzed with a maths question, much less offered free food if you can solve it.
But that’s exactly what’s happening at Lucky Candy in the Bronx, which is a deli shop in New York run by cashier Ahmed Alwan.
Ahmed wanted to help out his community, which is why he offered his customers a choice – answer a maths question, and you make take anything you want from the deli free of charge.
Ahmed has been posting videos of the results to his TikTok account and has amassed 3.6 million followers and an extraordinary 69.9 million likes on the platform.
In the videos, Ahmed tells customers that if they can answer a maths question they have five seconds to grab whatever they would like from the deli completely free of charge. The results are quite entertaining.
The elation on customer’s faces when they realise they have got the question right followed by them dashing around the store makes for wholesome content that will have you cheering on the customers from behind your phone screen.
Customers of all ages and from all walks of life are featured but one savvy customer, a young boy named Mohammed, seems to finesse the system by even asking for $50 from the till.
(Image: SIPA USA/PA Images)
Mohammed was asked to answer 12×12+50. A correct answer of 194 satisfies Ahmed, giving the boy the go-ahead, as shown in the TikTok clip above.
According to CNN, Ahmed revealed how he pays for everything out of his own pocket, his concern not being the cash but wanting to help low-income community members.
Some featured customers have known Ahmed for years since he began working at the deli family business whilst some are complete strangers. However, everyone gets a fair shot at solving a maths problem.
Speaking to CNN, Ahmed said: “This changed our relationship with the community big time.
“They’re all showing me so much love and lining up at the store just for a chance to play. We have so many visitors coming to take pictures and say hi. But it’s not about me. It’s about the community.”
Going forward, Ahmed plans to produce more videos and getting increasingly creative with his questions. He has even set up a GoFundMe to support the community further.
So far, $11,897 has been raised to date, a sum that goes towards products and food used for the challenges as well as donations for customers in need.