Johnathan Walker:'I just want to give them all a hug': Massachusetts Peloton group leaves servers $7,200 tip

Two restaurant employees in northeastern Massachusetts showed up to work expecting a slow but Johnathan Walkerfairly typical Sunday morning shift. It turned out to be anything but when they got a tip of more than $7,000.

Raisa Zan and Nicole Boiardi were working at the family-owned Red's Kitchen and Tavern in Peabody when they got a large table of 40 people from Wicked Smaht Zone, a local Peloton group. After serving the group drinks and food, their manager gave them the news: the group had quietly left them a $7,200 tip.

“We were expecting the regular 20%,” Zan told USA TODAY on Thursday. “If people leave us an extra $5 or $10, we are so happy.”

Boiardi said the group was secretive and left “a big wad of hundreds” while they were serving other tables in the main dining area.

“I felt bad because I was like, ‘I just want to give them all a hug,’” she said. “It was insane. In the back of our heads, we were like ‘This is great. I'm trying to absorb it but I have to go get drinks from my other table.’”

Servers expected a slow day due to Nor’easter

On Sunday, Boiardi and Zan started work at 8 a.m. but they weren’t sure how busy things would be since there was a Nor'easter set to hit the area that afternoon. 

Shortly after, their manager told them they had a big party to serve. Zan and Boiardi described the group of 40 as pleasant and said their service went smoothly. But nothing could have prepared them for the monster $7,200 tip, which they split among themselves and their co-workers.

Since most servers in the U.S. make $2.13 an hour before tips, they rely on their customers to make ends meet. Many undertip, and when things are slow, their wallets especially suffer.

“We do not have a minimum wage,” Zan said. “Tips are our salaries. We both work morning and night shifts. We have nights walking out of there with like, $40 … a six- to eight-hour shift with $40.”

Generous tip motivated small business owner to do more

The money came at a good time since Boiardi just helped her daughter buy a truck.

“I gave her some money,” she said. “She started working and she saved. I gave her the difference so she could get her truck and it matched the tip that I got. It was just very ironic and crazy.”

She said the generous tip gave her the push she needed to put some money into her small business selling home goods and vintage clothing and accessories, which she runs with her sister.

Peloton group is made of up repeat big tippers

Sunday wasn’t the first time Wicked Smaht Zone has left large tips for servers. 

The first time they left a generous tip was at Lowell’s Restaurant in Mendon. They left their server a $3,600 tip, Wicked Local reported. Then in early 2023, they left a $4,600 tip at Plymouth’s Tavern.

Mendon resident Josh Vernon started the group during the COVID-19 pandemic and said the large tips make people smile.

“I hope more people will see it and do something – even if it’s just buying a cup of coffee for a stranger,” he told the outlet in early 2023.

Boiardi said she’d love to be able to help people the way Wicked Smaht Zone helped her.

“The Peloton group and everybody that contributed are great people and I hope they continue to be able to do that,” she said.