A popular Flin Flon meeting spot has been named one of the best places to eat this winter by Travel Manitoba.
The Orange Toad is one of 14 Manitoba eateries featured on a list compiled by social media specialist Kirsten Neil and published on the Travel Manitoba website.
“I discovered this homey coffee shop when I was up in Flin Flon last spring,” Neil wrote, recounting the story of an Orange Toad patron who paid for her London Fog before she could even reach for her wallet.
“Pretty sure this is the kind of joint that has a ‘Norm!’ walking through the door every day,” Neil wrote, referencing the character from the TV show Cheers.
Orange Toad manager Jackie Hucaluk said being on the list is a great honour, but adds, “It’s the customers that make it
so great.”
Hucaluk said there have been lots of questions about who the “Norm” who bought Neil’s London Fog is.
“I think there’s many Norms. We have morning Norms, afternoon Norms, and after 4 [pm] Norms. There’s Saturday Norms, and there’s girl Norms and boy Norms.”
Over the past couple of years the Orange Toad has been in what Hucaluk calls its pay-it-forward days.
“Somebody will say, ‘I’d like to leave $20 and then can you buy the rest of the coffees till the $20 is done,’” she explained. It happens often, and more at Christmastime.
Hucaluk told the story of one man who gave $100 to celebrate his 20th wedding anniversary.
“And sometimes it goes on,” Hucaluk added.” “One day it lasted pretty much all day. It was hundreds of dollars that ended up being pay it forward.”
That kind of atmos-phere may be what Neil was describing when she wrote, “This place just exudes rural hospitality.”
Hucaluk said the best part of Orange Toad customers’ pay-it-forward generosity is that it’s not just people in need, but everyone, who benefits. “Everybody gets a surprise.”
Occasionally Orange Toad staff have to explain the process. Hucaluk tells the story of one woman who insisted she wanted to pay for her coffee. “I don’t want to owe anybody,” the woman said.
“You don’t owe anybody,” Hucaluk told the woman. “It’s just somebody needed to do a good deed today and they bought your coffee, so smile at somebody on Main Street. That’s all you need to do.”
To read Travel Manitoba’s complete list of the best places to eat this winter, visit the webpage at www.manitobahot.com/ 2015/12/winter-eats.
