Mary Haglund, owner of Mary’s Gourmet Diner in Winston-Salem, North Carolina offers 15 per cent discount for praying in public

ONE cafe owner is offering a 15 per cent discount when customers do something which she says is too often practised behind closed doors.

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ONE cafe owner is offering a 15 per cent discount when customers do something which she says is too often done behind closed doors.

The Daily Beast reports that Mary Haglund, owner of Mary’s Gourmet Diner in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has been offering the discount now for four years.

“For me, every plate of food is a gift,” she said. “And I never take that for granted and when I see someone in a restaurant honouring their gratefulness at my table … it touches my heart.”

Ms Hagland, 60, is the daughter of a preacher and a missionary, who spent her teenager years in the Philippines where she said she saw real need.

She said her faith fell away as she got older but still calls herself a spiritual person.

Ms Hagland said the discount is not a cafe policy and isn’t advertised. She said those wait staff that feel uncomfortable by it do not have to offer it and that it is multidenominational.

The cafe’s discount spread this week after a woman named Jordan Smith visited Mary’s Gourmet Diner with co-workers and prayed over her meal. The customer later posted her receipt on Facebook

“[We] prayed over our meal and the waitress came over at the end of the meal and said, ‘Just so you know, we gave you a 15 per cent discount for praying,’ which I’d never seen before,” Ms Smith said.