Restaurant Owner Discovers Life-Changing Cash Stash — What He Does Next Will Restore Your Faith in Humanity

Quick Smiles:

• Restaurant owner finds $12,000 hidden in cabinet from previous owner
• Without hesitation, he tracks down the rightful owner to return every penny
• The money arrived at the perfect time for the former owner facing serious health issues

Opening a restaurant takes a ton of work. But when one restaurant owner sells their building to another, it can make things a bit easier.

Sak Yiengjuntuek purchased what would eventually become the Lemongrass Pho & Thai Cuisine in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in 2025. While cleaning up and transforming the space, Sak came across something very unexpected—inside one of the cabinets was a very large amount of cash.

“It was a shock to me that I found old money in the cabinet in the back of my restaurant,” Sak told WLBT. “The cabinet was owned by the previous owner.”

Sak Yiengjuntuek said that he found $12,000 hidden in a sunglasses case. For many, it would probably be pretty tempting to take all, or even some, of the money.

But Sak didn’t think twice about what he should do.

“That’s a lot of money. I mean, I thought it was just sunglasses in there; I was shocked,” he told the news station.

“The first thing I thought was that I need to find the rightful owner.”

Sak immediately reached out to the previous owner, but the phone number that he had didn’t work. Luckily for Sak and the other man, he tried another way to contact the former owner and this time, it worked.

The man told Sak Yiengjuntuek he’d been experiencing some serious health issues and the money could not have come at a better time. What seemed like a simple act of honesty turned into a life-changing moment of perfect timing.

“I feel like this was the right thing to do. You know, it doesn’t belong to you; you need to return it to someone else to whom it belongs,” Sak told the news outlet.

“Honesty, integrity, is very important in life.”

In a world that sometimes feels short on kindness, Sak Yiengjuntuek’s choice to do the right thing—even when no one was watching—reminds us that good people are everywhere. His simple act of integrity made all the difference for someone in need.

Source