Sa Yong stands in front of his restaurant Braised Chicken with Rice in Yiwu, Zhejiang province. [Photo/zgyww.cn]

A fast food restaurant in Yiwu providing free meals for cash-strapped people has recently gone viral online.

A notice on a pillar in front of the restaurant says that anyone on a tight budget can come enjoy a meal for free. If they are too embarrassed to make the request, they can use the code phrase "Meal for one, please."

Sa Yong, owner of the restaurant, uploaded a short video of the notice to Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. His post received over 28,000 likes and 1,000 comments within just a few days.

Some people came to eat at the restaurant just to show their respect for Sa Yong's kindness. One foreigner even offered to pay the bill for an old lady enjoying a free meal.

Sa said he came up with the idea of providing free meals after a homeless person came to his restaurant begging for food several months ago.

The man had been unemployed for two months and run out of money. Sa Yong bought some clothes and provided a room for the man before he returned home.