Servers in a San Francisco restaurant had a happy new year indeed, thanks to a mysterious patron who gave them a hefty tip last Friday.

On January 2, employees of Tacolicious in the Mission District were stunned to see that someone had left them a $2,000 tip on a $50.74 tab, with the message "Tips for Jesus" and "Happy New Year" written on the bill.

A picture of the receipt was posted on the "Tips for Jesus" Instagram page with the caption "Big thanks to Manny, Jared & the crew at Tacolicious in the Mission." It appears with photos of other generous tips from all over the country.

Asked whether a single staff kept the whole tip, a Tacolicious staff told the SF Gate that the crew pool their tips so the $2,000 was split among them.

The employee also confirmed that this was not their first encounter with the magnanimous tipper.

"He comes in here all the time and he's amazing, amazing to the staff," said the Tacolicious server.

According to Today News, the diner, whose Instagram account has the tagline "Doing the Lord's work, one tip at a time," has blessed other areas with their generosity. The Republic reported that on December 27, a $10,000 tip was left on an $89.89 bill at the restaurant Crudo in Phoenix, Arizona.

Today News also reports that the person - or possibly persons - behind Tips for Jesus, which now has more than 88,000 Instagram followers, has already given over $150,000 in tips to overjoyed staffs in the Bay Area, Chicago, New York, and Mexico.

There is much speculation as to who is behind the numerous acts of generosity. In February last year, San Francisco Magazine published an interview with a mystery diner who said he was one of about 10 people involved in the Tips for Jesus operation. Some believe that the man who leads the tippers' group is former PayPal vice-­president Jack Selby.