Chick-Fil-A employee is praised for saving a customer who choked on food

A Texas Chick-Fil-A employee is hailed as a hero for saving a customer who choked on food while eating, according to a co-worker and the restaurant's owner.

The unidentified victim, a man apparently in his 50s, began choking in the busy South Austin restaurant and team leader Hunter Harris, whose father Jamie Harris owns the restaurant, was notified by colleague Anita Duran that the man was in distress.

Duran, who has worked at the restaurant for nine months, said that she was wiping one of the tables around 3 p.m. on June 22 when she heard the customer choking.

“I heard the gentlemen choking, and I kind of stopped wiping the table and I was looking at him," Duran told ABC News.

Surveillance video shows the choking man standing up suddenly, and a customer sitting at a table next to him hurrying to assist, but without success.

“I ran to get Hunter because Hunter has [already] saved one of our co-workers,” Duran said.

Hunter Harris, 23, leapt in to action, performing the Heimlich maneuver and saving the man's life.

He said it took him about 20 seconds to dislodge the food from the choking man's windpipe.

“I walked over there quickly, grabbed the gentleman, performed the Heimlich, and everything turned out well,” Hunter Harris told ABC News today. “It worked out. He was fine.

“Everybody around was kind of startled and kind of thunderstruck, but it worked out the best case scenario.”

Hunter Harris said that he knows where the diaphragm and he had performed the Heimlich on one of his team members in the kitchen a couple months ago.

“I had been in a situation similar to that. So I kind of knew what I needed to do,” he said.

For Anita, Hunter Harris has earned the tile of “hero.”

“I think he’s a hero,” she said. “When he went back to the kitchen area, I said, 'Hunter you are a hero. To me you are a hero because you just saved his life.'”

When asked what the rest of the staff thinks of Hunter Harris, she said: “They think he’s a hero as well.”

Jamie Harris, who has owned the restaurant for 12 years, praised his son for acting quickly to help save the man’s life, adding that this was the second time that he helped save a choking person.

“I’m most proud that he did not hesitate and that he jumped in,” he said. “A man of action so to speak, and had the confident to help the guy out.”

Jamie Harris said staff members were also calling 911 just in case of emergency.

“The guy was in good shape, he did not pass out or anything,” he said. “No extra assistance needed.”