CCTV footage of a thief who stole money from the Nandos Riccarton tip jar before fleeing without the meal he paid for. He came out poorer for the experience.

Crime did not pay for a tip jar thief who left a restaurant hungry and out of pocket.

He paid for a $14.90 a meal, then took off with up to $10 from the tip jar – without eating.

The ironic tale, caught on CCTV footage and posted on social media, unfolded at the Nandos Riccarton in Christchurch on Friday afternoon.

SUPPLIED CCTV footage of a man stealing the tip jar at Nandos Riccarton.

Restaurant owner Yateen Lallu said the man, who had been in the day before, sat and waited for his meal before spying his opportunity.

"He then quietly got up, as you can see in the video, looked around and saw nobody was watching and put the tip jar in his bag."

The man went to the bathroom before Lallu's wife discovered the tip jar, containing $5 to $10, was gone.

SUPPLIED Police are investigating whether this man, who was filmed stealing cameras from Casa Dei Bambini preschool in Richmond, is the same man who thieved the tip jar.

Lallu confronted the man when he returned and he denied any wrongdoing. Lallu checked the bathroom and discovered the empty tip jar on the floor.

"I said to him 'there's our tip jar', and he said 'it wasn't me, it must have been someone else'. I said 'are you sure? Are you telling the truth?' And he told me to check his bag and check the security cameras and I started to doubt myself."

As Lallu replayed security camera footage to confirm his wife's suspicions the man left.

"He hadn't actually got his food, so in total he would have probably got $5 to $10 and he paid $14.90 for something he didn't get.

"So it wasn't worth it, he had a bad day. It was not good karma for the poor bloke."

Lallu posted the video on the Nandos Riccarton Facebook page where it has been viewed about 50,000 times.

Police are investigating whether the suspect was the same man who was filmed stealing security cameras from the Casa Dei Bambini preschool in Richmond on Sunday November 29.

The four cameras stolen were collectively worth $3000.

A police spokeswoman said both thefts were under investigation. Officers in charge of the separate cases were looking at CCTV images to see if it was the same man involved.

Anyone who could identify the man in either clip was asked to phone police on (03) 363 7400 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.