The Burger King employee who went viral for getting a mediocre goodie bag in recognition of 27 years without missing work is finally seeing his dedication pay off ... in a massive way.
Kevin Ford tells TMZ … he bought a house on Dec. 13 with money raised from the GoFundMe his daughter set up for him in the wake of last summer's online fame.
Kevin says he walked away with about $350,000 from the crowdsourcing fund -- it raised almost $500K but GoFundMe took a sizeable chunk -- and he used about half to buy a place in Pahrump, Nevada for $177,000.
Kevin's new place has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and is 846 square feet ... with a covered front deck, fenced-in yard and views of the surrounding mountains. He says he's gonna invest more money into the place too.
With the rest of his GoFundMe cash, Kevin says he gave his daughter a chunk so she could put it toward a home for herself and his grandkids ... and he put the rest away for retirement.
Remember ... Kevin went viral back in June 2022 when his employer gave him a goodie bag with random candies to celebrate him going 27 years without missing a day on the job.
Kevin's daughter piggybacked off his viral moment and set up a GoFundMe so he could visit his family in Texas ... and David Spade was among the big-money donors.
Naturally, Kevin is still working at BK, but there's been a big change -- he says he's now missed one day ... for an appearance on the "Today" show.
Kevin says his new digs are about an hour away from work, but he likes driving so he doesn't mind the long commute.
It's pretty incredible ... Kevin tells us the viral fame literally saved his life. He says he was depressed and the support from strangers not only put a new roof over his head, but also saved his life.
Kevin says he's forever grateful and his whole life has been turned around in a "beautiful" chain of events.