A restaurant in Georgia, USA, has divided the internet over the introduction of a surcharge ‘for adults unable to parent’.
The Toccoa Riverside Restaurant went viral on Reddit after one family says they were charged $50 following a family meal.
The tale, which will chill the bones of any parent who's had to deal with a middle of a meal meltdown, has divided the internet, with some saying parents should be more respectful in restaurants and others saying the policy is ridiculous.
The warning is placed at the top of the menu, reading ‘Adult surcharge: For adults unable to parent $$$’
Lyndsey Landmann and her husband Kyle, say they visited the restaurant earlier this month with other families, meaning there were 11 children ranging from age three to eight at the table.
She told Today: ‘The kids were sitting at one end of the table and they were being so good. I even commented halfway through the meal, ‘I can’t believe how well-behaved they are.’
Following the meal, she says the owner of the restaurant approached them. ‘At first I thought he was gonna compliment us and be like, “But you won’t be charged because your kids were so well-behaved”.’
Instead, they say they were charged $50 because they were being ‘too loud’ and that he was unhappy children were ‘running around outside’ though says they were chaperoned by adults.
She continued to tell Today: ‘He got in our faces and told us that we belonged at Burger King and not at his restaurant. We asked to speak to the owner and he said he was the owner. I looked around the restaurant and everybody was frozen watching this show he was putting on. He was yelling.’
The restaurant’s owner Tim Richter told Channel 2 News that he brought the policy in during covid but he never threatened to charge anyone until recently when a family with nine children were ‘running all over the restaurant’ and he never actually charged the family, just gave them a warning. He added: ‘We want parents to be parents.’