By Kristin Avery
For some restaurants kids don’t eat free, matter of fact they don’t eat at all. There is a new trend of restaurants banning children from dining at their establishments. Some feel this is a flat-out act of discrimination while others feel it’s simply a smart business move.
Mike Vucik is among those who support the child ban from restaurants. He’s an owner of a Pittsburgh area eatery whose children ban went into effect two months ago. In an article titled “Restaurant Bans Kids Under 6. Discrimination or smart move?” Mike Vucik says the decision for the children ban comes, “after receiving noise complaints from customers about crying kids at neighboring tables.” The article also goes on to mention, “-Last year, North Carolina's Olde Salty restaurant made a similar decision. Owner Brenda Armes posted a sign that read 'Sceaming children will not be tolerated,’ making it clear to parents when their kids scream, they'll be asked to take it outside.”
Reasons for the ban according to FindLaw.com included, “Noisy kids may break a nice restaurant's ambiance. Rambunctious children who don't listen to their parents may also end up bumping into customers in stores, and can end up being both destructive and disruptive.”
Those opposed to the children ban are parents who claim the ban discriminates against children that may have special needs. According to an article “Mother Raising Her Own Voice Over Restaurant’s Ban on Screaming Kids,” “Forbidding an autistic child to scream can be like requiring a paraplegic person to dance the Charleston, so Kelly Chambliss, the mother of an autistic son, claims a restaurant's policy against screaming children is blatant discrimination and a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.”
Other drawbacks to the ban according to FindLaw.com titled “Legal to Ban Children from Your Business?” include, “kids' parents are usually the bread and butter customer of most stores and restaurants. And, by preventing children from entering into the business, you might be reducing your business' chance of making sales from moms and dads?”
So, so far we’ve been presented with two opposing sides that are for and against restaurants banning children, but is this child ban even legal? According to abcnews.com, “Federal forbids discrimination on racial or religious grounds, but there is no blanket protection for children. For business owners like Mike Vuick that means they can set the rules.”
In this economy can restaurants afford to lose customers? Is there any direct link between restaurants not welcoming child patrons to decline in sales or are restaurant owners just tired of dealing with the floods of customer complaints about screaming children? At this point there doesn’t seem be a direct link between crying/ screaming children and declining restaurant sales. It’s more a matter of what the restaurant desired target market is. If the restaurant is going for a classy and quiet atmosphere then certainly children throwing chicken fingers and running around the restaurant screaming won’t work. It’s a matter of personal preference for the restaurant owner. So, what do you think about restaurant banning children? Are you for or against the ban? Tell us why?