Pizza Restaurant Bans Children To Keep Them Safe!

Pizza shops are generally the most kid friendly establishments you’ll ever come across. With a menu everyone likes and family friendly opening hours it’s pretty much a win win situation for all involved!

Except for a restaurant in Florida which made the controversial decision of banning all children from their premises at all times!

A sign that was posted on the Tampa Bay pizza shop quickly drew the attention of angry parents in the area. Pretty soon a page called Tampa Bay Mum’s Group Facebook page shared a photo of the offensive sign and opened up a discussion between it’s members. Here’s what the post read:

A member sent us this. There is a local place called Hampton Station in Seminole Heights has a No Children sign on their door and some parents are not too happy about it. TBMG decided to look into it and get members thoughts. I was curious as to what sort of people would ban kids from a place so I checked it out. Turns out when you check them out you will see they describe themselves as “Beer Garden specializing in the best German & American Craft Brews”. To put it simple… It’s a bar. It does seem they serve pizza and some bar style dishes but really… It’s a bar with food. The focus here seems to be clearly on the alcohol (which is where most eateries make their money anyway).

Troy Taylor, who opened the pizza shop in Tampa Bay’s Seminole Heights in 2015, initially started the restaurant as a family friendly eatery with patio courtyard and lots of toys for kids to play with. Taylor defended his decision to ban children by saying:

“We had a few incidents the past couple of weeks where kids were endangering themselves and other patrons. From a liability standpoint we just can’t afford to have that. So after a long discussion and plenty of thought on the issue, we decided this was our best course of action. It’s a hard decision and I’m sure it’s going to hurt our business, but I just couldn’t live with the fact that a child might get hurt at Hampton. I know we are probably going to face a social media backlash and probably lose some of our longtime customers, but hopefully we can make it through this. We had a lot of great kids come in to Hampton and we are going to miss them, but this had to be done for everyone’s well being. If anyone has any concerns or questions please feel free to give them my number. It’s a tough decision we have people’s feelings, jobs and our business at stake and there was no easy answer.”

By the sound of things, the owner is very concerned about the safety of children that perhaps weren’t being properly supervised.

After “a lot of people who couldn’t keep their kids under control,” Mr Taylor said he was forced to take action. “A kid was in danger and could have seriously been hurt,” he said. “It’s a liability and safety issue. After the incident, I thought, this can’t happen again.”

The restaurant is located on a busy street and has an unprotected patio with access to the road. Mr Taylor defended continued saying the mixture of alcohol, which the restaurant serves, and kids could have dangerous results.

The response to this decision has been quite split on social media. Some are confused as to why an initially family-friendly establishment has decided to go in such a different direction.

“How does this not fall into some type of discrimination?”

“This is a place that neighbourhood families rallied around. I mean, this place literally uses action figures as their order markers.”

While others were much more pragmatic and told the haters to just deal with it and find another restaurant to get their pizza from

“Get over it. Go somewhere else it’s not that big of a deal lol.”

“Fine by me! I don’t have to take my kids everywhere with me and there’s also plenty of other pizza places I can take them with me if I chose to.”

Business owner Taylor says he’s still very conflicted and upset by having to make such a decision. “It’s one of the toughest things I’ve ever done. It’s been gut-wrenching. I’m not a big social media person, but I’ve stayed away from Facebook.”

He says that while the business may lose customers Taylor prefers that over losing a child. He says he “couldn’t live with the fact that a child might get hurt at Hampton.”

“We had a lot of great kids come into Hampton and we are going to miss them, but this had to be done for everyone’s well being,” Mr Taylor’s post said.

What do you think? Is this a from of discrimination or does the business owner have the right to do whatever he wants in his restaurant?

Images: Facebook