TOMS RIVER - The revelation took place a few months back, as Tony Rivoli worked on the much-anticipated bar and restaurant he’s opening on Hooper Avenue. His daughter and co-proprietor Monica Hmielewski dropped in with her 6-year-old son Chase, who has autism.

After Chase wandered into a side room intended for private parties, his mom noticed how calm he was in the quiet, darker, cozier setting.

“I thought, ‘We have something here,’” Hmielewski said. “We really want to do a dining room for sensory needs.”

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Watch: A walk-through of the dining room in the video atop this story

That concept, a sensory-friendly dining room, is coming to fruition as Riv’s Toms River Hub prepares to open its doors. Dubbed “Chase’s Friends Zone,” the room will seat about 45 people and is accessible via a private entrance. Every aspect of it, from the lighting to the menu, is designed to make eating out easier for those with sensory issues and their families and friends.

“This is something we feel passionate about,” said Peggy Kruger, a Toms River special education teacher who is helping spearhead the project along with Hmielewski and Christina Proctor, a Brick resident and autism teacher in Jersey City. “We want families to be able to come here and not feel stigmatized or out of place, and for kids to be who they are and feel acceptance.”

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Kruger’s 12-year-old daughter Emma has autism, and like Chase and others on the spectrum she is susceptible to sensory overload. In a busy restaurant, Kruger said, “there are so many sights and sounds and smells and people, and our kids are not able to filter all of that out.”

Hmielewski and husband Jay Hmielewski, who helps run the family's restaurants, also have an 8-year-old son, JayJay. They understand how difficult it can be for families do to things together when one member has sensory issues.

“You talk to some families, and they haven’t gone out to eat in years," she said.

It’s not just eateries that pose challenges.

“It takes Chase a good 15 minutes to ease into Walmart because their lights are so bright and they make a noise that he can hear,” Hmielewski said.

The sensory dining room, which projects to be ready by early November (Riv’s Toms River Hub could open in the coming days), takes those things into account. It will feature soothing lighting, one table-less corner with beanbags designated as a “chill area,” a visual menu on which the food will be pictured, and iPads for kids to order with. The menu will include gluten-free options, and families can order gluten- or dairy-free cakes from Ocean Organics Café in Toms River.

All servers will be sensory certified by KultureCity, a nonprofit that specializes in inclusion for people with autism. Tony Rivoli said he plans to hire individuals with special needs to bus the tables.

Kruger’s older daughter Kelsey is an artist, and she plans to decorate one wall with a “tree” featuring puzzle pieces for leaves.

“Everyone who comes in here, their last names will go on it — and that will be our family tree,” Hmielewski said.

Hmielewski also said 20 percent of the proceeds from sales in the room will go into a fund administered by a nonprofit, most likely Hometown Heroes of Toms River, to help families of special-needs children. And each month she plans to give away a gift card to We Rock the Spectrum, which has a sensory-friendly gym in the Waretown section of Ocean Township.

The Rivoli family, whose namesake Italian restaurant was a longtime Toms River staple before closing in 2016, knows how to build a brand. To that end they’ve designed a catchy social media hashtag for the sensory dining room: #CHASEingdreams.

“This really will be a dream come true for so many people,” Proctor said. “We want this to be a movement. We want it to spread like wildfire.”

For more information, visit www.rivstrhub.com or the Facebook page Rivoli’s Toms River.

Jerry Carino is news columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.