Restaurant Owner Bans Children Under 7 and Sees the Results

Liam Flynn, owner of Flynn’s restaurant, decided recently to ban all children under seven years old from his establishment.

Flynn made the decision after an incident on a Sunday. A two-year-old child started crying and screaming during lunch. Flynn came outside the kitchen after 10 minutes and tried to intervene, telling the parents “would you mind quietening your child down please” and suggesting they take him outside.

They did not, and the child kept screaming. When Flynn came back out a few minutes later, the parents, miffed by Flynn, said they were leaving. The chef then engaged in a debate until the mom emerged from the restroom and told him to “[expletive] off.”

She later posted on Tripadvisor that her child was “not misbehaving or wreaking havoc.”

Going even further than one restaurant owner that screamed back at a screaming toddler, Flynn soon decided on the ban, announcing it on Facebook. “If one pays money for having an enjoyable lunch during an anniversary or honeymoon, please do yourself and other patrons a favor by getting a babysitter or by removing the screaming baby from the room,” he said.

“It is purely out of respect for other diners, regardless whether they are two or twenty of them in the restaurant. Those are basic social skills and we do not feel that we should be teaching parents how to handle their children.”

Flynn’s restaurant page was bombarded with comments, both negative and positive, but the biggest feedback came the next weekend when they made the most money ever in one weekend.

“It’s been good for business,” Liam Flynn told Business Insider of his Queensland, Australia business. “Business is booming. We just had record Friday and Saturday nights. People are spending up large, drinking fine wine and spending up big.”

“It’s obviously touched a nerve and obviously a polarizing subject. We’ve had mums and parents who feel that it’s just outright discrimination, but it’s mostly been positive. I’ve had a lot of support and we’ve had a lot of parents coming forward and ringing me and saying good on you,” he added. “There are a lot of parents out there who understand where we’re coming from.”