Ban Kids at Your Restaurant, Get More Customers

Child-free restaurants are becoming something of a worldwide trend — and it appears some restaurant owners are reeling in new customers because of it.

In recent years, an increasing number of restaurants have implemented controversial policies banning kids under a certain age — despite the occasional city law that prohibits such policies.

The latest restaurant to jump on the trend is La Fraschetta del Pesce in Rome, Italy which serves fresh fish caught by the owner’s son. Owner Marco Magliozzi has been taking heat since recently announcing the ban with a sign in the window that reads:

“Due to some unpleasant incidents caused by a lack of manners, children under 5 are not allowed in this restaurant.”

Magliozzi received countless complaints on his restaurant’s Facebook page and defended the ban to Italian news website La Repubblica:

“[Children] throw olive oil on the floor, they upturn the water, they send the salt cellar flying across the room, they try to dismantle the furniture, they shout, they cry and above all, they hate fish.”

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It appears that Magliozzi’s sentiments are shared by many restaurant owners around the world — from the U.S. to Canada to the U.K. — who have also implemented child-free policies.

Here are just a few:

One Australian restaurant received huge financial rewards last summer for implementing a ban on kids under 7. Owner Liam Flynn was blasted on social media after announcing the policy at his French and Italian cuisine restaurant, yet three weeks later he logged a record number of sales over the course of one weekend.

“Business is booming,” Flynn told Business Insider at the time. “We just had record Friday and Saturday nights. People are spending up large, drinking fine wine and spending up big.”

Restaurant owners considering such a ban should really be asking themselves one key question: Will banning kids increase or decrease sales?

It’s important to keep in mind, the topic is extremely polarizing, so don’t be afraid of a bit of controversy.

In one corner are adult customers who say they are entitled to a peaceful meal when they fork over their hard-earned cash for a night out. And in the other corner are customers (often parents) who fear a minority of misbehaving children are killing the eating-out experience for other awesome kids.

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Whether your business will benefit from going child-free very much depends on the nature of your clientele, location of your restaurant and the type of food you serve.

Are you a fine dining restaurant with a quite atmosphere that mostly caters to an older crowd? Is your business located in a neighbourhood dominated by people over 45? What are the types of businesses that surround you?

Don’t be alarmed if your child-free policy flops at your comfort food restaurant with a menu serving mac and cheese, burgers and pizza, especially if you are located near several toy stores. Knowing your target market is the key to your success.

And be careful not to implement a child ban and then retract it. Restaurants that have done this have paid the price, as customers accused the business of being anti-family and then refused to return.