Restaurant Bans Middle School Students From Dining Without Parents

A stock photo of a French reastaurant. (*Shutterstock)

A Wisconsin restaurant made headlines after posting a note on its door saying middle school students cannot go inside without a parent.

Tom’s Drive-in in Appleton posted the letter after it experienced “mistreatment of Tom’s Drive In’s property, guests and staff” by middle school students, WFRV reported.

A manager at the restaurant told the station that students were caught vandalizing tables, yelling curse words, and leaving messes.

They were also allegedly caught stealing soda, fighting with other patrons, and giving each other tattoos with needles and pen ink, the station reported.

After the alleged tattoo attempt, bloody napkins were found.

As a result of the abuse and rowdy behavior, it became a “full-time babysitting job,” WFRV reported.

“For those who did not cause any of the incidents, we are sorry for this inconvenience,” the note said. “You may still purchase food through the walk-up window.”

According to WFRV, the restaurant said it isn’t singling out a specific school, adding that there are “a lot of good kids coming in.”

The policy will remain in place until the end of the school year.

On Instagram, after posting the note, numerous people agreed with the policy.

“This is nothing new ... teach the kids some manners and class while you’re at it,” one person wrote.

“To those saying that only the ones causing trouble should be punished....it no longer works that way. Punish them and they will come back for revenge. They will vandalize the whole place, burn it down or physically harm the management. That’s unfortunatley how it is these days. Punishing everyone because of the misdeeds of the few happens everywhere. It has happened at every job I’ve worked at for the past 25 years. Get used to it,” added another person.

Said another, “Good for this restaurant! Let these kids go home and pull this [expletive] in their own house. Their parents wouldn’t stand for it. No one should have to put up with them.”

“I don’t blame the restaurant. Hey, you play you pay,” wrote one.

However, some thought it was excessive.

“Very Sad that All Students are banned when it’s probably just a Handful that Caused the Problems! Punish Those that are the Problems!!” another person wrote.

Restaurant Owner Bans Children Under 7

Several years ago, an Australian restaurant owner banned all children under the age of 7.

Liam Flynn, the owner of Flynn’s restaurant, said years ago that a 2-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, according to Business Insider. The screaming, however, persisted.

After an exchange of words, the mother eventually cursed at a chef before posting a negative review on TripAdvisor.

He then banned children under the age of 7. “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.”

Days later, he said, “It’s been good for business.”

Flynn added to Business Insider: “Business is booming. We just had record Friday and Saturday nights. People are spending up large, drinking fine wine and spending up big.”