Staff at Tribe Road Kitchen in Hamilton have robustly defended their stance of insisting children must be seated at all times during their visit.

The request, which was made via a Facebook posting and has been both pilloried and applauded in equal measure ever since, was made following a number of unsavoury incidents at the restaurant.

Husband and wife co-owners Russell Petty and Karsten Krivenko said they were left with no choice but to act after staff were forced to deal with; children going to the bathroom in the outdoor pond, trying to kill the pond’s fish with large rocks, climbing trees, pulling up plants, climbing on other customers’ tables, and wandering outside the outdoor patio onto the road.

All done while oblivious parents quaffed wine, and ignored signs that had been posted in the cafe politely asking them to control their children.

“If you want your kids to go have a romp in the grass, come get some coffee, get your breakfast and go to the park. Let them go crazy. This isn’t a park unfortunately,” said Mrs Krivenko yesterday.

Posted by the Tribe Road Kitchen Facebook page on Tuesday afternoon, the notice had received more than 100 comments and 30 ‘shares’ since it was first published. While many comments were supportive, others said the request would mean they would no longer be dining at the establishment.

“ ... over the last few months we have noticed a growing trend in the behaviour of some of the children that is impacting service, cleanliness and — most importantly of all — the quality of experience enjoyed by other clientele,” the post read.

“Going forward we are requesting that those customers who bring their children to ensure that they remain seated with them at all times. We understand that for some of you this may seem unjust and we apologise. However, we are trying to improve every aspect of our product.”

“I’ll gladly take my business elsewhere!” wrote Christine Da Costa. “This is the second time you’ve put a clause on children. My children have always behaved well at your establishment. Hopefully the business you gain is more than the business you lose.”

But Cindy Murray wrote: “Yes nice to have a place the children can explore but when they are pulling up all the flowers throwing things in the pond and running around disturbing the other patrons while they also want to enjoy their meal and evening do you think this is fair? Many times we have been there at 7pm and have had unruly children with not a parent paying attention to them just sitting back with their wine. So give a little thought to both TRK and other patrons.”

Responding to the backlash yesterday, Tribe Road Kitchen staff were unapologetic and made the point that children would never be allowed to behave in such a way while in a formal setting. The issue, however, is not about protecting other clients who might be annoyed by children playing around them, Ms Krivenko said the real problem is the company’s liability if something happens to an unattended child.

“We didn’t even do anything. It was a plain and simple statement that we made, that any establishment has the right to say. And all of a sudden I’m getting reamed for saying that your children need to stay with you. We’ve been having so many problems, and I mean God forbid one day a kid gets out the side gate ... I’m liable [should something happen] and I lose my business. My dog got out the gate and made it half way down the road! It’s just not secure.”

The offenders are mostly a small group of parents who come every Saturday morning, said Mr Petty.

“We have a regular group of mothers who come here and they’re more than welcome. They come, they do what they do, they come here all week, and they’re a lovely addition. And when they do bring their children, their children are well behaved. On Saturdays we have this momentum going where there’s sometimes 20 children. One little fella decides to misbehave and he’s like the pied piper, they fall right behind him and the parents have become completely oblivious, to the point where we’re trying to deliver hot food and we’re tripping over children.”

Asked if they could have gone about making the request another way, Mr Petty and Mrs Krivenko said any attempt to ask parents to control their children was either met with contempt or ignored.

“This is the thing,” said Mr Petty. “A lot of the people said that we haven’t tried, that we haven’t said anything. We had a picture up for a while, one of those ‘Unattended kids will be given a puppy and an espresso’, or ‘We’ll grind them up and bake bread out of them’. Stuff like that. And you know, it’s ignored. It’s laughed at and people take pictures, but it doesn’t change anything.

“We’ve spoken to tables and they look at you, like: ‘How dare you talk to me that way’. It’s for your own child’s safety,” said Mrs Krivenko. “I can’t have an eight month old crawling at my feet with four plates in my hand.”