Cafe hit with one-star reviews by mothers
Mums have attacked a Petone cafe for not letting them park their prams inside but the cafe owner says their negative onestar reviews are unfair and misleading.
Faith and Co Cafe is a new 70-seater licensed premises in the Lower Hutt suburb’s Firemen’s Apartments complex.
The cafe has been hit by multiple negative one-star reviews online, many claiming it is not child friendly. Five one-star reviews were posted on its Facebook page on August 4 alone.
One mum wrote: ‘‘Not at all child friendly like advertised. My family and two kids were asked to leave this afternoon because we had kids and a pram. Apparently it was too busy, despite there being free tables which we tried sitting at. Very disappointing!’’ She wouldn’t comment further when contacted by Stuff.
But cafe owner Faith Proctor says decisions on whether buggies and prams can stay or not are based on a wide range of issues, particularly safety.
She has two spots up front by the window where buggies can go. When they are full, she says buggies can’t go elsewhere as it’s not safe.
‘‘I had to jump through many hoops costing many thousands of dollars to assure the council I was going to make sure there was egress for every single person in my cafe. I have to please the council. I have to please the fire service with egress, I have to look after my other customers.’’
Hutt City Council was contacted for comment.
In December last year, one mother said she was told she could not sit in a certain area with her 18-month-old in a pram and she could only sit at the front of the cafe by a window. ‘‘I wouldn’t go back and I wouldn’t recommend this cafe to anyone with young children,’’ she wrote on Proctor’s cafe page.
And in May, a mum wrote: ‘‘Tried to go here today for a coffee with a friend and our little ones and didn’t even make it through the door before we were told there was no room.
‘‘There was three to four available tables and, clearly, a very spacious cafe so room for the buggy, although we would have been more than happy to leave buggy at the door.’’
Proctor says she’s upset she is being attacked online for being unfriendly to children when none of the mothers have talked to her face-to-face about issues over prams or buggies in the cafe.
‘‘People don’t know my personal [situation], how many children I have had, so I’m not a child hater at all. But that is how it comes across to people who don’t get their way, basically.
‘‘If you were here half an hour ago, you would see that I do let them in. There was a lovely woman with her little baby, and you know I have some fabulous customers who come in, kids and all in tow, and they are all very welcome.
‘‘I have to make sure children are not harmed. I have huge public liability insurance, and it’s just so much more but ... I can’t explain that to people.’’
Decisions on whether buggies and prams can stay or not are based on a wide range of issues.