CLEVELAND — An Ohio City brewery says it will no longer allow children under 16 on its premises due to the actions of what its founder calls "a few bad apples, and irresponsible parents."
Forest City Brewery founder and general manager Jay Demagall announced the policy change in a Facebook post this past weekend. He acknowledged the decision will be "disappointing" for those "who come here and act in a responsible manner," but added that the business "simply can no longer afford to act as babysitters for the irresponsible parents that continue to put their kids, our customers and our business at risk."
"Simply put, we are a brewery," Demagall wrote. "Our business is to serve great beer, food and other alcoholic beverages to ADULTS. Quite frankly, kids were never a part of our business plan or our vibe. Our staff are not equipped to monitor or babysit kids whose parents treat the brewery like a playground."
Demagall's post was met with an outpouring of support, along with some criticism.
"Young kids do not belong in a brewery," one user said. Another, however, expressed dismay and noted that there are family friendly breweries in the area.
Market Garden Brewery, which is just a few blocks away from Forest City in Cleveland, is one of those establishments. Assistant manager Heather Masarik tells 3News they haven't had many issues with kids.
"Kids, generally, aren't the problem that we've seen; the problem is more like 18-year-olds trying to drink, or being out and being rowdy and wanting to, like, impress each other and kind of do that sort of thing," Masarik said. "The younger kids really have no problem — they're out here playing Jenga. (It's) the teenagers, really, that we see an issue with, and even then (it) really isn't an issue. We're all trained how to properly check an ID, and even still, stuff like that really doesn't happen here, and that might be because we're more of a restaurant setting."
Masarik also spoke of the family friendly menu Market Garden has. Demagall mentioned this in his post, as well