A family with kids can receive discounts on their meals in an Italian restaurant if their children are polite and well-behaved. The owner of the Antonio Ferrari restaurant in Padua, Italy is rewarding families five percent off their food if their young kids don't act up and the policy is gaining international attention.
According to The Local, Ferrari got the idea from a restaurant in Miami. His establishment is actually a wine bar with some meal selections catering to mostly adults. On Sundays, however, families with many young children often dine at Antonio Ferrari's.
Some restaurants are known to add cover charges in Italy, surprising its diners. Ferrari, who has been in the food industry for 12 years, said that he wants his customers to have a different dining experience and he doesn't want parents with rowdy kids to feel offended. He also doesn't want to ban these families.
"In Italy, we have a problem that people often feel judged, so I didn't want to say anything - even positive - that might be seen as judging someone's children or parenting," the restaurant owner said. He clarifies, however, that discount is not an automatic, official and permanent promotion.
Ferrari's diners usually stay longer at the restaurant following a big Sunday meal. Some enjoy the rest of the day with a bottle of wine. So, he also offers the children crayons and coloring books to keep them occupied while their parents enjoy the downtimes.
A restaurant owner in Australia, however, criticized Ferrari's initiative. "Seriously, who made restaurateurs the arbiters of good behavior?" Erez Gordon of Bishop Sessa said, according to 9Honey. "If you want to be in the people business, suck it up buster and take people as they are," he added, citing there's a Paris restaurant that changes more if the customers are rude.
