BLUE RIDGE, Ga. — A young mom is speaking out after she says she was asked to leave a Blue Ridge restaurant while breastfeeding her baby.
The interaction, which she partially captured on video, has been circulating online and gaining a lot of attention.
In that cell phone video, recorded last month by Aris Kopiec, you hear her ask a man behind the counter, “Because you don’t allow women to breastfeed in here?”
The man replies, “No, I’m sorry, ma’am. You breastfed right next to a table, so get on out of here.”
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Kopiec told Channel 2’s Brittany Kleinpeter that she, her husband, and their three daughters were enjoying their time at Toccoa Riverside Restaurant in Blue Ridge, where they were vacationing.
“They seated us at a corner table…and it was actually overlooking the river, and it was very nice,” said Kopiec.
Toward the end of the meal, her 4-month-old daughter became fussy, and Kopiec needed to feed her.
“My husband handed her to me, and I immediately latched her on. Then my husband handed me our blanket, and I threw it on,” said Kopiec.
She says their enjoyable dining experience quickly changed.
“When I stood up, I either bumped into a chair or a person… and I stood up to say, ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,’ and I was still holding my infant, still covered. When I turned around to apologize, it was the owner, and he said, ‘You can’t do that here,’” explained Kopiec.
She said she tried to explain that she was no longer breastfeeding but was just holding her baby under the blanket.
“He kept yelling, ‘You have to go to the corner…’ and he just kept saying, ‘I’m trying to protect my restaurant.’ I said, ‘I’m just trying to go outside, and you’re blocking the side exit,’ and he just kept saying, ‘Go on, get,’” added Kopiec.
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Kopiec says she went out to the river behind the restaurant with her older children while her husband paid the bill, then returned to gather their belongings. That’s when she says she exited the restaurant and ran into the owner again, at which point she began recording.
“I just walked up to say, ‘Breastfeeding is legally protected. If you want to protect your restaurant, you should follow the law because you really might lose your restaurant.’ That is all I wanted to tell him,” said Kopiec.
A manager at the restaurant, who didn’t want to go on camera but spoke on behalf of the owner, says the customer was asked to move to a more private area after another diner complained.
He added that Kopiec was only asked to leave after she began recording because the owner felt she was unnecessarily escalating the situation.
In Georgia, women are allowed to breastfeed in public, including in restaurants. Staff at the Blue Ridge restaurant say breastfeeding has been allowed there for more than 30 years.
Channel 2 Action News previously reported on the restaurant in 2023 following backlash over a menu surcharge referencing “poor parenting.”
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