3-year-old breaks $1,600 marble table at NJ café — and mom claims they couldn’t leave until she handed over credit card
A mother from Pompton Plains, New Jersey, says she was held at a café against her will after her 3-year-old daughter accidentally knocked over and shattered a $1,600 marble table.
The incident occurred at the Hazelnut Cafe in Lavallette, where surveillance footage reviewed by NJ Advance Media reportedly shows the child bumping the table with her foot while her mother, Kathy Denman, stood in line to pay for coffee and ice cream. In a TikTok video that has since gone viral, Denman described the ordeal as “completely humiliating and embarrassing,” adding that the table, which weighed nearly 110 pounds, toppled to the ground and broke.
Denman claimed café staff told her she wasn’t allowed to leave until she provided her driver’s license and credit card information, despite her saying she immediately offered to pay for the damage. Though it’s unclear whether she ultimately handed over her card details, online users quickly identified the marble table as a $1,598 piece sold by Anthropologie.
Later, Denman said one of the café’s owners reiterated their policy: “You break it, you pay for it.” She stayed at the scene for about 20 minutes after the incident, during which time customers helped clean up the broken table. No injuries were reported.
In a follow-up TikTok post, Denman said the café later contacted her to apologize for how her family was treated. “We want to move forward peacefully and do not wish to comment on this matter any further,” she wrote.
The Hazelnut Cafe, owned by twin sisters Kimberly and Jenna Campfield and part of the Hazel Boutique brand with four New Jersey locations, issued a statement on Instagram providing their perspective.
“Following the incident, we personally called the child’s mother to express our concern, offer our support, and share our direct contact information should she need anything,” the statement read. They added that, as a precaution, all tables have since been removed from their locations.
The café denied detaining Denman and said she was not charged for the damage. “We are extremely grateful that the 3-year-old girl, her grandmother, mother, and every customer who was present are safe and unharmed,” they wrote.
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