Mom says viral video shows her being booted from restaurant for breastfeeding her baby
A Florida mother says she was told to leave a popular Georgia riverside restaurant while breastfeeding her infant, an encounter she captured on her cellphone showing a man shouting, “Get on out of here!”
The incident occurred at Toccoa Riverside Restaurant in Blue Ridge, according to Aris Kopiec, and has since gone viral online, reigniting discussions about the treatment of families at the establishment.
Kopiec told FOX Business she was dining with her husband, three young daughters — ages 4, 2, and 4 months — and family friends when her baby began to cry. She said she immediately covered her infant and ensured she was concealed from the view of anyone beyond her table.
“I covered myself immediately,” she said.
Kopiec said she was preparing to take her older children outside when she accidentally bumped into a chair or another guest on the crowded porch. At that moment, she said the restaurant’s owner approached her.
“He looked at me and said, ‘You can’t do that here,’” Kopiec recalled. “I wasn’t even breastfeeding at that point. I was holding my baby with one arm and helping my other kids with the other. He wouldn’t let me speak. He kept saying, ‘I have to protect my restaurant. You need to go to a corner.’”
Kopiec and a friend escorted her older children outside while the men in their group paid inside. She said staff apologized to the men but not to her. When she returned to collect her belongings, the confrontation escalated.
“I calmly told him that Georgia law protects breastfeeding in public,” she said. “I said, if he wanted to protect his restaurant, he should follow the law. That’s when he lost his mind.”
The man refused to provide his name, prompting Kopiec to start recording. In the video shared with FOX Business, a man behind the counter shouts, “Get on out of here!” as Kopiec holds her infant.
“It was so aggressive,” she said. “I knew I had to get my kids out of there.”
Public records identify 67-year-old Tim Richter as the owner of Toccoa Riverside Restaurant. In a September Facebook post, the Fannin County Chamber of Commerce praised Richter’s hospitality, a portrayal that contrasts with the tone of the viral video. When contacted by FOX Business, a man claiming to be the owner did not confirm if he was in the video. He defended the restaurant, saying, “We’ve had the restaurant for thirty-three years. We’ve been breastfeeding for thirty-three years,” and called the incident “staged for clicks.”
Toccoa Riverside Restaurant declined to provide further comment.
Under Georgia law, mothers are permitted to breastfeed “in any location where the mother and baby are otherwise authorized to be,” ensuring legal protection for nursing in public spaces.
Etiquette expert Alison Cheperdak told FOX Business the incident raises serious concerns. Cheperdak, whose book Was it Something I Said? will be published next spring, emphasized that breastfeeding is both natural and legally protected.
“Hospitality is about care, not confrontation,” she said. “Raising your voice at a guest is never acceptable. A mother owes no apology for feeding her child. Policies should never undermine basic respect for families.”
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The restaurant has faced prior criticism. Local Atlanta outlets and Food & Wine reported in 2023 that Toccoa Riverside drew backlash for an “adult surcharge” targeting parents deemed “unable to parent,” with claims that children had been reprimanded harshly.
Kopiec said she hopes the viral video leads to positive change. “Every nursing mom deserves to feel safe feeding her baby,” she said. “We have a legal right to breastfeed, period.” She added that she has chosen forgiveness but hopes the restaurant becomes more welcoming to breastfeeding families.
The video continues to circulate online, sparking debates over public breastfeeding protections and how restaurants treat parents and young children.
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