A Bay Area restaurant goes viral for strict policy on misbehaving kids

Okay, oh, and here we are, live on TV. I want you guys to welcome back. I know you've seen Bonnie before on Take Two this morning, but she's a fairly newer member of the KTVU Fox 2 team. So Bonnie Ogun Rinola, she's the Emma Bowen digital intern doing great work in our newsroom here this summer. Emma Bowen, for those who don't know, she was a community activist, health care, fair media. She co-founded Black Citizens for Fair Media. We are honored to have Bonnie do her work here as you're also working on a degree at Howard University. So you have been doing great work on the digital team. You have been reporting stories that may not otherwise get reported. You found a story about something happening at a restaurant in Foster City that a lot of people have a lot of thoughts about. So tell me a little bit about the restaurant owner you talk to and the policy that he has put down. Yes, so I got to speak with the owner, Yo-Yo Xue, yesterday about the restaurant in Foster City, you know, having this policy on children, you know, misbehaving in the restaurant and how this policy implemented is aiming to like find parents because of broken things and or just being asked to leave if they're being unruly and restless. And it kind of the story kind of was very interesting to me because hearing from Yo-Yo himself just like talk about, you know, it's not about dissuading families from coming into the restaurant. It's not about promoting a non-family friendly environment. It's not a no kids policy. No, it's not. It's just about, you know, having to respect the facility that other people are there to dine in and, you know, just being mindful of the behavior in the restaurant. And so I heard a little bit of your interview and we shared some of it on Mornings On 2. I'm glad you're here now. He said he's kind of always had the policy in place but the fine is something sort of meant to back up the back up the rule, right? That's right because you got to put your money where your mouth is. He said that to me. Yes, I remember that and he kind of just making sure that people understand that even if the fine is that's not like the the catch-all of what it is. It's just about preventing it and that's why the policy is in place. You want to make sure that even if something would happen, if there's an accident that happens with something being damaged, they're able to have something in place where they can say, okay, you know, we did say that this is something that you should be aware of and so, you know, they gotta have that backed up. And he's actually followed through on this. He's he's asked parents to pay for stuff. What what has he had? So the most recent incident that happened was actually back in January and I think that's interesting because while this policy has been in place for many months now, it only went viral just last week and so the what happened was back in January, a kid was running around in like this booth seating that they have at the restaurant and they bumped into the table and it broke a teacup and while, you know, Yo-Yo, he highlighted, he was like, it's not just a teacup. It's about the behavior that made it happen, you know, that broke their property and so that's the most recent incident in January and then they also had a credit card incident that was a credit card reader was broken and the parent had to pay for that fine. Like one of the digital things or like an iPad like a tap reader. Yeah, and so that broke. Which is probably more than $35. Definitely, it was more, I think it was around $300. Oh, that's legit. Okay, all right. It was a big fine because you have to think about they had the policy up. That was, I think, back in April. I don't want, I don't, I think that was correct. Okay. And so just that was back in April. He wants to make sure that people are aware that there are consequences to these actions and, you know, with that being, that's a piece of his business's property. It's a business expense and so, yeah, you know, it's important. Other than your story on ktvu.com, a quick plug if you haven't read it. How do customers know about the policy? So, he actually mentioned that making sure that it's available in the restaurant. They have it in the menu but then also it's available on their website. So, ahead of time when you're maybe booking a reservation for your family, it's in the toggle option of being able to look at, hey, it's right here at the top. You gotta read it and then, you know, they have their policies that are important underlined as well in bold letters. It's pretty hard to miss on their website and it's also about available in a menu inside. Chez Sway. Am I saying it right? Chez Sway. Chez Sway. Got it. Yeah. Chez meaning the house of in French. Chez Sway. Got it. Chez Sway. What kind of restaurant is it? Chinese food. Very, it's like noodles, beef, lots of different vegetarian options as well. The menu looked very good. Looks really good. Really good. Is it like what you'd call a family-friendly or is it like super high-end, date night only? He did say it was a little more like up-end but it's still that family, you know, family-friendly environment pricing. I think it was like twenty, thirty dollars to a meal option. Oh, okay. So, you could, theoretically, you could bring a family. Has he seen a change in either guest behavior or the number of customers since the policy, you know, kind of got loud? Yes, with guest behavior, I think he definitely said it's been working on just in minimizing just the amount of events that are happening, severe incidents that are happening in the restaurant. Servers aren't having to worry about, you know, having to potentially parent another parent's child. Oh, the worst. Because their job is to just serve people and make sure that that energy is upheld throughout their experience, you know. So, that was definitely the own guest behavior. It's definitely been improved but he did say that there hasn't been like an uptick in business that he's noticed because of people coming but he did feel like this exposure from this viral post wasn't at a ploy to get that attention. It was just, you know, wanting that information. It's already out. It's been out, you know, for months and it just got that viral, that virality. Just kind of caught fire. Did I also hear that he said that he saw like parents changing a baby's diaper in a booth at the Resolute? Sitting down like you're eating at a table and I mean, he did mention that there are changing tables available. I'm sure there are. In the men's and women's rooms, yeah. So, it's just like maybe they, I'm just thinking there's a courtesy of other people around you and I think there's like a sanitary issue. Oh, of course. So, you know, just have to be mindful, I think. Okay, have you ever like when you're out in the bay, have you ever had a dinner ruined by like someone's, hopefully not my screaming children? No. I mean, I feel like everyone's had an experience. Definitely not here but definitely back home. Where's back home? Back home in Idaho. Okay. And so, I worked at a restaurant just hearing the different, you know, response because kids will be running up and down because it was like, you know. Did you ever have to say like, honey, slow down? Slow down. So, you had to like babysit while you were being a server? Yes, exactly. So, I'm just like, I shouldn't be watching. Stress. It's such a stressful environment and that's not what you want especially at a place where people aren't able to go, especially now, people aren't able to go out as much. Yes. It's a luxury kind of. Yes, this is a treat. So, exactly. So, to have that, you know, maybe, I don't know, that experience be diminished because of others. Yeah. Just not. So, that's good. Did a parent ever kind of look at you sideways if you were like, honey, slow down to the child? Definitely. Oh, yes. Because on behalf of those parents, I am sorry. Like, it is the worst. I apologize. You should not be in that position. You or any server and you or any diner who's out, you know, having fun with your friends or family. You shouldn't have to. If my little three-year-old can't stand being in a restaurant, I should not have brought him there. Well, alright, Bonnie Ogunrinola. We have you for a little bit more before you go back to school, right? Yes. What year are you at Howard? I'm about to be a sophomore this year. Look at you and look at all this good experience. Yes. Well, we hope to, we're excited to have you for the rest of the summer and we'll keep tabs, I'm sure, once you go back to school. Thank you. Awesome. Bonnie does good work. If you haven't seen it, her article is up right now on KTVU.com. We are taking a short break. When we come back, we'll talk about sharks in the water. Stay with us.