A Pennsylvania Chick-fil-A restaurant has banned customers within their dining room if they are under the age of 16 without an adult.

The management of the Montgomery County store shared to their Facebook page that they “contemplated long and hard before posting this, but decided it was time” to limit their in-store attendance to children who have an adult with them.

“Often on Saturdays and days when schools are off, we have school-age children visiting the restaurant without their parents,” read the post made to the Facebook page of the Chick-fil-A location at 70 Buckwalter Road in Royersford. “Usually, these children and teens are dropped off for several hours at a local bounce park and groups of them then walk over to our restaurant.”

The post continued, saying “while we love being a community restaurant and serving guests of all ages, some issues need to be addressed,” citing issues of overly loud child and teen customers using explicit language, food and trash being left or thrown around the dining room, tables and restrooms being vandalized, employees being harassed, and unsafe behavior in the parking lot and drive thru lanes.

“As you can imagine, this is not a pleasant experience,” the post read. “We want to provide a comfortable and safe environment for our guests and our staff, and also to protect our building. Therefore, we cannot allow this to continue.”

The ban on customers under 16 only applies to those eating inside the restaurant, the post said. Customers under that age can still buy their food and take it to go, but cannot remain in the dining room without an adult present.

The post also adds an apology for those teens who “visited us and acted appropriately” and are also affected by this new rule, as well as a clarification that they are not blaming parents or guardians.

“Children and teens are learning to navigate the world free from supervision and often push the boundaries,” the post read. “We simply can’t let them push those boundaries anymore at our restaurant. We encourage you to talk to your children and ask about behaviors they have seen and perhaps participated in.”

To read the full post, visit the Chick-fil-A location’s Facebook page.

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