Woe betide the cafe that doesn’t cater to mums

A Brisbane cafe has come under fire after labelling a parent a racist, all because she dared ask for a high chair. Which begs the question: do cafes realise who it is that keeps their businesses running, asks Lucy Carne.

Mothers (and fathers) of small children are to cafes what crossfit trainers are to physios.

Exhausted, sleep-deprived and in desperate need of caffeine and carbs — they are a cafe’s vital, reliable clientele who keep the hipsters employed and the coffee beans grinding.

Yet one cafe has this week decided to bite the proverbial hand and discovered the wrath of not catering to a parent and child.

Kylie Lindsay — a 41-year-old mother with a toddler son — left a review on the Facebook page of Brisbane’s Low Road cafe, where she said staff told her they had no highchairs.

She said she mentioned the lack of highchairs as a warning to other parents.

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“We would have loved to have tried this morning, but were very disappointed when we arrived to find you don’t have a high chair,” Ms Lindsay said in her review.

“Appreciate it’s your business and your choice, but it means that young families like ours aren’t able to enjoy your hospitality and support a local business.”

Kylie Lindsay with partner Luke and son Archie. Picture: Supplied

The cafe owners responded by calling her “a racist and arsehole”.

Beyond the obvious lack of decorum, this cafe also seems to have a shortage of sound business sense.

A quick Google of “Brisbane child-friendly cafes” brings up 17 million results.

This is beyond a niche market. This is a specialised group of consumers providing regular, daytime profit. By ruling them out, you are limiting a guaranteed source of income.

Ben and Naomi, owners of the Low Road Cafe in Brisbane’s Windsor. Picture: Low Road Cafe/Instagram

Just look at the number of cafes catering specifically to parents opening across the city, including West End’s hugely popular Jugar.

Cafes need mothers, just as mothers need cafes.

They serve an important social role in providing a refuge in the sea of hormones, sleep-deprivation and loneliness that is new motherhood.

A quick conversation with a barista may be a mother’s only adult conversation for the day.

The social media exchange. Picture: Facebook

The accomplishment of just getting out of the house to stagger to the nearest cafe with baby in tow provides a new mum the confidence to leave the house again.

Mothers know too well how easy it is to become trapped in the cycle of staying in the house in your pyjamas all day, surviving on cold coffee, toast and desolation.

Cafes provide a life saving haven.

But for a cafe to not bother to provide a high chair takes away that sanctuary from the mum or dad and makes no business sense.

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It’s not that hard to purchase a few stackable, cheap Ikea highchairs and tuck them in a corner.

The Low Road owners stated that they were not anti-child but did not provide high chairs as people left them dirty and with limited space could cause people to trip. They also said they welcomed prams in their cafe.

But by choosing not to offer high chairs, perhaps a cafe should make their message clearer with a sign out the front that reads: “No parents and babies allowed”.

Then you can keep your clientele to hungover hipsters.

Good luck with that … until they start having kids.

Lucy Carne is editor of RendezView.com.au

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