Mom says viral video shows her being booted from Georgia restaurant for breastfeeding her baby
A Florida mom says she was shown the door at a well‑known riverside eatery in Georgia after she breastfed her baby. She claims the man she thinks is the owner shouted, “Get on out of here!” at her, and she recorded the exchange on her phone.
The incident took place at Toccoa Riverside Restaurant in Blue Ridge, according to Aris Kopiec, and the clip has since gone viral, sparking fresh scrutiny over how the establishment handles families with young children.
Kopiec told FOX Business that she was eating dinner with her husband, three daughters (four, two and four‑month‑old), and a few friends when her infant started crying.
She wrapped the baby in her arms, covered herself immediately, and made sure only those at her table could see her. “The only people who could see me were at my table,” she said, adding, “I covered myself immediately.”
While she was preparing to send her older kids outside, she tripped over another guest or chair on the crowded, enclosed porch. It is at that moment that the alleged 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 in one arm and helping my kids with the other. He wouldn’t let me get any words out. He kept saying, ‘I have to protect my restaurant. You need to go to a corner.’”
Kopiec and her friend moved the older children outside for a while while their partners stayed inside. The staff apologized to the gentlemen in their party, but not to Kopiec. When she returned to retrieve her belongings, the confrontation worsened.
She calmly reminded the man she claims is the owner that Georgia law explicitly protects breastfeeding in public spaces. “I just told him, if he wanted to protect his restaurant, he should follow the law,” she said. “That’s when he lost his mind.”
The man refused to give his name. When a friend noted that he had a photo on his cellphone, Kopiec started recording. In the footage she shared with FOX Business, a man standing behind the counter yells, “Get on out of here!” as Kopiec clutches her infant.
“It was so aggressive,” she said. “I knew I had to get my kids out of there.” After leaving the restaurant, Kopiec felt shaken. “Honestly, I felt like I was in the wrong,” she explained. “My instinct was to apologize. But then I reminded myself — women have a legal right to breastfeed. I did nothing wrong.”
Public records confirm that 67‑year‑old Tim Richter is the proprietor of Toccoa Riverside Restaurant. A September post by the Fannin County Chamber of Commerce on Facebook also identified Richter as the longtime owner and lauded the restaurant’s hospitality. That claim stands in stark contrast to the aggressive tone of the viral clip.
In a telephone interview with FOX Business, a man who identified himself as the restaurant’s owner said he would not confirm if he was the person in the video.
He defended the business, stating, “I’ve had the restaurant for thirty‑three years. We’ve been breastfeeding for thirty‑three years,” and insisted the incident was “staged for clicks.”
The restaurant itself did not offer any comment.
Georgia law maintains that a mother may breastfeed “in any location where the mother and baby are otherwise authorized to be,” thereby shielding nursing mothers from removal or restriction.
Etiquette expert and author Alison Cheperdak, who is set to release her book “Was it Something I Said?” next spring, discussed the confrontation with FOX Business. “Breastfeeding is natural and legally protected,” she said.
“Hospitality is about care, not confrontation, and raising one’s voice at a guest is never acceptable.” Cheperdak added that a mother owes no apology for feeding her child.
“A calm explanation is appropriate, but the responsibility is on the restaurant to treat her with respect,” she emphasized. “Even if a restaurant wants a quieter atmosphere, policies should never undermine basic respect for families.”
Previous coverage by local Atlanta outlets and Food & Wine in 2023 highlighted Toccoa Riverside’s controversial “adult surcharge” for parents deemed “unable to parent,” which drew backlash from families who claimed they were scolded for their children’s behavior.
A FOX 5 Atlanta report about the surcharge controversy claimed that owners had allegedly made a three‑year‑old cry.
Kopiec says she hopes the growing attention will lead to 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 to forgive the restaurant, though she would like to see them welcome breastfeeding moms going forward.
The video remains widely circulated online, with commenters debating both breastfeeding protections and how young mothers and infants should be treated in public spaces.
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