Does Allowing Kids in Your Restaurant Hurt or Help Your Bottom Line?

Last winter, an upmarket red-sauce restaurant in Tinton Falls, N.J., called Nettie’s House of Spaghetti caused an uproar when it declared that it would ban children under 10 starting in March 2023. In a social media announcement, the 5-year-old restaurant cited “noise levels,” “lack of space for high chairs,” “crazy messes,” and “the liability of kids running around” as just cause for “tak[ing] control of the situation.” 

News outlets pounced; meanwhile, the dining community made...