An Akaroa restaurant which has banned children under the age of 10 from its premises is doing nothing illegal, the Restaurant Association says.
But it's certainly sparked a divisive debate on whether the ban - relatively uncommon for a Kiwi restaurant - is ethically appropriate.
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"Some parents think that it's important to take their children out," Restaurant Association general manager Nicola Waldren told The AM Show on Monday morning.
"It teaches them how to dine out and it's an important part of their social development.
"But there are others that say having children running around the restaurant certainly destroys the ambience when they're trying to have a quiet meal out."
The Little Bistro restaurant went child-free after numerous complaints from diners and an incident where a child injured a staff member.
"A child ran into a waitress with a tray of glasses and she cut her arm pretty severely," owner Richard Uttely told NZME.
"As an employer we are responsible for minimising health and safety risks to our employees."
Ms Waldren says restaurants are legally allowed to ban children if they want to.
"The human rights act bans discrimination on the basis of age but this does not apply to children under the age of 16. So on that basis, they're not being unlawful."
She says disgruntled parents still have plenty of other options.
"I think we're pretty blessed in New Zealand with a huge range of different styles of places to eat out. There are a lot of casual dining establishments out there particularly suited to family dining.
"But there's particular types of businesses that are trying to create a different atmosphere and that means that maybe some of them are less suited to young children."
Mr Uttely told NZME his bistro is not the first in the country to ban children.
"It's quite common place to find hotels and restaurants which are adult only, in lots of cases it's a restriction of the venues liquor licence."
Newshub.
