Just about any fast food chain you walk into after the school day has ended, on the weekends or over the school holidays, you are bound to be greeted by a bunch of teens tucking into their favourite foods and most likely being loud, excitable and possibly behaving badly as their parents are not there to tell them off! But up until now people have seemed to turn a blind eye, let kids be kids, and enjoy their fast food, however, this is soon changing and starting with the huge chain KFC. This was as a result of the behaviour of a group of teens crossing the line and ruining it for all unaccompanied under 18’s.
This was as a result of the behaviour of a group of teens crossing the line and ruining it for all unaccompanied under 18’s looking for some fried chicken. The incident that occurred was a scene between what is thought to be teen gangs having a physical fight in one of the chains restaurants in Stoke On Trent, UK. Now that chain has banned all under 18’s that are not with an adult from eating alone in the restaurant forcing their only option being to order a takeaway meal instead.
A similar fast food frenzy happened in a nearby McDonalds where over 24 adolescents were involved in a fight within the restaurant, leading to police being called to split them up. Both chains have stated this is their ‘last resort’ and that they had no choice as it was spoiling the atmosphere for the other diners that were not causing any trouble. The manager at KFC, Liam Dalgarno said, ‘The way some of these youngsters act can be scary for staff. People shouldn’t have to experience that. Under-18s are not strictly banned from the premises, they can come in to order their meal but then they have to take it out. A minority had been causing trouble. Really they only came in for the Wi-Fi but we have reduced the distance of it so now it only reaches the doors. We had problems on a daily basis and we work closely with our PCSOs and police officers. We have gradually started noticing a difference since this policy was introduced and these measures help the staff to feel safer at work.’
In over 900 restaurants this is the first under 18 ban for KFC but if it works they might look to apply this rule further across the country to the locations where trouble is more prevalent.
