A Florida mom, accompanied by her 3-month-old infant, was asked to leave a restaurant in Georgia after she began breastfeeding. The incident was caught on camera when the woman took out her phone to record it. The woman, Aris Kopiec, was visiting the Toccoa Riverside Restaurant with her husband and two other children, in addition to the infant. Later, she spoke to FOX Business about the ordeal, highlighting the mistreatment she endured at the eatery.
She described the incident while dining with her family. Suddenly, her 4-month-old baby started to cry, prompting her to breastfeed. She made sure she was fully covered while breastfeeding, ensuring only her group could see her. Afterward, she pulled her shirt down and helped the older children out when she accidentally bumped into a chair. The porch was crowded, making her misstep unavoidable. The restaurant owner approached and rebuked her for not breastfeeding in a designated area.
Aris narrated, “He looked at me and said, ‘You can’t do that here.’ 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.’”
At that moment, Kopiec and the other women in her group helped the older children get out of the restaurant. The men stayed behind to pay the bill, and the owner apologized to them, but he did not apologize to Aris for his behavior. When Kopiec later returned to gather her belongings, she was once again interrupted by the owner. Aris calmly reminded him that Georgia law explicitly protects breastfeeding in public.
A mom says she was kicked out of Toccoa Riverside Restaurant in GA for breastfeeding her infant, even after covering up and staying at her table.
Footage shows the owner shouting, “Get on out of here!”
🍼 Georgia law protects public breastfeeding. pic.twitter.com/vLKEoucyr6
— The Premium 24 (@AmericanZebra24) December 15, 2025
This was when the owner lost his temper completely. Aris recalled, “I just told him, if he wanted to protect his restaurant, he should follow the law. That’s when he lost his mind.” The man refused to identify himself while she recorded the incident, repeatedly shouting, “Get on out of here!” Kopiec had to remove her children from the hostile situation as the man became increasingly aggressive.
Speaking to the outlet, she added, “It was so aggressive. I knew I had to get my kids out of there. Honestly, I felt like I was in the wrong. My instinct was to apologize. But then I reminded myself — women have a legal right to breastfeed. I did nothing wrong.”
According to public records and local business listings, the owner of the Toccoa Riverside Restaurant is 67-year-old Tim Richter. Interestingly, previous customer feedback shows that the restaurant has been praised for its hospitality.
“I tried to take my baby to breakfast this morning, at Cafe Republic in Fort Worth, Texas. He is teething, so I thought a pancake might make him feel better.
He was being super fussy and trying to climb all over the place. I was really stressed about him bothering other guests,… pic.twitter.com/1V8KIL4OqD
— Mr Commonsense (@fopminui) January 9, 2025
The restaurant did not respond to requests for comment on the viral video, which has since drawn significant attention. FOX Business, during a phone call with a man who identified himself as the owner, declined to confirm whether he was the person in the clip, though he defended the restaurant’s practices. The man said, “I’ve had the restaurant for thirty-three years. We’ve been breastfeeding for thirty-three years.” He further claimed that the video was recorded for clicks.
While the full details remain under review, it is worth noting that Georgia law states that a mother may choose to breastfeed in any location where the mother and child are otherwise authorized to be.
In her concluding remarks, Aris Kopiec urged women to shed any shame about breastfeeding publicly. She said, “Every nursing mom deserves to feel safe feeding her baby. We have a legal right to breastfeed, period.”
