A Bradford mother is at odds with a local Tim Hortons restaurant over a recent incident involving her teenage daughter and two friends, who claim they were locked inside the restaurant and asked to leave the premises by staff.
Earlier last month, three teenage girls were at the Tim Hortons store located at 440 Holland St. West in Bradford, where they say they had ordered food and sat down to eat. While seated, according to the teens, staff at the restaurant proceeded to lock the main entrance door and told the girls they needed to leave immediately, and that no other customers would be allowed inside until they complied.
Feeling confused, the girls picked up what was left of the food they purchased and exited the premises.
The Tim Hortons location is frequented daily by students from nearby high school students at lunch hour.
At the time of the incident, the region was in the province's Red Control zone, where a maximum of 10 patrons were able to dine inside the restaurant.
“When you get up from the table for leaving or going to the washroom, masks need to be worn,” shared one employee from a different Bradford Tim Hortons location. “If you sit down to eat, you can take your mask off, but your name and phone number are taken for contact tracing.”
When contacted about the incident, Tim Hortons told BradfordToday that proper protocols were not being followed which were put in place by the restaurant.
“This is a busy restaurant at lunch hour with guests coming from the high school. Our priority is to always keep guests and team members safe. With social distancing and other capacity restrictions in place due to COVID, it is incredibly important to the team to make sure all of our guests are following the appropriate health and safety protocols. In this specific incident, protocols were not being adhered to and the team worked to ensure the limited capacity numbers were maintained to protect everyone inside of the restaurant. The front entrance door was locked to mitigate any additional guests coming inside the restaurant due to COVID-19 capacity restrictions, while the exit door remained unlocked for guests to leave. Once the appropriate amount of guests departed, the front entrance was re-opened," said a spokesperson from Tim Hortons head office.
Shortly after the incident, a sign on the door of the restaurant was posted stating that their “dining room is temporarily closed due to the evolving health situation.”
When Bradford mother Lana Barkan went to the store in person to complain about the treatment of her teen daughter, she found the sign on the door and was unable to speak with anyone face to face.
“I am just sick to my stomach,” said Barkan, claiming that the teens were asked to leave without being given a reason. “My daughter is well-behaved. Her friends always say there are kids that are rowdy, but these are local teens supporting a local business. To train the employees in such a way, it’s not right!”
Barkan claims there are other parents who are outraged by the way Tim Hortons staff handled the situation with her daughter and her friends, and that it has happened to other local teens as well.
“I understand that teens exaggerate, but when you hear the same thing from multiple kids and their parents, it’s concerning,” she says. “Kids need somewhere to eat/purchase their food… To be treated in this manner, it’s discriminatory!”
Barkan and her daughter explained that the Bradford District High School cafeteria has been closed due to COVID, and the students do not want to sit in their classrooms to eat lunch. Many of the teens frequently walk over to the 440 Holland Street plaza to grab lunch.
As for the ejection by Tim Hortons staff, “my daughter said it was ‘really silly’,” says Barkan. “It was just the three of them sitting at a table eating. They were not being loud or disruptive.”
She claims they were not breaking any rules at the time of purchase, and all three were wearing their masks while inside the Tim Hortons up until they sat down to eat.
“These young ladies are paying customers,” notes Barkan, stressing that this Tim Hortons location, in particular, generates a lot of business from local high school students.
“It is necessary to bring this situation to light and acknowledge the discriminatory practice on behalf of the fast-food restaurant,” insists Barkan. “I felt sick to my stomach and hurt by knowing that the staff of a local establishment can exhibit such discriminatory behaviour towards a bunch of 14-year-old females who chose to support a local business with their families' money.”
The owner of the Tim Hortons locations in Bradford, Perry Thornton was in touch with Barkan about the incident, however, Barkan says there has been no resolution since their conversation. She has since tried to contact head office but says no one has reached out to her regarding the matter.
“There’s a lot of generalization with teens and the staff address everyone as if they are one demographic. What if it was a group of seniors sitting down eating? Would they tell them they had to leave like that? The point is, these retail stores are being discriminatory towards our youth… it’s definitely wrong!"
Barkan and her daughter say since COVID hit, there has been nothing to do and nowhere for local teens to hang out, but that does not mean that her daughter is being irresponsible and getting into trouble in the community.
“This is a good reminder, you have to show dignity and respect to whatever age group, especially if they are paying customers,” she says.
Barkan was awaiting the results of video surveillance from inside the store to confirm what transpired the day her daughter went to eat in the establishment. However, Tim Hortons head office claims the owner went back several weeks through the tapes and could not find any footage from the incident.
"These are our future tax payers!" expresses Barkan. "Who was Tim Hortons himself? He was a hockey player who supports youth with the camps… hopefully we can generate more attention to this issue."