FYI- Irish Cafe's are not public picnic spaces!
- Food Business Coach Tracie
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
So many Irish café owners are accused of being “greedy” or “unwelcoming” for doing one simple thing: asking people not to use their business as a free picnic area. While customers unpack supermarket rolls, homemade sandwiches, packets of biscuits, deli coffees and soda cans at the table or under the shelter of privately paid‑for booths or privately owned picnic tables, the owner is busy trying to cover wages, VAT, rates, electricity, insurance, ingredients and loan repayments on margins that would make most other industries laugh.
This isn’t about a single table or a single family with a packed lunch. It’s about a pattern that quietly bleeds independent cafés dry: guests who want the atmosphere, comfort and toilets of a professionally run venue, but want someone else to fund it. When your courtyard is full of picnics and “we’ll just get one tea between us”, the paying customers you built that space for are the ones turned away – and in a sector where closures are now weekly news, that lost revenue is not a harmless inconvenience, it’s another step towards a “For Lease” sign on the door.
If you love your local, it’s time to see this for what it is: not a quirky bit of Irish boldness, but an erosion of the very businesses that make our towns and beaches worth visiting.
So, you absolutely can ask a paying customer to stop eating their own food and, if they refuse, you can ask them to leave, even if they bought a tea. Irish law does not give someone a right to use your private premises as a picnic area just because they made a small purchase, as long as you are not discriminating on protected grounds (gender, race, disability, etc.).
The legal position in Ireland
A café is private property; you set reasonable house rules like “no outside food or drink” as a condition of service or staying on the premises, provided they are applied consistently and not in a discriminatory way under the Equal Status Acts.
There is no legal “once they’ve bought something, you can’t ask them to leave” rule; you may refuse further service or ask someone to leave if their behaviour breaks your rules or creates risk (including food‑safety or business‑use issues).
What you cannot do is refuse service or eject someone for reasons that amount to unlawful discrimination (protected characteristics), but refusing because they are eating outside food is not discrimination in itself if applied to everyone.
Allowing customers to consume food you have not prepared or controlled may blur who is responsible under food‑safety law if something goes wrong, which is another legitimate reason to prohibit it.
PLEASE REMEMBER:
“It is a common misconception. In Ireland a café is private property, not a public picnic area. Buying a tea doesn’t give someone a right to eat their own outside food at your tables. You must clearly state ‘no outside food’ and apply it to everyone. That’s partly for fairness to the business and other customers, and partly for food‑safety and liability reasons. If a guest chooses not to respect that policy, you are entitled to ask them to stop or to leave, even if they’ve bought a drink.”
PLUS:
“Buying one drink doesn’t turn a café into a free picnic space. Your house rule must be no outside food – for fairness and food‑safety reasons – and you are entitled to enforce it, kindly but firmly.”
You are absolutely entitled to protect your space. Here are some practical scripts and boundaries.
Validate and reframe
Acknowledge that you are not “being mean” – but you are in fact running a business, not a public picnic shelter.
Explain that in Ireland a café can set a “food and drink purchased here only” rule and ask people to leave if they won’t respect it, as long as they apply the rule to everyone and not in a discriminatory way.
Example quotes you could use:
“Our seating is part of our business & not a public amenity, and we reserve them for customers who actually buy our food and drink.”
Write and display a short, clear policy at the entrance, counter and outside seating:
“Our indoor seating & courtyard seating is for customers enjoying food and drink purchased here. No outside food or picnics are permitted. Thank you for supporting an independent local café.”
Visible signs make it easier and less personal: staff can point to the sign instead of feeling like the “bad” person in the conversation.
They can also add a gentle time‑limit sign in peak season, e.g. “On busy days, seating is limited to 60 minutes so we can accommodate everyone.”
Here are training scripts for staff so they don’t have to improvise when stressed:
When approaching picnickers (piss takers) already sitting:
“Hi there, just to let you know, these seats/ booths are for customers eating and drinking from the café. You’re very welcome to order from us and stay, but picnics have to be eaten over by the public benches on the beach/ can be eaten in the local park. Thanks for understanding.”
If they say “We’ll just get a tea then” and keep eating their own food:
“Thanks for supporting us, I really appreciate it. Our policy is that food eaten at the tables or in the booths has to be bought here, so if you’d like to stay, I’ll ask you not to eat your own bits here and to order from our menu instead. Otherwise the park is perfect for picnics”
If they get offended:
“I’m really not trying to upset you. I have to pay for these seats/ booths, the amazing team and all of the upkeep, so we keep the space for people buying our food and drinks. You’re very welcome to stay if you’re happy to follow that.”
Reduce the emotional load
You must decide in advance: “I will always prioritise customers who buy our food; I’m not responsible for people being annoyed at a fair boundary.”
Train staff to handle this the same way, so it’s a consistent house rule, not a personal whim.
Treat it as part of service, not confrontation: approach with a smile, explain once, and if needed, calmly repeat and then walk away to give the person a moment to decide.
Practical tweaks that help
Clear “Customers only” on the tables/ booths or small table signs in peak season, so people know before they sit.
If this all makes you feel uncomfortable, a social post explaining the policy from the heart: "we pay for the space, rates, staff, maintenance, and simply can’t survive if our seating becomes free shelter for picnics." Keep it factual, kind, and firm.
TURN THESE INTO SIGNS YOU CAN USE TODAY-
Door / entrance sign
Welcome to [Café Name]We prepare all of our food and drinks from scratch, with care. Our indoor and outdoor seating is reserved for guests enjoying items purchased here. Please no picnics or outside food at our tables. Thank you for supporting an independent local café.
Table / booth sign
This seating is reserved for guests dining with us. To keep the space for our customers, we do not allow outside food or picnics at these tables. Thank you for your understanding.
Peak‑summer courtyard sign
Our covered booths are for guests enjoying food and drink from our menu. If you’d like to picnic, the park & beach benches are just a few steps away. We truly appreciate you choosing to support this small, independent café.
Instagram post
Running a small, from‑scratch café is a joy – but it isn’t the same as providing a free picnic shelter. Every table, booth, cushion and coffee cup out there is paid for through our food and drink, not by the council. We cover the rent, rates, staff, maintenance and all the little details that make our indoor space and the courtyard a lovely place to sit. When our tables are used for supermarket picnics or takeaway coffees from elsewhere, it means the guests who want to dine with us often can’t get a seat. So we’ve introduced a simple, fair house rule:👉 Our indoor and outdoor seating is for guests enjoying food and drink purchased here. Picnics and outside food are welcome on the park & beach benches – not at our tables. We’ll always enforce this kindly, but we will enforce it. Independent cafés only survive when their spaces are used by the people who choose to support them. Thank you for understanding, and for choosing to spend your time – and your treat money – with us.
Be bold.
Know your boundaries.
Have the signage to back it up.
Train your team for all eventualities.
Get ahead and stay there!
If your business needs an injection of energy or it is creaking under the weight of rising costs, staff shortages and brutally honest customers, doing nothing is the most expensive decision you can make. Right now, you can have Tracie Daly, Food Business Coach, walk your site in person or sit with you online for fully funded, action‑focused mentoring that tears into the real problems and rebuilds your systems for profit. No more guessing, no more fragile ego – just a straight‑talking expert in your corner, paid for, so you can stop leaking money and start running the business you thought you were building in the first place.
Tracie Daly
Food Business Coach
0851755005