‘That’s what insurance is for’: Mother allegedly held hostage in NJ café after her toddler knocks over $1,600 table

A café in New Jersey is going viral on TikTok for all the wrong reasons after a mother and her daughter were allegedly held hostage within the premises after the daughter broke a table worth $1,600. The owners apparently expected the woman to pay for the damage, but the people of TikTok believe the café was at fault for placing the expensive table in such a precarious position.

What happened?

According to one TikToker, the mother was a customer at the Hazel Boutique and Hazelnut Café in New Jersey. While trying to move a table which looks to be made of marble, the woman’s young daughter accidentally knocked the whole thing over resulting in the table shattering on one end.

At this point one of the owners allegedly called and demanded that the mother and her daughter be held in the premises until she agreed to pay the $1,600 that the table was apparently worth. In a video posted to TikTok, the mother (@beautihut) explained that she was expected to give a picture of her drivers license, email, phone number and credit card so that her card could be charged.

She claims she offered to pay and her issue was with how she was treated by the managers, especially considering her 3-year-old daughter was there too. She sought the advice of TikTok after the experience as it was clearly an accident after all, yet the heavy handed response from the owners had left her shaken up.

The response from TikTok

TikTok has the power to destroy business like the Hazelnut café. If one customer shares a bad experience it can be over for them. Most supported the mother quickly finding the account belonging to the café and calling out the owners. In a video covering the drama, TikToker @ivangtv points out that the table was clearly unstable before the incident as it can be seen wobbling in another video posted to the Hazelnut Café account. He also states that the table is not designed to be used for eating food on or even sitting at.

Others also suggested that the café should be liable for putting the three-year-old’s life at risk by having a table which apparently weighed 600lbs be so easily tipped over. This could have ended very differently had the toddler been stood in the way of that table. Clearly it was irresponsible of them to have such a table there in the first place.

Quite a few comments labelled the owners “mean girls” and swore off ever buying anything from the Hazel Boutique and Hazelnut cafe.

A statement was released by the Hazelnut café account which tells a different story, claiming that contact information was requested for insurance purposes but they deny holding the mother and daughter in the premises against their will. As of right now it looks like people aren’t buying the cafe’s story.