Happy One-Month Birthday, #StrollerFriendly!

To celebrate, I'll go through a few questions I've gotten about the website, and a few modifications that will be coming in the future.

Comments
I've opened up the comments section to allow for discussion and feedback, and I invite anyone to respond.

Also, I wholeheartedly invite anyone in any city to do a #StrollerFriendly review of their own -- just be sure to address all categories in a sentence or two, and be sure to let me know what city you're hailing from. I would love to publish your review! :-)


Breastfeeding Clarification
Someone once asked me what I'd meant, when I said I was looking for a place to breastfeed discreetly. Was I requiring a comfy chair in a large, private washroom, or would a spacious booth in a secluded section of the restaurant suffice?

Basically, having a comfy chair in a washroom is ideal, and will fetch extra points for the restaurant being reviewed. I am looking forward to reviewing The Cactus Club, as it does indeed have this feature. However, I will settle for any secluded and moderately comfortable spot to breastfeed, and restaurants only start losing points when there is nowhere that is both suitable and accessible.

Note that booth seating is not always a sure thing for discreet breastfeeding, as the sometimes-immoveable booth tables can often be too close to the seat to fit both mom and baby.


Coming Soon: Restaurant vs. Retail
Lastly, I was reflecting on the standards I've been holding all restaurants up to, and realized that there is a problem with holding a food-retail-type establishment (such as Pink Sugar Cupcakery) to the same standard as a restaurant-type establishment (Nautical Nellie's).

While access, service, cost and food are equally important in both categories, a retail establishment should not be expected to offer the same amenities (change tables, comfy place to breastfeed, etc) as a sit-down-and-take-your-time restaurant. Therefore, any retail-type places I review henceforth will only take into account basic Baby-Friendliness (noise level, staff attitude) and not the presence of amenities.

The distinction between retail and restaurant-style food establishments will be as follows:

• Restaurants serve food that is assumed to be eaten on premises; Retail is mostly a take-out operation with limited seating for the rare on-premises-eaters.
• If there is an onsite washroom available to the clientele, it's a restaurant. If not, it's retail.
• Restaurants offer availability and variety of both food and drink; retail is more limited, often specializing in a very specific food.

Naturally, there are places that are clearly restaurant or clearly retail, but there will doubtlessly be others whose classification will be unclear. When in doubt, I will err to restaurant standards.

So, that's it for the one-month writeup! Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for our next review!