Independent restaurant Don Giovanni's unveils Braille and audio menus
The restaurant, situated on Oxford Street, celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2014 and offers a range of authentic Italian dishes, cocktails and boutique wines.
It said that it introduced the new menus and audio option to ensure that all customers should be accommodated for, including those with special needs.
The restaurant outsourced the work to Good Food Talks, a company which specialises in converting the existing menus into both Braille and audio and has already partnered with chains Nando's, Carluccio's and Pret A Manger to create speaking menus.
The audible format is accessible through customers’ own smart devices. Staff can help to make changes in ‘settings’ which will allow them to access the audible format. If the customer does not have a smart device they can use one of the restaurants iPads to access the menu.
All restaurant staff are trained on how to accommodate deaf and blind customers, including how to communicate with them and meet their needs. There is also a member of staff who can communicate through sign language.
Adam Karim, director, said: “We feel very strongly about customer equality, and believe customers with either visual/hearing impairment should be able to frequent restaurants as often as somebody without and also to enjoy the full range of all of our facilities without feeling a burden or embarrassed in front of staff or others.”
In March, a report by Scope and the Extra Costs Commission revealed that UK businesses, including pubs and hotels, are losing an estimated £1.8bn a month by ignoring the needs of disabled customers.
The survey of over 2,000 disabled people found that 75 per cent of participants and their families have stopped spending money in restaurants and other businesses as a result of poor service and lack of disability awareness.
