Côte launches speaking menu for visually impaired diners
Good Food Talks promises to ‘open menus for everybody’ by reading text out-loud, inverting colours and adjusting print size and screen brightness to assist people with limited vision.
Nando's, Pret a Manger and Carluccio's are already on board, and the app can find all nearby restaurants signed up to the scheme.
It was developed by founders Matt and Kate Wadsworth to allow visually impaired people to order for themselves rather than having to ask friends or waiting staff to read menus out-loud.
Côte CEO Alex Scrimgeour said the technology addressed an ‘obvious problem’.
"We’d like everyone to feel welcome in our restaurants and part of this is in making our menus available to everybody,” he said.
“We are delighted to be the first French restaurant group to partner with the Good Food Talks app and have been really impressed with this innovative solution. A few of our regular diners mentioned the app and we thought it was a brilliant idea. “
Over 2m people in the UK have a visual impairment, while an estimated 10m are dyslexic.
BigHospitality reported earlier this year that UK businesses lose an estimated £1.8bn a month by failing to cater to customers with disabilities and additional requirements.
A 2014 government audit of over 30,000 businesses found that three quarters of restaurants failed to cater to visually impaired diners, while only 15 per cent had hearing loops.
Matthew Wadsworth, founder and CEO of Good Food Talks said: “We are excited to be in partnership with Côte and enthusiastic about offering far more choice to visually impaired and dyslexic diners.”
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