Cii Radio|Ayesha Ismail|17 April 2018| 30 Rajab 1439
A restaurant run by differently-abled people in India not just serves food but also brings smiles to the faces of its patrons. More importantly, it runs smoothly despite communication gap.
Echoes Cafe started in December 2015 with the collective efforts of Prateek Babbar, Sahib Sarna, Shivansh Kanwar, Gaurav Kanwar, Sahil Gulati and Kshitij Behl.
The serving staff – who expresses themselves only in sign language – love their job.
Jatin, who is a staff member at the Echoes restaurant greets: “Hi, I am Jatin, this is GTB Nagar, Echoes Restaurant. It is run by deaf and mute people. Let’s go inside.”
The menu card
Another staff member, Prince, said he loves working here. “We receive guests; offer them a glass of water. Then we give them the menu and explain them how to place the order,” he said.
Prateek Babbar, owner of the restaurant, said they have devised a procedure for ordering that is convenient for all.
“We have switches on each table that that are connected to lights. Waiters will always come when you press the switch. You can show them the cue card that has all the obvious questions a customer can have… call the manager or we need spoons or we need bill. Even without these cue cards, our waiters understand the gestures. Communicating with customers is never an issue here,” he said.
The owner of Echoes restaurant, Prateek Babbar, says the idea is an initiative to help provide for differently-abled people by hiring more of them.
The restaurant runs smoothly despite the communication gap and the staff all say they enjoy working at Echoes.
Source – Al Arabiya
