At this restaurant it’s likely that YOU will be the one with the handicap. And that’s making it a very popular place to eat.
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Seth Godin called Signs Restaurant “a beautiful reminder that we need to actively re-think some of the paradigms about race, gender and disability that we’ve assumed are normal.”
He’s basically giving his customers a handicap. But far from being a deterrent, Manikumar says he “might have too much business.”
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But I think this novel restaurant in Toronto does a lot more than than remind us to reconsider “normal.”
Signs is staffed with deaf servers. The owner, Anjan Manikumar was inspired by his experience as a server, taking care of a customer who was deaf. He felt that the customer, who had to point to the menu items he wanted to order, wasn’t getting the service he deserved. So he designed his restaurant to give everyone the service they deserve – IF they’re willing to learn how to ask for it.
The menus at Signs include helpful graphics of basic American Sign Language, and there are cheat-sheets on the tables and illustrations of common words on the walls. And, unless you already know ASL, those aren’t just for show, or for the curious. They’re necessary if you want to eat, because Manikumar expects all customers to order using sign language.
He’s basically giving his customers a handicap. But far from being a deterrent, Manikumar says he “might have too much business.”
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What a problem to have, right?
But why would you, in a bustling area of the city, decide to dine in a place where you have to learn something new in order to communicate?
If having our paradigms challenged is the medicine, this is the sugar.
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While Seth is absolutely right (as usual) in his assessment of Sign’s impact, I doubt that the list of reservations is due to people’s desire to have their paradigms challenged. (I’d be happy to be wrong, by the way.) Instead, they’re nailing three key elements of customer engagement, while subtly reminding us that our preconceived notions about any group of “not-like-me” people probably need revising.
If having our paradigms challenged is the medicine, this is the sugar.
They’re Letting You Belong to the Club
We all want to belong, don’t we? But there’s nothing special about belonging to the club of people with “normal’ hearing. We can have that experience anywhere. Signs gives us the chance to belong to a smaller, more elite, group – people who don’t NEED to hear, because they can sign. It’s like being able to speak French at that Paris cafe — you’re heard, you’re understood, and you’re made to feel right at home.
Then suddenly, if you’re paying attention, it comes to you how seldom your waiter is likely to have that experience at any other restaurant.
They’re Making it Fun
While “traditional wisdom” says you have to design your customer experience to make your target market comfortable, Signs sets out to make being uncomfortable part of the experience.
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Having to learn a new language, no matter how many cheat-sheets and aides are provided, isn’t most people’s idea of a good time. But Signs turns it into an adventure. The staff is encouraging and patient.
After all, they know what it’s like to not be able to “just say what you want.”
They’re More Concerned With Your Experience than Hiring Experienced Staff
Signs had hundreds of responses when they posted their ad for deaf waiters. Most places would hire as many experienced waiters as possible, or at least they’d hire people with some work experience. But many of Sign’s servers have never held a job before this one. They were hired for their attitude, training does the rest.
By the way, when you think about that training, does it occur to you how much easier it would be for a deaf server to learn their job when everyone uses sign language? Most of these people have probably never gotten through an interview, because no one could communicate with them.
They Defy Traditional Wisdom — and It’s Working For Them
While “traditional wisdom” says you have to design your customer experience to make your target market comfortable, Signs sets out to make being uncomfortable part of the experience. Which is earning them market share that will be hard for any other restaurant to steal.
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