World's first restaurant staffed entirely by Deaf waiters opens in Canada

 

World's first restaurant staffed entirely by DEAF waiters opens ... with sign language guides on the walls to help guests order their food

Signs Restaurant in Toronto,Canada is staffed almost entirely by deaf waiters and waitresses, and all of the employees know sign language. 

The unique eatery asks customers to order their food and drink using sign language, which is fully integrated into the dining experience. 

The walls in Signs Restaurant, Toronto are covered in photographs illustrating the alphabet

 

The 150-seat restaurant, which offers a Canadian-styled menu fused with international flavours, has received hundreds of job applications from not only Canada but from as far as India.

Signs has a total of 50 staff, including 37 deaf employees, and manager Rachel Shemuel has been busy organising a team that can cater to the deaf community.

Rachel Shemuel(38)of Toronto, said: 'We wanted to create a dining experience to change the misconception that deaf people are disabled, when in fact, they just speak another language.

'For many of our members of staff, this is their very first job, so it's a new experience for them too.

The restaurant was founded by Anjan Manikumar, who is hoping to revolutionise the restaurant industry with his establishment that supports the deaf community.

Prior to Signs, Anjan Manikumar worked at another restaurant in Canada, where he noticed deaf customers were frequently let down and staff struggled to communicate with them

After learning American Sign Language (ASL), Anjan Manikumar mastered the basics of interacting before he decided to embark on the venture that would allow the hard-of-hearing to work and dine using sign language

Toronto contains a deaf population of 50,000 with Signs restaurant being the only one to encourage sign language interaction in 10,000 restaurants across the city.