Frankie & Benny's UK restaurants put Braille on the menu
Frankie and Benny’s and A2i Transcription Services recently teamed up to add Braille menus to Frankie and Benny’s restaurants across the UK. Frankie and Benny’s are already noticing the benefits.
Read on for more details, or visit our restaurant directory to find a Frankie and Benny’s restaurant with a Braille menu near you.
Customer: Frankie & Benny’s
Services: Production of Braille menus
Over two million people in the UK have a visual impairment. Yet as recently as 2006 a Leonard Cheshire survey found that barely over half UK hotels were able to provide restaurant or room service menus in Braille or large print, making visually impaired people a large group that is still pretty much ignored by a significant proportion of the industry.
With over 160 locations in the UK, Frankie & Benny's, part of The Restaurant Group PLC (TRG), is one of the country’s favourite Italian-American restaurants. In a move to become more accessible to visually impaired people, in 2007 Frankie & Benny’s UK decided to introduce Braille menus to its outlets.
A recommendation from a sister restaurant within TRG led Frankie and Benny’s to A2i Transcription Services, a specialist in the transcription and provision of alternative formats for visually impaired people.
“Equal opportunities are an important consideration throughout TRG,” explains Becky Smith, divisional marketing manager for the group. “One of the principal challenges in ensuring equality for visually impaired people is to produce menus in Braille which are appropriately organised and easy to ‘read’. Using A2i’s expertise and experience, we were confident about providing our customers with comprehensive and easy-to-use-menus.”
A2i’s team of transcribers redesigned Frankie & Benny’s menus to cater for the specific needs of visually impaired customers. In addition to the transcription, a list of contents was added to the start of each menu, and each new category of food and drink begins on a new page. This helps customers to select their choices very easily.
As an extra service to Frankie & Benny’s and its customers, A2i lists all outlets that provide Braille menus on its online restaurant directory (www.a2i.co.uk/restdir.html), which is accessible to visually impaired people.
Frankie & Benny’s restaurants also display stickers in their windows that make customers aware that Braille menus are available, showing their awareness and support for their visually impaired customers.
The initiative has already proved a winner for visitors and restaurateurs alike. “Our Braille menus are very popular - a great success. And we’re welcoming more and more visually impaired people each week,” concludes Smith. “Our ongoing relationship with A2i is very reliable. They turn around new menus extremely quickly and deliver high quality on time, every time."
The last word goes to Lisa Hill, who uses Braille menus: “When I visit a restaurant that offers Braille and large print menus it says to me that the people who run the business recognise all people with respect - that diversity is embraced and that all people are welcome.”
For more information about A2i’s Braille and Large Print menu transcription service or our online directory of restaurants with Braille and Large Print menus please visit our website or contact us:
Email: info@a2i.co.uk
Tel: 01179 70 70 90
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