Miss-Delectable
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Culver
One local restaurant is earning higher profits by listening more closely to those who can't hear.
Six months ago, the Portage Culver's installed a program that aids deaf and hard-of-hearing drive-through and walk-in customers. Since then, the restaurant has boosted sales and made things more welcoming for customers, according to the restaurant owner.
The driver-through and indoor system, OrderAssist, is in use only at Culver's restaurants and hasn't been picked up by other major chains, who say the system is too costly. The system, which retails for $750 and includes a button, receiver, employee training and a custom order pad, is similar to a bell attached to a store door or counter top, alerting employees that a customer needs help.
But instead of being a cost burden, local Culver's owner Chad Stevenson said the system is used by about 15 Portage customers each week, and the system is both profitable and makes purchases "less awkward" for people with hearing and speech disabilities.
"It's a very useful tool for hearing-impaired people to break the ice. It allows us to help people," said Stevenson, who installed the system in all eight of his restaurants. In total, his restaurants serve about five patrons using OrderAssist every day.
Deaf patrons or those with other communication issues pull into the drive-through toward the menu and press a blue "BigBell" button, then drive forward to the restaurant's service window.
When compressed, the button transmits a signal that sounds a chime inside the restaurant.
That sound alerts employees that someone at the window will need assistance.
At the drive-through's window, restaurant employees hand over a simple order slip for the customer to fill out with the desired food.
Of the 423 franchises and nine company-owned restaurants, more than 50 Culver's locations are using the system, said Jeff Bonner, vice president of operations for Culver's.
Without OrderAssist, deaf customers and those who can't use the drive-through voice box, would pull forward, sometimes confusing restaurant employees, Stevenson said.
"This just totally eliminates the awkwardness that was prevalent in the system," he said. "It definitely has improved business; it's improved service."
Other restaurants are seeing increased business directly from OrderAssist, said Patrick Hughes, CEO and founder of Inclusion Solutions, the Evanston, Ill., firm that created OrderAssist.
An Indianapolis Culver's near a school for the deaf has at least 30 deaf customers per week. A restaurant in Madison has 10 weekly.
Along with higher profits from a new customer base, Hughes markets OrderAssist as a moral and cheap solution to current difficulties for drive-through employees and the hard of hearing.
"Drive-throughs are completely off-limits for people who are deaf and hard of hearing," he said, comparing a drive-through for a deaf person to having someone in a wheelchair go up stairs. "Any place where we welcome a customer, we should be able to welcome anybody."
Karen Putz, activist and mother of three hard-of-hearing children, said she eats at Culver's because of the OrderAssist system and the "statement it makes" to her as a deaf woman.
"When I go to Culver's, I know I'm welcome there. They've gone the extra mile to provide the access," she said through a translator. "If every company would have that same attitude and provide that access, then the barriers wouldn't be there."
In January 2008, Putz, who lives in Illinois, was denied service at a Steak N' Shake drive-through, setting off a national media frenzy about accessibility issues.
In the wake of her incident, Putz in interviews endorsed OrderAssist and Inclusion Solutions, which produces other products that allow easier access at the gas pump or the voting booth for the deaf or others with communication difficulties.
Other options exist besides OrderAssist, such as touch-screen ordering systems or stickers and signs at drive-through menus that advise deaf people to pull ahead to the window.
While highly accessible to all users, critics say the touch-screen systems can cost as much as $20,000 and can slow down "through-put," a restaurant statistic that describes how fast a customer gets in and out of a drive-through.
And while by far the cheapest solution for restaurants, stickers posted in drive-throughs don't alert employees inside the restaurant when someone needs assistance, said actress and advocate Liz Tannebaum, a deaf Inclusion Solutions employee.
Tannebaum said several franchise owners of large U.S. chain restaurants have declined the OrderAssist program, citing cost as a barrier. One of those franchise operators was Tannebaum's cousin, who owns a chain restaurant in Canada.
"I'm embarrassed and ashamed to say they turned us down," she said. "I'm hoping that he reads that and he feels sad when he sees it."
Some McDonald's restaurants have such a sign or sticker, which is at the discretion of each franchise operator.
"McDonald's is always looking for ways to improve customer service and ordering," said Tami Peterman, McDonald's marketing manager in the Midwest region.
Some McDonald's locations are testing pull-up ordering touch-screen kiosks, Peterman said. Others have the touch-screen kiosks inside.
One local restaurant is earning higher profits by listening more closely to those who can't hear.
Six months ago, the Portage Culver's installed a program that aids deaf and hard-of-hearing drive-through and walk-in customers. Since then, the restaurant has boosted sales and made things more welcoming for customers, according to the restaurant owner.
The driver-through and indoor system, OrderAssist, is in use only at Culver's restaurants and hasn't been picked up by other major chains, who say the system is too costly. The system, which retails for $750 and includes a button, receiver, employee training and a custom order pad, is similar to a bell attached to a store door or counter top, alerting employees that a customer needs help.
But instead of being a cost burden, local Culver's owner Chad Stevenson said the system is used by about 15 Portage customers each week, and the system is both profitable and makes purchases "less awkward" for people with hearing and speech disabilities.
"It's a very useful tool for hearing-impaired people to break the ice. It allows us to help people," said Stevenson, who installed the system in all eight of his restaurants. In total, his restaurants serve about five patrons using OrderAssist every day.
Deaf patrons or those with other communication issues pull into the drive-through toward the menu and press a blue "BigBell" button, then drive forward to the restaurant's service window.
When compressed, the button transmits a signal that sounds a chime inside the restaurant.
That sound alerts employees that someone at the window will need assistance.
At the drive-through's window, restaurant employees hand over a simple order slip for the customer to fill out with the desired food.
Of the 423 franchises and nine company-owned restaurants, more than 50 Culver's locations are using the system, said Jeff Bonner, vice president of operations for Culver's.
Without OrderAssist, deaf customers and those who can't use the drive-through voice box, would pull forward, sometimes confusing restaurant employees, Stevenson said.
"This just totally eliminates the awkwardness that was prevalent in the system," he said. "It definitely has improved business; it's improved service."
Other restaurants are seeing increased business directly from OrderAssist, said Patrick Hughes, CEO and founder of Inclusion Solutions, the Evanston, Ill., firm that created OrderAssist.
An Indianapolis Culver's near a school for the deaf has at least 30 deaf customers per week. A restaurant in Madison has 10 weekly.
Along with higher profits from a new customer base, Hughes markets OrderAssist as a moral and cheap solution to current difficulties for drive-through employees and the hard of hearing.
"Drive-throughs are completely off-limits for people who are deaf and hard of hearing," he said, comparing a drive-through for a deaf person to having someone in a wheelchair go up stairs. "Any place where we welcome a customer, we should be able to welcome anybody."
Karen Putz, activist and mother of three hard-of-hearing children, said she eats at Culver's because of the OrderAssist system and the "statement it makes" to her as a deaf woman.
"When I go to Culver's, I know I'm welcome there. They've gone the extra mile to provide the access," she said through a translator. "If every company would have that same attitude and provide that access, then the barriers wouldn't be there."
In January 2008, Putz, who lives in Illinois, was denied service at a Steak N' Shake drive-through, setting off a national media frenzy about accessibility issues.
In the wake of her incident, Putz in interviews endorsed OrderAssist and Inclusion Solutions, which produces other products that allow easier access at the gas pump or the voting booth for the deaf or others with communication difficulties.
Other options exist besides OrderAssist, such as touch-screen ordering systems or stickers and signs at drive-through menus that advise deaf people to pull ahead to the window.
While highly accessible to all users, critics say the touch-screen systems can cost as much as $20,000 and can slow down "through-put," a restaurant statistic that describes how fast a customer gets in and out of a drive-through.
And while by far the cheapest solution for restaurants, stickers posted in drive-throughs don't alert employees inside the restaurant when someone needs assistance, said actress and advocate Liz Tannebaum, a deaf Inclusion Solutions employee.
Tannebaum said several franchise owners of large U.S. chain restaurants have declined the OrderAssist program, citing cost as a barrier. One of those franchise operators was Tannebaum's cousin, who owns a chain restaurant in Canada.
"I'm embarrassed and ashamed to say they turned us down," she said. "I'm hoping that he reads that and he feels sad when he sees it."
Some McDonald's restaurants have such a sign or sticker, which is at the discretion of each franchise operator.
"McDonald's is always looking for ways to improve customer service and ordering," said Tami Peterman, McDonald's marketing manager in the Midwest region.
Some McDonald's locations are testing pull-up ordering touch-screen kiosks, Peterman said. Others have the touch-screen kiosks inside.