Why aMENU
Replace your Braille menus, audio tracks, Large Print menus and Staff reading your Menu to Patrons.
Why aMENU?
You’ve made sure your Restaurant is Wheelchair Accessible but is it Accessible to the Blind? Partially Sighted?
Once they get to the table and are ready to order are you prepared?
Having a Braille Menu or Large Print is only an option for a select few
Only 10% of blind school-aged children are taught Braille today; compared to about 50% in the 1960s, according to the U.S. National Federation of the
Blind. The statistic is roughly the same for Canada.
Can you afford to have your Employee read your Menu line by line to the Customer?
What do you do if you have to change prices? Spend more money on new Braille and Large Print menus?
Not only can AMENU make your Menu Accessible, it can save money!
Online Wheelchair Ramp?
Initially the Wheelchair ramp was created and used by it’s intended target group, as time went on it soon became a benefit to Moms with strollers, the Elderly and many other groups/individuals. Wwaht started as Accessibility for ‘Some’ became Accessibility to ‘Many’.
aMENU was initially created for the same reason as the Ramp, Accessibility for those requiring more than just Braille or Large Print menus but we’ve quickly realized that anyone with a Mobile Device would benefit as well.
aMENU is a ‘Wheelchair Ramp” to your Menu!
How Can aMENU Help?
Many Restaurants may have Websites, Major Chains for example where they put their Menu, usually in the Portable Document Format (PDF), however it is buried deep in the Site and more often than not the PDF is not Accessible neither is the website.
Perhaps you’re a smaller individual Restaurant and you dont have a Website at all.
Some even think having a menu on Facebook is the answer but Facebook is notoriously inaccessible.
By having All Restaurant Menus in one easy to find place that is Accessible to a multitude of Devices that Persons With Disabilities use, the chances of your Restaurant’s Menu being found and accessed are vastly increased.
Not only will your Menu be available to the Public, more importantly PWD’s it will also meet Accessibility Legislation, for example:
In Ontario the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) is Law and the Customer Service Standard and Integrated Accessibility Standardswill be in force January 2012 for Private sector Business, having Accessible Menus will help make your Establishment compliant.
See also “New Accessibility Standards Impact Ontario Restaurants“.
Benefits
- aMENU is Search Engine friendly, chances of your Restaurant menu being found increase.
- You can follow aMENU on Twitter, by Email or post to other Social Media like Facebook.
- aMENU is accessible to many forms of Portable Devices, cell phones, laptops etc.
- You can change your viewing preferences via a simple one click interface found on every page.
- Use aMENU to print off Large Print menus.
Marketing
aMENU is part of the Accessibility News network of websites:
- Accessibility News
- www.accessibilitynews.ca
- Accessibility News International
- www.accessibilitynewsinternational.com
- Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)
- www.aoda.ca
aMENU is advertised on all of these sites, in articles and Banners and is also featured in the weekly Newsletter Accessibility News. The Newsletter is sent out to the Disability Community.
Who Benefits
- People with Low Vision
- Blind and Partially Sighted
- People with Dyslexia
- People using Mobile Devices or just about anyone wanting to view your menu at a glance without needing to troll your website looking for your menu
Increase Your Bottom Line
A Royal Bank study in 2000 estimated Ontario has 1.8 million people who meet the definition of disabled — that’s about one in every seven, and the number is expected to grow to one in five by 2025. That population represents $25 billion in consumer spending.
Making your Establishment’s Menu Accessible will be more attractive to this sector of Society, not only locally but as a Tourism attraction as well, increasing your bottom line.
Social Responsibility
For those who haven’t already done so, making your Menu Accessible to Persons With Disabilities (PWD) is just the right thing to do Socially, with today’s Technology it is even easier and cost effective to do so.