Yes to inclusivity!
Restaurants everywhere are thinking beyond food and aesthetics. They are putting people first and are focusing not just on serving great meals but also on making an impact in their community.
One of the main ways businesses are achieving this is by entering the social enterprise industry. And while it’s not every day you see marginalized people have access to job training or fair-wage jobs, a couple of restaurants in the Philippines have made the move to hire people from marginalized communities particularly Persons with disabilities (PWD).
Here are 7 restaurants that create job opportunities for people with disabilities.
Overdoughs
Caravan Food Group, the people behind Overdoughs and Elait, has been a believer of ‘Doing Good Through Good Food.’ They promote the abilities of their PWD partners by providing job opportunities to the Deaf and special needs community. A visit to their branches and you will see that they are mostly run by the Deaf and special needs community while selling their best-selling Cookies and Sourdough Pizza.
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Elait
Elait, apart from offering artisanal rolled ice cream and yogurt of various flavors, is run by an all-deaf staff. There, they have a guide to basic sign language in order for customers to communicate with their staff.
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Hisbeans
Hisbeans is a social innovation brand slash coffee shop that develops a culture of working with PWD experts. Since its inception in 2009, they have made it a goal to create a society where each and every disabled people could work happily while collecting only the finest specialty-ranked raw coffee beans and roasting them themselves daily.
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116, Timog Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City
Van Gogh is Bipolar
Van Gogh is Bipolar is a hidden gem tucked away in Maginhawa named after the influential art figure’s (Van Gogh) condition as well as the brain behind the restaurant, Jetro Rafael. And though we know Van Gogh is Bipolar as a restaurant, it really is more of a “gastronomical healing sanctuary” where people come for a pick-me-up through food.
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154 Maginhawa St. Sikatuna Village., Quezon City
(0922) 824-3051
Gourmet Gypsy Art Cafe
There’s more to Chef Waya Araos-Wijangco’s Gourmet Gypsy Art Cafe than just healthy yet slightly sinful dishes inspired by cuisines from around the world. They are also committed to providing work opportunities for people having developmental or learning disabilities.
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25 A Roces Ave, Quezon City
Kko Kko
Owned by Grace Lee, Kko Kko is a modern restaurant that serves authentic and reinvented Korean favorites such as their Dosirak, Cheese Fondue, and Snow Chicken. They also have a partnership with Autism Society Philippines to help identify candidates to undergo their one-on-one orientation and on-the-job learning at their branches.
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Dohtonbori
Dohtonbori is a Japanese restaurant franchise that specializes in a wide variety of okonomiyaki dishes. In 2017, Autism Society Philippines recruited and developed workers with Autism.
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