London’s award-winning Babylon restaurant at The Roof Gardens in Kensington is in partnership with Good Food Talks, an exciting new app designed to make restaurant menus universally accessible for guests with visual impairments and other reading difficulties.
Good Food Talks was founded in March 2013 by Matt and Kate Wadsworth. Matt was born blind and it was his experience in restaurants that became the inspiration for developing the app. Without the ability to read a menu guests immediately become reliant upon those around them to read out what is available. This can not only be time consuming but can also lead to feelings of exclusion and being a burden, which more often than not results in an early choice.
Empowers people with visual impairments
Good Food Talks is a platform and app that empowers people with visual impairments to access and browse restaurant menus on their smartphones, tablets and computers in the way that most suits them and their vision, whether out and about or at home.
Guests using the app are able to listen to the menu, view it in a large text format, invert the colours or view it in the open Dyslexic font. With undeterred ambition Matt has put the ability into disability to make restaurant menus universally available and dining out an enjoyable and inclusive experience for all.
Bringing value to the restaurant industry
Matt Wadsworth said: “Visually impaired people are sociable creatures. They love food, wine and beer, and above all else, they value their independence. Basically, they just want to be treated like anybody else. We are absolutely delighted to be working with Babylon and, right now, it feels like a great honour to be able to use technology and accessibility to bring value to the restaurant industry.”
Peter Avis, Restaurant Manager in Babylon said “We are so proud to partner with Good Food Talks on such an exciting venture. Matt and Kate have created a fantastic app that really does open menus for everyone. It takes away the embarrassment sometimes associated with asking for help and means all guests can enjoy dining out.”