Beijing: A Starbucks café in Guangzhou, China stand apart from every other one for a very special reason. About half the staff in the café are hearing impaired. They are hired there as a part of the initiative to employ disabled people.
"This might be the quietest Starbucks of over 3,800 shops on the Chinese mainland," Xinhua news agency quoted Leo Tsoi, chief operating officer of Starbucks China, as saying. Out of 30 staff members at the outlet located in Yuexiu district, 14 are hearing impaired.
The outlet was opened over the weekend. As it is a ‘silent café’, it has a specially designed ordering system that allows customers to place their orders without having to talk to anyone. All the items available are numbered which facilitates ordering. Alternatively, customers can also write down if they have specific requests for the order, reported NDTV.
"We cannot hear you but would like to share a tasty coffee with you," said Chen Siting, who works at the store. "I believe more people like me could find a career they are passionate about in the future."
Zhu Jieying is the first hearing-impaired coffee master of Starbucks in China. There are three other managers who have hearing loss as well. Zhu, who has worked for Starbucks for seven years, said that he hopes this store becomes a platform for people with disabilities to prove themselves and empower them to explore more possibilities in life.
