Echoes Cafe – An initiative for Social Entrepreneurship

Echoes Café, is located at Satya niketan, just opposite Venkteshwar college, Delhi. It was started as a social entrepreneurship initiative by a group of 5 friends, who wanted to do something unique and add value to society. This led to conceptualization of ‘Echoes’- a café with a meaning. The café with the motto of –‘Eat, Engage & Energize’ was different as entire front end operations were managed by ‘Differently abled people’. Where social entrepreneurship, is highly talked about, the novel initiative not only aims to change people’s perception about people with special abilities, but also gathers support from them in this unique endeavour.

Background: Shivansh and Kshitij, founding partners of the café had rich experience in the food and hospitality sector, which they wanted to leverage. While being associated with leading chains, they realized that though differently abled people were employed with couple of chains, but they always performed backend operations. They wanted to give these people a platform by bringing them to forefront where they can prove that even they are capable of leading a self-reliant life.  However, they were really not sure of the acceptance of idea amongst people, and which category of differently abled people should be picked.

Finally they decided to go ahead with ‘Deaf and Dumb’ people, and Noida Deaf Society – an NGO, was contacted for sourcing of people. Initially 3 people were picked who had the zeal to work. They were trained for a period of 1 month in a mock restaurant setting. Since it was difficult to communicate with the staff initially, a person from Noida Deaf Society was roped in as a common link. A procedure was drafted, which would help the staff to communicate with customers and vice versa. Thus, a multi cuisine restaurant with a strong differential came into existence

Challenges: Though the concept was highly appreciable, execution was full of challenges for the founders. Most of the time wrong orders were placed and there was difficulty in understanding the requirements and details of the customers. Establishing a clear communication between the waiters and the consumers was the biggest challenge that they faced.

Strategic Initiatives taken: In order to overcome these challenges, lot of strategic initiatives were taken. The theme was kept motivational and trendy, while being student friendly at the same time. A sign board was placed at entrance, and upon arrival a card was given to customer that read, “The café is managed by differently abled staff. Help us with the initiative. Thank You”. Each table was provided with a switch to call the waiter, which was connected with a bulb. On pressing the switch, the corresponding bulb highlighting the table number would lighten up, thus indicating the need for waiter at the table. Cue cards for frequently used terms as water, cutlery, bill and others were introduced.

For placing orders, codes were assigned against each menu item. The customer was supposed to write the code along with the quantity required and customization if any, in order to place the order.

In order to provide a positive work environment, salaries were as per industry standards

Way ahead – The second unit was started in Kormangala, Bangalore. The café currently employs 10 differently abled people in satya niketan and 13 in Bangalore, including 4 girls.  The initiative of social entrepreneurship strongly conveys that if differently abled people are brought to forefront and given equal opportunities, they are also equally capable of proving themselves. The ultimate goal of the founders is to run the entire café managed by these types of differently abled people. Kshitij and Shivansh mention that customer’s participation in supporting the initiative has been of utmost importance

Disclaimer: It is illegal to copy or reproduce the contents of this post without the permission of the author. The information displayed is only for educational purpose and cannot be cited for validity of data. The post has been conceptualized with inputs from Rajat Relhan.