This one of a kind café in Mumbai provides employment opportunities to adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities and is full of yummy snacks. Read trustee Ashaita Mahajan’s interview for full story.
In the last few years, a handful of restaurants and eateries have opened across India that are creating opportunities for the differently abled. Café Arpan is the latest addition. Could you tell us how Café Arpan was envisaged and what is its mission?
Cafe Arpan is the second supported employment initiative started by Yash Charitable Trust in August 2018. YCT’s first supported employment initiative was launched in 2015 (shortly after the trust was registered) and called Arpan Tiffin Service. After three years of successfully running the lunch dabba, we needed to think of expanding in some way. Our team grew from a size of 4 adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities to 13 such adults. Our 250 sq. ft. kitchen centre could no longer accommodate such a large group. Since we were working with food already, we started to explore other F&B avenues we could look at.
Last year we came across a story of a family that started a cafe as a business - the cafe would be run and managed by the families 6 children - one of them was a young man with Autism. The Puzzle Cafe & Gourmet Store in Philippines was recognised for providing employment to not just the son in the family but to others like him as well. This story inspired us personally as well. The founder and managing trustee of YCT is Dr. Sushama Nagarkar. She has an adult daughter, Aarti, who is on the autism spectrum. The story resonated for us having a family member who would really thrive in a social environment life a cafe. We started working towards opening our own cafe after this.
The mission of the cafe ties in with the overall vision of YCT - to enhance the quality of life of adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities and help them integrate into the community, living a life of self-respect and dignity. As we are big on inclusion, the cafe provides an equal space for all members to work, learn and earn independently.
What is the profile of employees at Café Arpan?
Our team comprises of adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities between the age of 23 and 50 years. We have 13 differently-abled adults working with us across both supported employment initiatives. At present we have 11 employees working at Cafe Arpan in two five hour shifts. They all come from different cultural and economic backgrounds.
The restaurant business thrives fundamentally on interaction with customers. What were some of the training skills imparted to the staff to improve services and put them at ease?
The team was put through approximately three months of training. This included Food & Beverage training, Service and Customer Interaction, Grooming and Hygiene, Opening & Closing duties among others.
What were some of the challenges you faced starting Café Arpan?
Challenges included finding a suitable space for the cafe in an ideal location (preferably close to our existing centre), convincing our landlord to rent to an NGO (some renters were resistant), raising funds to meet the financial requirements to rent and set up the cafe, obtaining our permit to operate the cafe.
By employing the differently abled, Café Arpan is also sensitizing customers. What has been the feedback of people who have visited the Café?
Since we have opened, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Cafe Arpan is a first of its kind in the city and therefore we have had many customers come in just to ‘check it out’ because it’s an unfamiliar concept for many. Our story has been shared across all media platforms (TV, Print, Radio, Social media and our Cafe has officially gone “viral”. The feedback received from our customers is positive and encouraging with the community at large embracing our efforts and whole-heartedly supporting our vision and mission. We hope that Cafe Arpan serves as an example of endless possibilities and perhaps one day inspires another family, individual or group to start something in their own community.
The hospitality was warm and the food, very good. Great work being done by the NGO"
What kind of food is served and what are some of the must-eats at the Café?
The menu (food and beverages) has been curated by Mr. Anuj Jodhani of the Good Food Company. He has been associated with Yash Charitable Trust since our inception and knows our team very well. The items on the menu have been designed according to what the team’s strengths are and what they can easily be trained to make. The menu is full of yummy snacks that can be eaten at any time of the day; we also serve a ‘Lunch of the Day’ which is our lunch dabba meal on a plate. Some of our popular sandwiches are the Airport Wala Special Sandwich as well as our Videshi Vada Pav. Our team loves making Cold Coffee and Garam Chai and the customers seem to be relish it as well. We have a range of desserts (all eggless) on sale too - like cake-pops, brownies, cupcakes and vegan muffins.
Could you spell out 3 things you have done in the kitchen to facilitate the differently abled?
Our kitchen is designed like most other small commercial kitchens. We are electric-appliance based and all our food items are prepared on site. The staff has been trained to use proper kitchen-ware - we do not have any special gear that we use. The Cafe is supervised over all by a manager; the kitchen has one support staff to assist the team member prepare the food.
What are the future plans of Café Arpan?
Cafe Arpan has just opened and our plan is to make sure this model is sustainable in a competitive market like the F&B industry. Our goal is to provide employment to many more specially-abled adults in the near future. We hope to replicate this model and thus will focus on the financial feasibility aspects.
If one wishes to emulate the Café Arpan model and build an inclusive workplace, what are some of the salient aspects to keep in mind?
Cafe Arpan is a place that prioritizes its staff while maintaining a high quality standard with our menu. We believe this model can be easily replicated as the concept is common in other countries around the world. Anyone who wishes to replicate our model needs to be passionate for the cause, have a strong moral compass and not let cynics and critics dissuade you. It would be ideal to start by finding a good set of resources who can provide professional support, put together a team that really wants to work (all our team members have chosen to work with us - their parents have not forced them) and then plan out the operations accordingly.
Cafe with a difference in Kolkata
