Fuller’s ‘talking menu’ will help visually impaired diners

03-Sep-2019 - Last updated on 03-Sep-2019 at 16:03 GMT

Accessible menus: Matt Wadsworth demonstrates how Fuller’s text-to-speech software works

Related tags Fullers

Pubco Fuller’s has introduced a talking menu service to improve the experience of visually impaired, blind or dyslexic customers who want to order food.

It has added its menu to the service Good Food Talks, which makes menus more accessible through text-to-speech software.

The technology is available as a free downloaded app and on a website that can be accessed on smartphones and tablets.

Diners are now able to access features including large text format, background colour inversion and OpenDyslexic font.

Good Food Talks founder Matt Wadsworth said the service, which will be available at Fuller’s managed pub sites, would give diners with visual impairments more independence when eating out.

Independent reading

He said: “If you are visually impaired or blind, you are reliant for people to read the menu to you.

“I'm blind, so a print menu is not of a lot of use to me. My wife and I developed Good Food Talks because she was always having to read restaurant menus to me, and we sought to improve that.

“You can browse through the menu and hear the allergy information, so whether you're visually impaired, blind or dyslexic, you can now read the restaurant menu completely independently using Good Food Talks.”

Fuller’s director of food Paul Dickinson said: “We’re incredibly passionate about our food and we’re excited to now offer Good Food Talks to our customers.

“I’ve always thought our food sounded good and now it can truly speak for itself.”

Wadsworth has presented an instructional video on how to use the service on YouTube.