Our Story
I am a proud member of the deaf community and I would love to establish a deaf-run café which provides a warm, welcome and great casual café experience….. but also does so much more!
My vision is for a café that is run and staffed by deaf people. I want to create opportunities for members of the deaf community to work in the hospitality industry. There are many barriers that exist for deaf people seeking real and meaningful work, so I want to create a place where their deafness is an asset, it is celebrated and they can use their experiences and knowledge of sign language to engage with others and to encourage people to celebrate diversity and difference. What better way to do it than over a cup of coffee!
The café will encourage people to order coffee in sign language! This will be a unique café experience that will help people to embrace this little known culture and start to learn about the rich and expressive language of Auslan, Australia’s own sign language. There will be guides and cheat sheets to show people a range of Auslan gestures to enable them to give their food and drink order and converse with the café staff. Imagine, learning a new language over lunch!
There are few venues where members of the deaf community actively congregate on a regular, casual basis. I want to create a new welcoming space for the deaf community, a social hub for deaf people across Sydney. I want to create a place where the daily challenges of communication just aren’t an issue. Can you imagine the joy of being able to order a large extra hot skim latte with soy milk and one sugar through sign language at a café and being understood? Apps technology for customers to order beverage/food has become available for cafe use that will greatly assist deaf staff. I’m sure you have all seen the powerful and emotional Samsung advertisement which sets up a range of interactions across a neighbourhood where everyone a deaf man meets uses sign language. His emotional reaction is amazing. This gives you a real sense of the barriers that are commonplace for deaf people in their daily interactions. See the video here: https://youtu.be/otUJzNtRPhw
Our Name and Logo
The maple leaf logo and the name ‘Canada café’ have been chosen as this will be a theme for the café. The menu will include food using Canadian recipes and focus on well-known Canadian ingredients such as maple syrup.
The maple leaf and colours from the Canadian flag are striking and instantly recognisable. A good thing for getting noticed!!
Future Location:
The Cafe will be located in Sydney at a location to be determined later, as the cafe may also include SUP hire facilities if close to the lakes/beaches.
Our Project:
A project has been set up to raise funds to establish a retail outlet and at a high level finance the following activities:
- Lease / Buy a shop front for Canada Café;
- Hire and train staff;
- Shop fitting of the cafe, including furniture and equipment needed to operate a fully functional cafe.
The projected opening for Canada Cafe is the summer of 2016 / 2017.
Why It Matters:
This is a unique opportunity for Sydney to embrace a little known culture. The café will provide Sydneysiders an experience in a rich and expressive language that is Australia’s own. The café will also afford members of the deaf community the opportunity to showcase their skills and talents to the wider community from the management through all facets of operating a complex small business.
Our Team:
The team will be myself (Glenn Welldon) as the Manager and will have a barista and a cook to handle requests on a daily basis. Canada Cafe will be employing a casual staff member to cover the peak period or seasonal peak when it is busy or as required. These staff members will either be Deaf or CODA (Children of Deaf Adults)
