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The restaurant industry

Restaurants, pubs and hotels which are accessible and provide excellent customer service to disabled people, their friends and family, will reach an estimated £5 billion market. [i]

  • There are 26,416 restaurants in the UK. [ii]
  • 18% of disabled customers visit restaurants at least once a week and 22% visit at least two or three times a month. [iii]
  • 60.7% of disabled customers go to restaurants to meet family and friends. [iv]

Restaurants can offer a more attractive experience to customers by addressing a number of specific barriers identified by disabled people:

  • 17.4% of disabled customers thought that information given by the restaurant at the time of booking was insufficient.
  • 36% of people surveyed said that the suitability of car parking was poor.
  • 34.6% highlighted the fact that disabled car parking was either unavailable or had been occupied by non-disabled drivers.
  • By far the largest barrier was access to a disabled toilet. 48% stated that this was poor in restaurants.
  • Table placement was inadequate for 23.9% of disabled people. An example of seating difficulties is that wheelchair users invariably find they cannot place their knees under the table and have to sit too far away from the table for comfort.
  • Both the access to bar and restaurant facilities were seen as bad by 22.3% and 20.9% of disabled customers surveyed.
  • 13.4% of people had difficulty reading restaurant signs, whilst 6.5% struggled with menus. [v]

Pizza Express

Pizza Express welcomes all customers to their restaurants, and try to ensure that all their needs are met, so far as is possible within the premises they occupy. The restaurants offer level access in over 90% of their sites.

The company approach towards disability is structured by the types of disability that need to be considered when eating out. These categories are represented by access symbols in all Pizza Express restaurants and cater for the following disabled facilities:

  • Pizza Express Provides facilities for people who are visually impaired. For example: Braille formats, large print, audio tapes etc.
  • Assistance dogs are welcome in all premises.
  • Wheelchair access into restaurants is possible with assistance.
  • Full, non-assisted, wheelchair access into premises is possible.
  • Pizza Express provides facilities for people with mobility impairment. For example: a seating area with hand rails etc.
  • Fully accessible toilets are installed at restaurant premises.
  • Pizza Express Staff are trained to offer excellent service levels and disabled customers should make it known if they have any particular requirements. [vi]

Pizza Express

 

Accessible Pizza Express premises can be found using the Direct Enquiries website

Sources

  1. [i] 'Disabled customers could be worth £5b'News item on the employment and current affairs website of The Caterer & Hotelkeeper, 06/10/2005.
  2. [ii] 'Restaurant Sector Overview'. News item on the employment and current affairs website of The Caterer & Hotelkeeper, 12/05/06.
  3. [iii] 'Attitudes of People with Disabilities towards, hotels, restaurants, pubs and bars'. Research conducted by Caterer & Hotelkeeper in association with AVF Marketing Ltd, October 2005.
  4. [iv] 'Attitudes of People with Disabilities towards, hotels, restaurants, pubs and bars'. Research conducted by Caterer & Hotelkeeper in association with AVF Marketing Ltd, October 2005.
  5. [v] 'Attitudes of People with Disabilities towards, hotels, restaurants, pubs and bars'. Research conducted by Caterer & Hotelkeeper in association with AVF Marketing Ltd, October 2005.
  6. [vi] Direct Enquiries, a nationwide access register.