You get to know right at the entrance of the KFC restaurant in Santhome that it is a special one. It’s hard to miss the signs, but there are many who do.
One such customer visited the outlet and was upset when one of the staff, standing with his back facing him, didn’t respond when he called out to him.
Livid, the customer walked up to the staff.
After waiting patiently for the angry customer to spew out his criticism, the KFC staff, James, pointed towards a badge he was wearing which read ‘Point out your order.’
James Peter is one of the 11 hearing and speech impaired employees hired by the international food chain at Santhome.
Having worked at the outlet for three years, he surely knows how to deal with such a situation. “The first step is to smile and apologise,” he explains in sign language to his colleague, who narrates it to me. “That customer seemed surprise and asked me to fetch water. I had to make up to him. I invited him to the kitchen and gave him an elaborate tour after taking all the safety and hygiene measures,” he adds. James’ idea worked and got a tight hug from the customer, who is now a regular at the restaurant.
It’s the extra effort taken by the staff that makes this place special. For instance, A. Bharatharaja takes it upon himself to take care of people with disabilities or in their old age.
“I bring the menu to the table, take the order and serve the meals at the table. They don’t have to wait in the queue.”
KFC outlets are self-serviced, but the staff go out of their way to help out. It is this effort that wins a staff the Star of the Month title.
To make the procedure easier for the customers and the staff, the outlet has a menu board and customers point out their order.
They have simple gestures to ask if they want extra cheese and communicate the size of the soft drinks glasses. “We also lip-read. We usually get what the customer orders, but when we don’t we call our manager to help us out.”
Eleven of 29 employees (apart from managers)at KFC Santhome are hearing and speech impaired. The remaining employees are also trained in sign language to be able understand their colleagues. There is also a board, near the billing counter, where the sign language is explained in detail.
This CSR initiative of KFC started in Kolkata first and after its success, outlets across the country replicated the model. With the help of NGOs in the city, they identify people and offer employment after training them.
In Chennai, they have 20 differently-abled team members, eleven in Santhome and nine in Porur.
The food chain has also started the Yum academy last year to train these candidates and make them employable. While KFC hires some of them, others find employment elsewhere.
“Around 117 graduated in 2014. Currently 40 students are undergoing training. We have plans to graduate 100 more students in this year,” says Haneesh Nambiar, Regional Manager, HR at Yum Restaurants (India) Pvt. Ltd.
The training takes place in Anna Nagar where are they are trained by experts.
