Service with a silent smile

From prep cook to kitchen manager, 31-year-old Deng Wei has a long-term goal for a career that one day will help him support his family. Feeling confident and optimistic, the hearing-impaired man earns a monthly income of around 4,000 yuan ($550.1), and enjoys the quiet environment at work where about half of the 10 staff have similar impairments.

Deng works in Zhengzhou, Henan province, at a branch of a self-service hotpot chain called Shengyousheng that opened in the city last year. The name, which combines sheng (more) with yousheng (sound), reflects its founder's philosophy: communication is about more than just speech.

Shengyousheng's self-service model minimizes communication, allowing people like Deng to excel. "Our service model creates favorable working conditions for hearing-impaired individuals and helps them integrate without feeling different," 31-year-old branch owner Li Duo says.

"To me, all the staff are the same — people relying on themselves to make a living," he says.

The restaurant makes the most of the self-service dining experience with customers choosing skewers from open refrigerators and mixing their own dipping sauces, minimizing situations that require complex communication.

It incorporates many considerate design elements to improve the communication experience between customers and hearing-impaired employees. Large posters clearly display commonly used gestures, such as the ones for "food "and "thank you", accompanied by simple text annotations. Every table also has prompt cards to help customers communicate.