A guide to ADA Compliance for Restaurants

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May 30, 2023
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With a guide to ADA for restaurants, owners can learn their responsibilities toward employees and customers with disabilities and what they need to do to their restaurant website to ensure it is ADA-compliant.

A website owner seeking to learn more about web accessibility will find the information presented within this helpful guide. All topics about web accessibility are presented in the simplest possible terms, and technical elements are described in layman’s terms. If litigation occurs, this guide cannot be relied upon. It has no legal bearing.

Your restaurant must prioritize inclusivity for all customers to reach its full potential. This includes creating a welcoming atmosphere, using quality ingredients, and providing top-tier service and equal access to goods and facilities. It is essential to remember that this extends to your staff as well – individuals with disabilities should have the opportunity to work and contribute to the success of your restaurant, just like any other employee. While it is a moral responsibility for all organizations, restaurants are also legally obligated under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to accommodate both employees and customers with disabilities by adjusting both facilities and policies.

What elements of a restaurant must be addressed to ensure full compliance with the ADA?

In this guide, we’ll discuss why restaurants must be ADA-compliant, the available tax deductions for compliance, and how to ensure your restaurant and restaurant website achieve ADA compliance.

Key Takeaways: A Guide to ADA Compliance for Restaurants

  • Restaurants, like other businesses designated as “public accommodations,” must adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act.
  • As a restaurant owner, you must ensure that your establishment and website provide necessary accommodations for individuals with disabilities in terms of employment opportunities and dining experiences.
  • You must also ensure your website is accessible to people with various disabilities.
  • This involves meeting the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) at Level AA, which includes implementing various technical and design-based elements such as adding alt text to images, video captions, keyboard-only navigation, and compatibility with assistive technology like screen readers.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal law that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in the public sphere. Enacted in 1990, the ADA aims to ensure equal access and opportunities for the disability community when it comes to:

  • Employment
  • Transportation
  • Communication
  • Public places of accommodation
  • Access to public services

Do restaurants have to comply with the ADA?

ADA Title III is the section of the Americans with Disabilities Act that touches on the way that businesses serve customers, and it applies to businesses that are considered “public accommodations.”

Restaurants fall under this category.

Under‌ the ADA, restaurants must accommodate employees and customers with disabilities. To cater to customers with disabilities, restaurants are expected to:

  • Remove physical barriers like high thresholds or narrow doorways
  • Provide adequate lighting and signage
  • Offer accessible seating options
  • Have a well-trained staff that can assist with special needs
  • Relay menu information in a variety of alternative ways to people with low or no vision (e.g., providing menus in large print or braille)

It is important to note that this is a partial list of requirements.

To support employees with disabilities, restaurants are expected to:

  • Offer flexible scheduling and accommodations for employees with disabilities
  • Restructure jobs by delegating minor tasks to other employees
  • Provide the option of alternative formats to inaccessible printed materials

It is important to note that this is a partial list of requirements.

Today, U.S. courts apply the ADA to online domains. This means that your restaurant website needs to be accessible to people with disabilities. We will cover this in further detail later in the blog. If you’d like to skip to that section now, click here.

How to ensure your restaurant is ADA-compliant

How to endure your restaurant is ADA compliant

Under the ADA, restaurant owners have two responsibilities toward people with disabilities: Ensuring equal access to goods and services and Making proper accommodations for employees with disabilities.

Adjustments within your establishment and its surroundings are necessary to meet ADA compliance and provide an equitable dining experience for individuals with disabilities. This includes ensuring that seating, tables, and counters are accessible. Incorporating movable tables can aid in easy maneuvering for patrons with disabilities. Additionally, offering accessible seating options with adequate knee and toe clearance for wheelchair users is crucial.

Provide accessible bathrooms: Consider accessibility when designing a restaurant bathroom. Features such as accessible sinks, toilets, grab bars, and clear floor space are essential for accommodating people with disabilities during their visit.

Outdoor seating: Pathways and sidewalks must be level, unobstructed, and large enough to accommodate wheelchairs, as they are for indoor tables.

Install ramps: Restaurants must provide ramps or other accessible means of access for people who use wheelchairs. Ensure these ramps meet specific slope and handrail requirements.

Accessible parking: People who cannot walk far should be able to access your restaurant easily from accessible parking spaces

Create and enforce a pet service policy: As long as their service animals are under the handler’s control, people with disabilities can enter all restaurant areas where customers are typically allowed. Under Titles II and III of the ADA, certified “service animals”  only are recognized as service animals. To provide a positive dining experience for all patrons, restaurants must comply with these critical requirements for customer accessibility.

ADA compliance responsibilities as an employer

Restaurant owners must adopt a holistic approach to accessibility, starting with hiring procedures that support employees with disabilities. To follow are three key areas.

  1. Equal opportunity:  Individuals with disabilities should be granted equal employment opportunities, including fair consideration for all available positions and access to the hiring process. As a restaurant owner, it’s necessary to provide reasonable accommodations during hiring, which may involve offering alternative application methods. It should be noted that not all disabilities are visible during an interview. Additionally, it is noteworthy that according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, inquiring about disabilities or impairments before a conditional job offer is against the law.
  2. Reasonable Accommodations: Owners of restaurants must provide reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. These accommodations may include:
    1. Adjusting workspaces to make them more ergonomic
    2. Modifying work schedules and being open to part-time hours
    3. Providing assistive devices or services
    4. Bending traditional company rules within reason, as necessary
  3. Provide accessible training programs: Restaurant owners should accommodate disabled customers by training their wait staff and general employees. Employees at a restaurant should be instructed on how to foster a welcoming atmosphere for all customers with disabilities, including:
    1. Serving straws to customers with motor impairments who may need them to consume their drinks.
    2. If the restaurant has low lighting, offer flashlights to patrons with low vision.
    3. Reading the menu to customers with cognitive or vision impairments.

ADA compliance for your restaurant website

ADA website compliance for restaurants

According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), businesses like restaurants must make their websites accessible to people with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 defines the minimum requirements for accessible restaurant websites. Created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), WCAG is considered the most influential set of standards shaping global web accessibility policy.

There have been many WCAG iterations throughout the years: WCAG 2.0 was released in 2008, WCAG 2.1 in 2018, and WCAG 2.2 in 2023.

WCAG 2.0, 2.1, and 2.2 have three levels you can conform to:

  • Level A: The minimum level of conformance
  • Level AA: The most commonly sought-after level of WCAG conformance by website owners
  • Level AAA: The most challenging level of conformance to achieve

U.S. courts have ordered website owners sued for having non-accessible websites to conform their websites to WCAG 2.0 Level AA. A restaurant’s website is unlikely to be sued if it conforms to WCAG 2.1 Level AA.

When a restaurant website conforms to WCAG 2.1 Level AA, it will include the following features:

  • Properly structured and labeled forms that website visitors can easily understand, complete, and submit
  • Adequate color contrast between text and background: This ensures that people with low vision or color blindness can access content on your website
  • Compatibility with screen reader technology: People who have vision impairments rely on these tools to understand your website
  • Resizable text: People with disabilities will need to be able to resize text appearing within your website up to 200% without losing functionality or content
  • Clear and intuitive navigation: Clear headings and links, search functions, and keyboard-accessible drop-down menus ensure an optimal user experience for people with disabilities
  • Text alternatives for non-text content: This will allow people with vision and hearing impairments to access videos, audio, and meaningful images (i.e., the kind that provide additional context to your content)

It’s important to note that this is a very partial list of website elements that you will need to address to fully comply with WCAG 2.1.

Click here to get a free scan of your website to determine whether it is in or out of compliance. Then, contact us to install the AI-driven widget to keep your site compliant.

ADA compliance for restaurants’ online documents

ADA website compliance applies to all areas of your website, including online documents. You must make PDFs and Microsoft Office files (for example, Word documents) accessible to people with disabilities. Adobe Acrobat, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint all have features that allow you to test whether online documents are accessible.

Document remediation projects generally aim to ensure that screen readers can read online files.

By not adhering to the ADA guidelines, restaurant websites open themselves to potential legal action, such as receiving demand letters or facing lawsuits. This was highlighted in 2022 when the Supreme Court sided with a blind man who sued Domino’s for being unable to properly use their website and mobile app with a screen reader. The judge emphasized that the lack of accessibility on these platforms hinders individuals from accessing goods and services offered by physical locations, considered public accommodations.

The Benefits of ADA Compliance

Ensuring ADA compliance embraces the values of equal opportunities for individuals with disabilities. It is a fundamental entitlement for everyone to be able to work at and enjoy the services of a restaurant, irrespective of their abilities.

Majority of Americans support it

According to a recent study, most American adults (89%) believe businesses should cater to all customers. As a restaurant owner, you must understand that your patrons expect you to be inclusive and accommodating towards individuals with disabilities. It is worth noting that the disability community holds considerable spending power. Ensuring ADA compliance in your restaurant can significantly expand your customer base. Furthermore, complying with the ADA regulations promotes inclusivity and helps avoid legal consequences and hefty fines for non-compliance. Failing to adhere to these guidelines could result in receiving demand letters and even facing lawsuits, which can severely affect your establishment’s reputation.

Tax Deductions and credit for ADA Compliance

Businesses can claim a tax deduction of up to $15,000 annually for expenses incurred in removing physical, structural, and transportation barriers from their restaurants.

Additionally, restaurants with fewer than thirty employees or a total annual revenue of up to $1 million can apply for a tax credit of up to $5,000 for eligible access expenditures.  These expenditures include, but are not limited to,

Tip: Consult with a tax professional to determine if your specific expenses qualify for these deductions and to ensure you’re taking advantage of all the available benefits.

If you need restaurant consulting, speak with Eddie at A2Z REstaurant Consulting.

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