[Nfbnet-members-list] Settlement

[Braun, Beth]

The National Federation of the Blind has 
partnered with <http://www.elacarte.com/>E la 
Carte, Inc., creators of the Presto™ Smart Dining 
System™ for full-service restaurants; the 
Applebee’s™ restaurant franchise; and LightHouse 
for the Blind and Visually Impaired of San 
Francisco to produce a text-to-speech capability 
for the Presto Smart Dining System that will be 
incorporated into all current and future 
Presto-system tablets, including those used in 
Applebee’s restaurants. This partnership is a 
result of negotiations that began last year among 
E la Carte, the Applebee’s franchise, and the 
National Federation of the Blind, the LightHouse 
for the Blind and Visually Impaired of San 
Francisco, and several blind Californians.

The new functionality enables blind persons to 
interact with the Presto system to independently 
order menu items, pay their bills, and perform 
other functions using a Presto-system tablet. By 
performing certain gestures, blind patrons can 
turn on the text-to-speech capability of the 
tablets in order to access the new functionality. 
In addition, blind patrons can take advantage of 
the audio jack available on newer PrestoPrime EMV 
tablets to activate the text-to-speech capability 
by simply plugging in a pair of headphones. The 
audio jack on PrestoPrime tablets can be found 
and identified by a Braille tactile label located next to the jack.

The National Federation of the Blind and 
LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired of 
San Francisco have been working with E la Carte 
and the Applebee’s franchise for several months 
to develop the new functionality, which has been 
tested by blind consumers. This continued testing 
and the related feedback will help E la Carte to 
fine-tune the implementation such that it 
provides a user experience for blind consumers 
that is similar to that of other mobile and small 
screen device applications and, as a result, is familiar to them.

“Like many new technologies, the E la Carte 
system has the potential to provide the blind 
with greater independence than ever before, since 
we will now be able to access a restaurant’s menu 
choices in the same way that other customers do,” 
said Mark Riccobono, President of the National 
Federation of the Blind. “We therefore applaud E 
la Carte in its efforts to provide to blind 
diners the same access to the Presto system that 
sighted persons enjoy, while also helping the 
restaurants who deploy the system comply with the 
Americans with Disabilities Act and other applicable laws.”

The new accessibility functionality will be 
included as a standard part of the Presto system 
and tablets and is available to all E la Carte customers.



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