Three and a half years after opening its doorways to award-winning critiques and widespread approval for its revolutionary strategy to accessibility, Contento restaurant in New York Metropolis will shut its doorways Saturday, Dec. 21.
Proprietor and founder Yannick Benjamin, a New Mobility Particular person of the Yr, thanked the restaurant’s loyal clients, and pointed to rising prices and exterior pressures together with the aftermath of the pandemic as causes for the closure. “I knew that the primary few years had been going to be difficult,” he says. “We received each lovely evaluation, each unimaginable accolade, every thing you could possibly have imagined. You identify it, we received it proper. I imply, it was a humiliation of riches, however but we weren’t capable of maintain the lights on anymore.”
Benjamin envisioned the restaurant for example of what was attainable in hospitality when inclusion and accessibility had been prioritized as extremely as meals high quality and repair, and regardless of opening through the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, he delivered.
In a sometimes small New York setting, Benjamin and co-owner George Gallego — each wheelchair customers — constructed an area that was welcoming for diners and employees of all skills. An early New York Occasions evaluation praised Contento for setting “an instance for an business that’s hardly ever welcoming to individuals with disabilities” and each Conde Nast and the Michelin Information highlighted Contento for its distinctive mix of high quality delicacies, hospitality and accessibility.
Along with crucial reward, Contento performed host to many key hospitality business leaders, and Benjamin hopes its affect will stay on. “I feel that folks began to grasp that, oh, wait, we don’t want X sum of money to observe social accessibility,” he says. “It’s only a matter of self-discipline and going on the market and asking the best questions and taking motion, understanding that there’s a mosaic of individuals with disabilities on the market.”
Learn our 2022 evaluation of Contento.
Assist New MobilityWait! Earlier than you get lost to different elements of the web, please think about supporting New Mobility. For greater than three a long time, New Mobility has revealed groundbreaking content material for energetic wheelchair customers. We share sensible recommendation from wheelchair customers throughout the nation, evaluation life-changing know-how and demand fairness in healthcare, journey and all aspects of life. However none of that is low cost, straightforward or worthwhile. Your help helps us give wheelchair customers the assets to construct a satisfying life. |