Braille Burgers for Blind Customers in South Africa

The Wimpy fast food chain in South Africa has announced it will begin serving Braille burgers to its blind customers. The company is already using braille menus in its restaurants, but this is taking it to a new level.

Wimpy new burgers feature special messages spelled out with sesame seeds on the tops of burgers. According to reports, one message states, “100 percent pure beef burger made for you.” The messages are meant to be promotional, and the company reports that the messages have been “seen” by over 800,000 visually impaired persons.

The company issued a statement saying, “Wimpy wanted to let visually impaired people know that they offered braille menus in all their restaurants. To spread the word we built braille burgers that blind people could actually read. With the help of skilled chefs we took sesame seeds and meticulously placed them on burger buns so that the seeds formed braille.”

Wimpy was founded in 1967, with its first eatery in Durban; since then the company has grown to include over 500 restaurants. The message Wimpy’s wants to send to customers, according to a promotional video, is that ”Wimpy is a place where everyone can feel at home.”

You can watch a video of the burgers being made here: