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When talking about Huaqiangbei, many people think of electronic components and mobile phone accessories first, but in fact Huaqiangbei is full of unique coffee shops. Recently, a "silent coffee" has entered everyone's field of vision, which is in stark contrast to the bustle of Huaqiangbei. Compared with some brands of "silent coffee shops", the biggest difference of this shop is that all the staff are hearing-impaired. Customers need to scan the code to complete the order. If they have additional needs, they can express them through the voice recognition system and communicate with the staff with a handwriting tablet.

This is the second "Silent Coffee" store in Huaqiangbei. The owner, Yang Yuancheng, is the only healthy person in this project. Yang Yuancheng from Taiwan led this group of hearing-impaired people to start a business in 2020. They have experienced snack bars and juice shops. In 2023, coffee categories were added to make the project more diverse. The development of this public welfare project started five years ago.

In order to enter the hearing-impaired restaurant, he learned sign language and started a business with 4 people.

The words "Lao Yang" are written on Yang Yuancheng's disposable cup, and this is also what the store clerk calls him. As a brand planner, he founded an ecological technology company in Shenzhen in 2017. The continued profitability made him choose to hand over the company to professional managers. In his relatively free time, he occasionally participates in charity projects. One day in 2019, while dining, he found that a rice noodle shop hired hearing-impaired people. "I think it's very interesting. This project is very good." After getting to know the boss, considering that charity needs commercial support, he asked the boss if he could help with brand promotion. After a few visits, he also became familiar with the hearing-impaired staff in the store.

In order to communicate with employees, Lao Yang learned sign language. "I was also worried that they would secretly scold me, haha!" But even after systematically learning sign language, Lao Yang found that hearing-impaired people in each place have their own regional expressions, "because it is divided into natural sign language, international sign language, and local sign language."

After learning how to communicate skillfully with the employees, Lao Yang realized that the waiter's job could not meet the needs of hearing-impaired employees. In addition, after having ideological differences with the boss, Lao Yang simply chose to leave. Unexpectedly, his move directly affected some of the employees, "They thought that since Lao Yang was leaving, then we would leave too, so they also resigned." Lao Yang confessed that he was also very troubled at the time. After discussing with his wife, he thought about whether he could try to lead them to start a business? In this way, they founded Benwuque Catering Brand Management Co., Ltd. together, "I want to tell them that you don't lack anything, you just changed the way you communicate with society."

In 2020, Yang Yuancheng brought four hearing-impaired partners to a shared kitchen in Zhuzilin, Futian to try to do takeout (Benwuque Light Food Kitchen). "We make light meals such as juice and salad. The business is very popular. The team's story is supported by many people, and the product taste is also recognized by the market. The aisle outside the entire shared kitchen is full of people." After gaining market response, Lao Yang realized that this was a feasible project. In 2021, he and his hearing-impaired staff opened a physical store in Futian CBD, named "Youyi Jialun (There is a Family) Low-calorie Smoothie", which is their first physical brand store. "Fortunately, there are many young people around, and they are very accepting of hearing-impaired people starting a business. Our business took off immediately."

As his voice continued to grow, in 2023, Lao Yang came into contact with the Deyi Foundation. With the strong support and help of the foundation, he participated in the "Yijia Station Charity Store" project in 2023, which also allowed the Benwuque brand to officially embark on the road of public welfare. "Under the guidance of the foundation, we will also regularly provide skills training for the hearing-impaired, the most important of which is the mentality training. We want to teach them not to have the mentality of 'waiting, relying on, and asking'. We hope that they can step out of their comfort zone and face the society bravely."

To make everyone capable of becoming a store manager, Lao Yang pushed them to the forefront

When he was in Taiwan, Lao Yang was involved in public welfare donation and charity assistance projects. But in his opinion, these are all blood transfusion charity models. "Is there any way to create a hematopoietic charity model, where we support ourselves first and then help others?" After being exposed to the project of hearing-impaired people participating in the service industry, Lao Yang believes that this is the first step in hematopoietic charity. "It's impossible to be a waiter for a lifetime, right? So I will ask them to learn more skills and push them to the front. If you can't become a store manager in our store within three years, I will ask you to leave. If you want to come back, you can interview again and start again in the service industry."

In order to encourage them to actively participate in entrepreneurship, Lao Yang not only pays the corresponding basic salary, but also hopes that they can receive the company's profit dividends. With the incentive mechanism, the employees' enthusiasm has also risen. Pan Peng from Anhui is the store manager of the "Silent Coffee" project in Fuqiang Community, Huaqiangbei Street. He previously worked in a catering project in Shanghai. In 2020, he heard in the industry that Lao Yang was working in the catering industry with the hearing-impaired and joined the company.

Unlike the atmosphere in Shanghai, Shenzhen's tolerance has strengthened his determination to take root in this city. Because they can't hear, hearing-impaired employees are more focused. They can often master new skills in three days. "On average, one cup every two minutes. Even during the peak dining hours in the CBD, we can meet the needs of customers." In 2021, Pan Peng became the store manager, and since then he has become the person who takes the initiative to contact customers in the store. "In addition to the management and operation of the store, I also need to connect with customers." Although they can't hear, the handwriting speed of hearing-impaired employees is much faster than that of healthy people. "How is this cup of coffee?" "Are you satisfied with the sweetness of the juice?" The handwriting board has become an important tool for them to communicate with customers. After obtaining the customer's ideas through the voice recognition system, they will respond on the handwriting board as soon as possible.

In order to allow more hearing-impaired people to open up and step out of their comfort zone, Lao Yang brings them along on many occasions - in the sign language class of the CBD Business District Party Committee, Lao Yang will bring them to demonstrate sign language on the spot, so that learners can intuitively feel the process of communicating with the hearing-impaired; when Lao Yang goes to give lectures at the Southern University of Science and Technology Sign Language Club, he will also bring employees as teaching assistants, "They are very excited and keep taking pictures with their mobile phones, just to tell their mothers that they are standing on the university podium." In the youth coffee training experience class, Lao Yang will encourage them to take the stage, telling the society that hearing-impaired people can also make good coffee, and allowing them to improve their skills through exchanges.

Lao Yang's original intention is to enable everyone to become a store manager. "If they want to go back to their hometown to open a store in the future, I am willing to support them, because eventually they will have to go back to their parents to help them." But at this stage, these young people who have come to Shenzhen to work hard with Lao Yang have no intention of leaving the city. Pan Peng wrote, "He is very nice, just like a father." "Dad" is the concept of Lao Yang for most hearing-impaired employees. They came to Shenzhen to join him and stayed in the city under his care. Due to this great sense of dependence, Lao Yang also admitted that he was under a lot of pressure. "They suddenly send you a message to tell you what's going on, and I have to keep an eye on my phone. Sometimes I have to worry about whether the customer's performance will affect them. But fortunately, they have been with me for so long and their ability to withstand blows is also strong."

13 deaf people are on the front lines of the service industry, hoping to encourage more healthy people to communicate with them

As the number of customer orders increased, Lao Yang's reputation in the hearing-impaired circle also became more and more famous. After all, there are not many stores with all hearing-impaired employees. "I received a call from a father. He said that his daughter heard about my store from a hearing-impaired friend and had been confirming for several days whether my store really existed." In order to find out, the girl's relatives in Shenzhen personally brought her to the interview. After confirming the authenticity of the project after a field investigation, they entrusted their daughter to Lao Yang. "She came to the interview with her luggage, just to tell me that she must come to work." Since all the people are hearing-impaired partners, this atmosphere is what the hearing-impaired like. "They don't have to worry about being discriminated against, and there is no distinction between big and small. I rarely come to the store. When facing customers' problems, I try to let them solve them themselves." From the initial 4 people to the current 13 people, more and more hearing-impaired people have followed Lao Yang to stand on the front line of the service industry.

Thanks to the help of Fuqiang Community in Huaqiang North Street, a corner of the Party and Mass Service Center was converted into a coffee shop for free. The shop not only has seats, but also provides free lemonade to couriers, deliverymen, and sanitation workers passing by. Compared with the atmosphere of CBD where young people gather, the community store in Huaqiang North needs to face more parent-child families and some older audiences. "There may still be some reservations about hearing-impaired employees, but I will still set up a sign in the store with a reminder of 'Hearing-impaired Entrepreneurship Store' or 'I can't hear, please wave if you need anything', just to tell everyone why this store is silent. Our store does not need donations or assistance, you can just come in and buy a glass of juice like you usually do.

The money he used to earn from brand planning is now basically spent on public welfare projects for the hearing impaired. "My other company is now supporting this project. The original intention of this project is to help more hearing-impaired partners who want to change the status quo and break through themselves. I am very happy to see that they can stand on their own. In terms of investment, it may be more than 2 million so far." Fortunately, Lao Yang's good deeds have been understood and supported by his family. His 5-year-old son took the initiative to learn sign language and often comes to the store to interact with employees. "He will take the initiative to say thank you. I also hope that the child can see me interacting with them (hearing-impaired employees) so that at least he will not have such school violence in the future and cultivate stronger empathy."

Written by: Southern Metropolis Daily reporter Zhang Xinyi

Photo: Southern Metropolis Daily reporter Xu Songlong