The Deaf Restaurant Revolution Is Upon Us

In 2007, when Vladimir and Inna Giterman opened Crepe Crazy, their food truck in Austin, Texas, they were considered renegades. It wasn’t that their food truck concept was all that unusual — overstuffed crepes based on the delicate blini recipe of Vladimir’s childhood in Russia. But they were. Vladimir and Inna, who now have two brick and mortar stores which they run with their children Sergei and Michelle, are deaf. And in 2007, deaf-owned restaurants were a relative novelty. Not so today. Over the past decade, buoyed by innovative technology, many deaf entrepreneurs have turned to the hospitality industry, opening full-service restaurants, coffee bars, dessert shops and breweries. In addition to Crepe Crazy, Austin’s vibrant deaf restaurant scene, owed to its proximity to Texas School for the Deaf and the University of Texas at Austin, includes Casey’s New Orleans Snowballs, owned by hearing partner Mars Chapman and deaf partner and general manager Kyle Littlepage, and a n