Pizza Today - May 2020 - 45

never file a lawsuit, but who simply take
their dollars elsewhere upon encountering
an unaccommodating restaurant website.
Those with visual impairment, motor limitations and the like hold immense buying
power and cut across all social groups, Pike
reminds.
"User abandonment means lost revenue
opportunities. If you're accessible and inclusive, that can mean business," Pike says.
Website accessibility and you
While it is difficult for a restaurant to
know the full extent of its website's accessibility without a full manual audit, ownership
might employ accessibility firms or a company like User1st to assess risk. User1st, for
instance, offers automated scans and hybrid
testing to ascertain risk before determining
reasonable recourse.
But ownership might perform a few
simple checks themselves to gauge immediate risk.
First, visit the pizzeria's website and begin
hitting the tab key. In doing so, a box should
appear over different navigation links - location, menu, about us, contact and so on. This
mimics how a screen reader picks up the
website. If no box appears, it's a warning
that accessibility lags.
"That's a best first step," BentoBox channel strategy manager Perry
Rahman-Porras says. Another red flag:
PDF menus. Rather than a PDF file or
uploading an image of the menu, neither
of which screen readers can pick up,
restaurants should provide text-based
menus.
Restaurant owners should also contact
their web developer, who should be able
to explain and demonstrate the steps
taken to address ADA, a federal law.
"Ask them what they did to make the
site accessible or what they can do to
improve it," Rahman-Porras says, adding
that owners should also talk with thirdparty partners, such as online ordering,
delivery and gift card providers, about
their accessibility measures as well. "Do
your research and have these conversations early because being reactive can be
costly."

prescriptive, such clarity lacks on the digital
side, an undeniably frustrating piece of this
puzzle.
In Domino's Pizza v. Guillermo Robles,
the pizza chain argued that ADA, which
was instituted in 1990, does not apply to
online platforms and that no clear rules
define proper website accessibility. The Supreme Court, however, decided they would
not hear the case, thereby leaving an earlier
court's decision in place against Domino's
and putting companies on notice: address
website accessibility - or else.
"The risk is growing so companies need to
do something," Pike says.
As the U.S. Department of Justice has
not issued any hard-and-fast guidelines
regarding website accessibility, most point
to the World Wide Web Consortium's Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
as the prevailing standard and most courts
have upheld WCAG's use in accessibility
lawsuits.
"WCAG is the Holy Grail playbook for
how to do it," Pike says, though he reminds
that "nothing stops anyone from suing
anyone."

An evolving set of guidelines that any
credible web developer should grasp,
WCAG details ways to make web content
more accessible to those with disabilities.
This includes providing text alternatives,
making all functionality available from a
keyboard and ensuring content appears and
operates in predictable ways.
"Follow WCAG and there's a good
chance you won't receive complaints," says
Rahman-Porras, noting that websites on the
BentoBox platform exist on certified accessible templates with best WCAG practices
inherent in the design.
In addition, restaurant websites should
feature an accessibility statement acknowledging efforts to make the website more
accessible and sharing contact information
for consumers to report issues.
"Show you care and are working toward
accessibility," Rahman-Porras says. n

Chicago-based writer DANIEL P. SMITH has
covered business issues and best practices for
a variety of trade publications, newspapers,
and magazines.

Mitigating risk
While ADA guidelines for physical
environments are rather specific and

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Pizza Today - May 2020

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