Chennai’s café culture has always had a heart. In a city where international brews, artisanal bakeries and neighbourhood cafés keep multiplying, spaces that centre purpose, building their own customer community. Eateries like the Museum Café in Mylapore and Writer’s Café in Taramani double as grounds for employment for differently abled individuals, paving paths to independent living. And now, tucked inside TCS Siruseri, Blind Bake Café employs visually impaired chefs, who whisk, chop, and plate with an ease that challenges everything we assume about disability.
As we walked in on Tuesday for the cafe’s launch, the kitchen had already set its rhythm. Muffins puffing in an oven that has braille symbols, French fries softening into mild crispiness, cold coffees lining up in rows and the air carrying the hum of a team settling into their inclusive kitchen. The chefs, trained by National Association for the Blind (NAB) India, move with an intuitive certainty, guided by tactile flooring, adapted techniques and months of preparation.
Much of this learning traces back to the NAB India Centre for Blind Women in Delhi, where director Shalini Khanna Sodhi has spent over two decades building blind-friendly culinary training. “When we started teaching them cooking, we could see that everybody learns, maybe a little slowly. Putting the lighter to the burner and handling the knife are the two main things which actually take a long time,” she says.
As the centre scaled, the team split the programme into two parallel streams. “Not everybody is ready for baking, and not every baker is good at cooking,” she says. Cooking basics take about three months; baking and beverages require another three. This training model powered their first large corporate café in TCS Olympus campus, Mumbai. “Speed was our main concern but slowly they learnt the rhythm,” she recalls.
Chennai, however, demanded a wider talent pool. Applicants came in from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, some with basic cooking skills but many without prior exposure to large kitchens, but with determination. The team here includes six visually impaired chefs, four sighted supervisors, and one manager. For Vennila, working here marks her first experience outside her home state, Andhra Pradesh. “I am feeling very happy,” she says. “At first it seemed difficult, but gradually it became easy.” She hopes her parents will feel proud seeing her being independent. Today she handles the kitchen as one of the main chefs, mainly preparing rice, noodles, French fries and manchurian gravy with confidence and ease.
Initially started just for women, the training, on request, extended for men as well. Naveen Kumar from Sivagangai arrived with almost no formal cooking experience. But he says that the three-month training helped him understand both preparation and pace. The hardest part initially, he says, was locating ingredients and equipment. He now handles with ease one of the scariest parts for everyone who steps into kitchens — the knife. “I think this is a matter of awareness and people should understand the importance of visual impairment,” he says.
Tactile tiles, bus service for daily commute and even sensitisation programmes were conducted by TCS for its employees to create a relaxed and inclusive workspace for the café’s team. Inside the campus, the team underwent a 10-12 day orientation — mapping out the large kitchen, memorising storage, and visiting other cafés on campus to observe service speed. “As blind people don’t see faces, the smiles, the whole range of experiences, it takes them time,” Shalini explains. By their soft launch on October 29, the chefs were ready. The café now serves an 83-item vegetarian menu, including breakfast, lunch, beverages and desserts. Yet, the team wants to make more.
Nithya, a sighted person and helper, who learns alongside the chefs, says, “When I heard about it, I was surprised at how experienced the blind can be. They are very confident. When I see them, I feel confident and excited.” Her role includes taking measurements and assisting only when required.
For TCS, the café is a reflection of its broader inclusion framework. Sudeep Kunnumal, chief human resources officer, says, “Sensitisation cannot remain limited to training modules. They must be experienced in everyday ways that enable us to understand and appreciate diverse abilities. The Blind Bake Café embodies this belief, offering our associates a space where inclusion and accessibility is lived and felt.”
Inside the café, that foundation is already visible. As Shalini puts it, “The whole table has been turned; where the visually impaired are providing the service and others are receiving it.”