Ruth Bourachot, Owner, Café Chartreuse: We’re a European-style café. So you come and order up at the counter. We make almost everything here from scratch, so it’s a fresh product. And we just use really good ingredients and we say a lot of love.

Patrick Bourachot, Owner, Café Chartreuse: We really wanted to be accessible for everybody, you know, in the town and outside of the town. So just at the beginning already, we said we want this, this, this, and it was pretty much in the process of the building.

Ruth: We put a buzzer at the front door so people could buzz if they need assistance opening the door.

They actually levelled out the new cement up to that stone step we had before, so now the side door’s accessible.

And then of course we wanted the washrooms, they need to be accessible for people. Especially, you know, with our clientele, we have a good mix of a more mature clientele that need the handbars, need assistance, need more space in the bathroom.

Patrick: Because we want to be a friendly café, you know. To be that way, you have to be open to everybody. Everybody is welcome, you know, and it’s the key.

Wilma Davies, Member, Collingwood Accessibility Advisory Committee: I have Retinitis Pigmentosis and it’s an eye disease. And it means that, for me, it’s like looking down a tunnel when I see things.

The service is great, the food is exceptional. It’s a nice, friendly place to come into. And as you can see, basically it is accessible.

It’s open, you’ve got the space here. If you don’t have the ability to carry your food to the table, you don’t even have to ask – they know automatically and they’ll come and get it for you. This is very important.

Wayne Yuristy, Chair, Collingwood Accessibility Advisory Committee: As the population is getting older, more and more people are living longer. And as they live longer, not everybody is going to have the same abilities they had when they were young.

So for businesses to do this, it makes good sense. I mean obviously, if you’ve got products that you want to sell, you want to make sure that those products are available to every single person coming down the street.

I think they’re great. Having the staff willing and able to help you in every way, to me, those are the important things. And that’s what keeps people coming back to a place like this.

Ruth: What you can do, you should do – definitely. But a lot of it comes down to service. And that’s what your staff can do and that makes your experience way better. And I think in the long run it’s really about what they receive as a customer service.

Patrick: On a regular basis, we’ve the people of the town, you know: “You have wonderful staff, you know, always assist us if we need it.”

Ruth: You know, we’re still here – five years as a restaurant. That’s a milestone for a restaurant. And it’s just, it’s wonderful.