Luxury restaurant in SP bets on diversity and hires waiters with Down syndrome

Beatriz, 26, Juliana, 31, Maria Carolina, 27, and Vinícius, 28, have started to open wings for an inclusive movement that should include renowned and elite restaurants in São Paulo. The four are people with Down syndrome and have just been hired as waiters at A Figueira Rubaiyat, one of the most luxurious and renowned gastronomic places in the city.

The quartet did an immersion and specific training for a month at the restaurant. Previously, he went through a culinary preparation process at the UniDown Institute, where he perfected cooking techniques and learned fundamental hygiene precautions in pandemic times.

“We are not carrying out a social action, we are hiring people for our work team and valuing differences. It is working very well and we intend to move forward. We hope that this insertion will be followed by other environments. The acceptance is huge”, says Gerson Meneses Ferreira, 38, director of customer service at Rubaiyat.

The young people, who will work in a supervised manner and with a reduced workload – four hours –, share the commitment of families in building their autonomy, strengthening their personalities and supporting their specific demands.

“We have to face this world full of prejudices and show up. They want to show that they are capable of doing things and this current generation of people with Down syndrome is putting this to the test a lot. They know what they want and are prepared for it. that,” says Maria Aparecida Soares Fraga, 64, mother of Maria Carolina Soares Fraga, one of the contractors.

Unidoswn has been working since 2006 with the training and appreciation of people with intellectual disabilities with activities in various areas, but with a focus on gastronomy. Today, 300 young people are involved in the initiative, which is supported by volunteers.

“Each one has a skill and learns in a different way. We keep trying to polish what they already bring from home and we try to further develop their own skills”, says lawyer Márcio Berti, founder of the institute.

According to him, there is a movement of other renowned restaurants in São Paulo in search of professionals with Down. “There is an issue of diversity involved, but companies also want to bet on the humanization of business, on actions against prejudice.”

The new waiters don’t show annoyance with a common attitude among the customers they serve: asking to take pictures with them. “Work for me is love too”, says Maria Carolina.

The most concentrated of the group, Vinícius de Carvalho, also likes to be photographed, but remembers the sanitary precautions when touching people’s cell phones. “You need to sanitize your hands later, right?”

He says he is very prepared for the role. “I want to earn my salary to have my things and take other courses, to pursue a career, perhaps, in gastronomy itself.”

Cláudia da Gama, 56, a frequent customer at the restaurant, was served, alongside her family, by the new waiters. She celebrated the signing.

“Hallelujah that they are mobilizing. It’s the least that society can do to make things really improve. The work will not only do well for these employees, the restaurant also gains a lot in its image. It’s not just welcoming differences, it’s giving opportunities, work, it’s life as it is”, declares the merchant.

Rubaiyat informs that they have a “strict protocol” to avoid discrimination against any social group within the restaurant, which, in the view of the parents of the new waiters, is a situation that can eventually happen to their children.

“Our life is one of struggle. We know that it’s not just coming here to a luxury restaurant and thinking that everything will be beautiful, that they will be fully respected. Of course, some will look at my daughter strangely. People need to be educated for people differences”, says Rosineia Pereira Brandão Costa, 59, mother of Beatriz Brandão Costa, who says she is “excited” to start working.