People with autism see the world through a slightly different lens: lights may seem too bright and noises may be too loud. As a result, working in a busy environment like a restaurant can be kryptonite for those on the spectrum.
But this didn’t stop Pacific Autism Family Network (PAFN) from opening the country’s first neurodiverse café inside Canada’s second largest airport in the fall of 2023. Located in the busy domestic arrivals area of Vancouver International Airport, Paper Planes Café Hires and trains employees with neurological differences in the art of customer service, order taking, and latte making.
The company’s noble purpose is posted on the wall for travelers to see: “We are a coffee shop with a mission to empower autistic and neurodiverse people by providing them with meaningful employment opportunities.” Employees receive a living wage of $24 per hour and, after a six-month stint at the cafe, earn their “hospitality wings” and the PAFN team helps them find employment elsewhere.
The social enterprise is the brainchild of Wendy and Sergio Cocchia, a Vancouver couple who started PAFN in 2016 to support families living with the lifelong developmental disorder that affects one in 50 Canadian children and adolescents. The Cocchias, whose adult son has autism, dreamed of one day helping members of the autism community find jobs.
Related: Does your workplace support neurodiverse employees?
“Employment is really the conduit to leading a meaningful life,” Sergio says, noting that most families with a member on the spectrum want two things for their child: a friend and a job. The cafeteria offers both.
Students begin working in shorter shifts of two to four hours to help them develop confidence and get used to the sounds and space. With the support of neurotypical managers and mentors, they learn how to take and complete customer orders while progressing through a skills checklist that includes everything from wearing an apron correctly to completing a transaction.
But the training program is about more than just mastering practical tasks like making and serving coffee and sandwiches. “It’s also about interpersonal and social skills that are incredibly important for any type of job,” Wendy says.
Students practice smiling, having friendly conversations with customers and problem solving – crucial assets when working in hospitality. Support staff are there to guide them when it’s busy (the cafe serves about 100 customers a day) and to help them manage issues like sensory overload.
The company is funded through a partnership with the Vancouver Airport Authority, which made a five-year commitment to PAFN for $500,000. In return, PAFN is training 25 percent of airport authority staff in autism awareness and sensitivity, so frontline workers, including CATSA security screeners, terminal officers and members of Fire and YVR Rescue, among others, have the skills to recognize and respond to neurodiverse diseases. Travellers.
In addition, the 95 square meter space will be given to the cafe rent-free, so that PAFN can reinvest the company’s profits in supporting more employment opportunities for the autism community.
Related: How to Spot and Stop Unconscious Biases in Hiring
“It’s really important that our airport be fully inclusive and accessible,” says Tamara Vrooman, CEO of the Vancouver Airport Authority. “This initiative allows us to ensure that our staff and our passengers interact and see people with autism in a different way. When we go there, we go to have a cup of coffee and they are having a race.”
It is telling that Paper Planes Café does not count on success in the sale of food and beverages, but in the graduating students. “The only way we can measure success is the number of people we place who gain meaningful employment after the fact,” Sergio says.
So far, five employees have left the cafe and are now spreading their wings in jobs outside the YVR nest, with more to come this spring. Paper Planes made their career dreams possible, and in the process, the cafe improved the airport experience for all passengers. That’s definitely good for business.