How a Deaf-Run Pizzeria Takes Your Order Over the Phone

[Narrator] Mozzeria makes their pizza

the old-fashioned way: beautiful sauce, fresh ingredients,

and a wood-fired oven.

But the San Francisco restaurant depends on a whole lot

of slick new technology to survive.

You see, Mozzeria is 100% deaf-owned and operated.

[Translator] I'm definitely blessed to live

in a technological world.

[Narrator] Like many restaurants,

Mozzeria uses online ordering

and half-a-dozen delivery apps.

But the pizzeria can now accept phone calls thanks to a

remarkable technology, the video relay service,

from a company called Convo.

Hi, this is Melody from Mozzeria.

[Narrator] The customer actually speaks through

an interpreter, who signs in real time to the staff

on an iPad.

Okay sure thing, what would you like to order?

[Narrator] In the past, deaf people relied on email, fax,

or something called a teletypewriter, also known as a T-T-Y,

to communicate from afar.

[Translator] Back when I was growing up, we had a T-T-Y,

the relay service, but it was incredibly slow,

and so both hearing people and deaf people

just didn't have the patience.

[Narrator] With new video relay services,

the deaf and hearing can communicate like never before.

And get this, you made it all possible.

A small charge on your phone bill each month goes

to a federal fund that finances Convo

and other providers of video relay services.

[Translator] Yes, the Margherita pizza with the--

[Narrator] The competition among these companies

is actually quite fierce.

So Convo has set out to distinguish itself

with a deaf-first design approach.

[Translator] Convo came in and seeing that

this was a restaurant operating at full extent,

we didn't want to put in an accessibility machine,

where it's a big, clunky machine in the restaurant.

They have their identity, their look, their aura,

their mood, and we wanted to see Convo be a part of that.

But that all started with the lights.

[Translator] Someone is calling.

You can see the light is green

and this is how our phone rings.

Hi there, this is Melody.

How can I help you?

[Narrator] The video relay service is often so seamless

that customers don't realize that the restaurant

is deaf-operated until they actually come in.

[Translator] Seven o'clock?

Let me check. Hold please.

Sometimes the hostess will ask if they have a reservation

and they'll say, Yes I just called.

And then they misunderstand and they say, I just called.

So they say their name for the reservation and they say,

How do you talk to us on the phone if you're deaf?

And we explain the video relay service.

It's really cool and it's also a surprise.

[Narrator] That seamlessness and the clever design

of services like Convo have been absolutely huge

for deaf-owned businesses.

[Translator] In the past we missed about 50% of our calls.

Now, with Convo, we've reduced missed calls

from 50% to only 5%.

[Narrator] There's just one tiny problem

with all this new technology.

[Translator] I figure we have about 11,

I'm not kidding you, 11 tablets right now.

Imagine, when it comes to charging every night,

so we don't run out during business.

If we could invent something that didn't run

out of batteries, I would be so much happier.

(bright music)