Reaching Out Teahouse Shop

Reaching Out Teahouse is run as part of Reaching Out Vietnam, a social enterprise founded in 2000 in Hoi An to provide employment for local deaf and disabled residents under fair-trade principles - fair wages and safe working conditions for artisans and staff. All servers at the teahouse are speech- and hearing-impaired; communication with customers runs through gentle hand gestures, circle-marked menus, and small wooden signaling blocks rather than spoken orders. The teahouse itself occupies a restored old house in central Hoi An and serves tea, coffee, fruit juices and biscuits. Behind and alongside it, Reaching Out operates a retail and workshop space selling tableware handcrafted in the style of Hue's former imperial court, along with ceramics, homewares and jewelry made by the same artisan community. The enterprise has been covered by regional press as a model for disability employment tied to Vietnam's tourism economy.