<div dir="ltr"><h1>Second Cup mulling change to menu language policy</h1>
<span>August 6th, 2014</span>
This is the fifth in a series of articles looking
at stores and companies and their language policies in areas with
majority and significant anglophone populations, as documented by
Hampstead’s Harold Staviss and Côte St. Luc’s Ruth Kovac.<br>The
language policy of fast food and popular coffee establishments in
Montreal is a very mixed bag, especially when it comes to their menu
boards customers consult before ordering.<br>The Suburban checked out
several local establishments, and found that the menu boards are mostly
in French only, whether in a borough like St. Laurent or downtown.
Notable exceptions are Thai Express, Cultures and the McDonald’s on Côte
St. Luc Road in Côte St. Luc, where the boards are bilingual.<br>And
amongst those establishments that are popular for their coffee, Tim
Hortons and Starbucks have bilingual menus as well. And at several
locations, Starbucks is even called “Café Starbucks Coffee.” But at
Second Cup, their board goes only part way in including English. Kovac
only noticed an English reference to Fair Trade Coffee at the Ste.
Catherine Street location near Stanley. We checked late last week, and
the menu board’s item categories are in both languages, with the English
being very small, but the items themselves are only in French.<br>Unhappy
with this, Kovac had an e-mail exchange with Second Cup’s Sara Jackson,
manager of café operations and implementation at their Mississauga,
Ontario headquarters. She copied this exchange to Staviss and The
Suburban. <br>In her message, Kovac pointed out there was not any
English to explain the items to herself or any potential out of town
guests, and that the location is situated between two English-language
universities and in the heart of Montreal’s tourist area. <br>“What
foolishness from a business perspective and how disrespectful to any
English speaking clientele,” she wrote of Second Cup’s current policy.
“I am quite certain you are all familiar with the language laws in
Quebec and therefore realize that English is permitted, albeit at half
the size.<br>“Why is my bilingual dollar or my patronage not as
respected as the French one?” Kovac added. “Although your staff is
bilingual, why are you ashamed or afraid to place English signs where
only French now exists? Should I or anyone else have to struggle with
some of the descriptions of what is offered? Is it wise to hold up a
line while a server translates? This is really not even so much about
language but about respect.”<br>Jackson replied that customer satisfaction is “paramount” at Second Cup.<br>“We
are taking your comments about our menu boards in Quebec into
consideration,’ she wrote. “We hope you can appreciate that this may
take time. In the interim, we will be providing all cafés in Quebec with
English laminated menus they can share with customers. As always, our
team members in every café are behind the counter to help with product
selections.”<br>In a subsequent message to Kovac, Jackson wrote that she
will provide an update on Second Cup’s consideration of its policy in
September.<br>Montrealer Dan Fuchs also recently protested Second Cup’s lack of English.<br>For
his part, Staviss said he had not seen any English signage at Second
Cup locations until very recently. “I contacted their head office last
year and the responses I received back from them, including their
previous president, was to the effect that if they had English on their
menu boards, it would be too small,” he added.<br>But Staviss then very recently noticed some English at the Greene Avenue location in Westmount.<br>“And
now, with Ruth having communicated with Second Cup, maybe, just maybe,
they will finally wake up and do what is right. We need people like Ruth
to stand up, write, call and do social media to get the message across.
For now when I want some coffee I go to Starbucks, not Second Cup, as
Starbucks has bilingual menu boards, thereby showing more respect to the
anglo community than Second Cup.”<br>•••<br>Staviss and Kovac have set up an e-mail address bonjour<br><a href="mailto:hi2u@gmail.com">hi2u@gmail.com</a>
—“for anyone who is interested in getting involved to encourage
merchants, retailers and the like to post English signage or more
English signage in their establishments,” Staviss told The Suburban.<br><br><a href="http://thesuburban.com/news/articles/?id=article03973">http://thesuburban.com/news/articles/?id=article03973</a><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>
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