'Dans le noir?' - Sidebar and NIB
The ‘Dans Le Noir?’ franchise is owned and operated by the Ethik Investment Group, a so-called “social innovation lab” which was founded in 2003 by Edouard de Broglie, current CEO and president.
A millionaire entrepreneur and specialist in social responsibility, de Broglie wanted to invest his profits into good ideas.
In the late 90s, Andreas Heinecke (of Germany) and Michel Reilhac (of France) had been arranging events and experiences throughout Europe, e.g. tactile / audio exhibitions, in the darkness.
In 1999, the Paul Guinot Foundation (the second main blind organisation in France) collaborated with Reilhac to raise awareness and developed a program of dinners in the dark – ‘Le goût du noir’ (a taste of darkness).
These were so successful that Reilhac produced the first ever TV show in complete darkness – it was shot in infrared, featuring a blind journalist.
After meeting with blindness foundations across Europe, de Broglie immediately understood the potential of the concept. He proposed to set up a company employing a high percentage of visually impaired people.
With the help of the Paul Guinot Foundation, the Ethik Investment Group opened the first restaurant in Paris – without any financial backing or public funding.
Thanks to press support and intense word of mouth, it was fully booked for its first two months in advance of opening.
The concept grew, and the marketing / events branch of the Ethik Investment Group, Ethik Events, continued to implement new ideas throughout Europe and the US.
The ‘Dans Le Noir?’ restaurants have hosted cultural cafes, conferences, blind dating, sensory workshops and company bonding sessions, public readings by famous writers – all in the dark.
In 2011, the company introduced a ‘spa experience’ in the Paris branch, where customers receive their treatments in pitch black, and massages from blind specialists.
This year, in the London restaurant, they began a series of ‘silent parties’, in partnership with Action Deafness, to coincide with Deaf Awareness week. The events, which take place on a Friday evening, feature a silent disco and employ deaf staff who teach customers how to order their drinks in sign language. Entrance is free for the deaf.
They offer services like private hires, corporate events, product and media launches, and sensory workshops, all designed as socially responsible events to encourage positive attitudes to disability.
To date, there have been more than a million visitors to the Dans Le Noir? restaurants, the spas and other events all over Europe.
Alongside the events, the advisory branch Ethik Management trains companies and large corporations to improve integration of disability into the workplace, and endorses a positive perception of differently abled employees. Indeed, their director Didier Roche, who is also the Vice President of the Ethik Investment Group, is blind.
In fact, 50% of the group’s employees are disabled.
The Dans Le Noir? franchise, which employs nearly 50 permanent staff who are visually impaired or deaf mute, also helps foundations raise money and promote awareness of disability integration.
Although it receives no charitable funding, or council funding for its disabled employees, up to 10% of its profits after tax are donated to charities worldwide. The the rest of the profits are primarily reinvested into new products.
The Dans Le Noir? franchise is now the largest operation promoting disability awareness in Europe.
