Together with four blind colleagues he raised money from local businessmen and the city council to open the Blind Cow late last year in a redundant Lutheran church. The idea was to give blind people work and introduce sighted people to a world without vision. Beef in red wine, dumplings and pigs' knuckles are popular. Waiters and waitresses wear bells on their feet so that they can be heard as they move. They lead diners to their tables like lines of blinded soldiers after a First World War gas attack - crocodiles of individuals with one hand on the shoulder of the person in front weaving their way forward to their table.
Smoking is banned.
There is only one concession to the seeing guests - lights in the toilets. But the sighted must be guided there by the staff in the same way as blind diners. Curiously there are no more breakages reported at the Blind Cow than at a normal restaurant. But the noise level can be intense with people shouting for waiters, shouting their orders and generally over-compensating with their voices for the loss of their sight. He believes, however, that the Blind Cow concept will expand in Switzerland and Europe before it crosses the Alps and the Atlantic.