Dave’s Gourmet Accessibility Audit
Web Accessibility Remediation for Dave's Gourmet website to make it conforms with the WCAG technical standards and comply with the ADA.
This Dave’s Gourmet accessibility audit and WCAG 2.1 AA remediation covered the online store of a specialty-food brand best known for bold, fiery flavours — from its famous ultra-hot sauces to its gourmet pasta sauces and condiments — sold direct to fans across the United States.
A specialty-food store asks shoppers to choose by flavour and heat, read ingredient and allergen details, and check out — all through interactive controls. For a shopper using a screen reader or a keyboard, whether those product pages, options and the checkout are accessible is what decides if they can actually buy.
Table of Contents
Why accessibility is critical for an online store
E-commerce is one of the most active areas of United States web-accessibility law. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III, an online store is treated as a place of public accommodation, and courts and settlements have repeatedly pointed to WCAG 2.1 Level AA as the working standard for an accessible shop. For a flavour-driven food brand the detail matters even more: heat levels, ingredients and allergen information that live only in images, or product pages a screen reader cannot read, or a checkout that traps keyboard focus, quietly turn away a customer who simply wanted to order.
Scope and standard
Our Dave’s Gourmet accessibility audit assessed the store against WCAG 2.1 Level AA, mapped to ADA Title III, across the journeys that matter for a food brand: the product and flavour pages, ingredient and heat-level details, the cart and checkout, the account area, and search and filtering.
How we ran the Dave’s Gourmet accessibility audit
- Screen-reader testing with JAWS and NVDA on Windows, VoiceOver on macOS and iOS, and TalkBack on Android
- Automated audits with Deque axe, Google Lighthouse and WAVE
- Keyboard-only operation of every step, with attention to focus order and a clearly visible focus indicator
- Colour-contrast analysis, plus 400% zoom and reflow testing for low-vision users
What accessibility means on each part of the store
Because Dave’s Gourmet sells by flavour and detail, our Dave’s Gourmet accessibility audit focused on the parts a shopper relies on:
- Product and flavour pages need names, heat levels and prices in text, with clearly labelled “add to cart” controls, so a screen-reader user can pick the right sauce.
- Ingredient and allergen information must be real text, not locked inside an image, so people with dietary needs and assistive technology can read it.
- Product images need meaningful alternative text, since packaging and flavour cues are otherwise lost without sight.
- The cart and checkout need labelled fields, announced errors and a focus order that never traps the keyboard, because this is where the order is completed.
- Search, filtering and navigation need operable controls, visible focus, sufficient contrast and clean reflow at high zoom.
Outcome
This Dave’s Gourmet accessibility audit, combining manual and automated testing with remediation, brought the store’s product pages, ingredient details and checkout into line with WCAG 2.1 AA and ADA Title III expectations, so a shopper using a screen reader or a keyboard can compare flavours, check ingredients and order without barriers. Because allergen detail and the checkout carry real consequences, every fix was verified with assistive technology rather than assumed from an automated pass.