Now on Chipotle Cups: Stories by Famous Writers

Jonathan Safran Foer spearheads project
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 15, 2014 1:53 PM CDT
Now on Chipotle Cups: Stories by Famous Writers
Chipotle cups featuring microfiction from famous authors are seen in this promotional image.   (Chipotle/Businesswire)

Jonathan Safran Foer. Toni Morrison. George Saunders. Michael Lewis. Malcolm Gladwell. They're some of the most famous authors working today, and now they're lending their prose to, of all things, fast-food packaging. Starting today, cups and bags at Chipotle Mexican Grill will come adorned with text from one of the above luminaries, the company announced. The idea apparently came from Foer one day when he forgot to bring a book to the burrito joint, he tells Vanity Fair. "I really just wanted to die with frustration," he recalls.

Foer had met Chipotle CEO Steve Ells, so he pitched him the idea of putting text on Chipotle's cups and its typically blank bags. Ells liked the idea, and let Foer pick the writers involved and edit their work. The Eating Animals author says he doesn't mind helping a fast-food chain—at least not one with Chipotle's relatively good meat record. "I mean, I wouldn’t have done it if it was for another company like a McDonald’s, but what interested me is 800,000 Americans of extremely diverse backgrounds having access to good writing. A lot of these people don't have access to libraries, or bookstores." (More Chipotle stories.)

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