Chipotle Mexican Grill, the home of best burritos, tacos and for three years now, imaginative yarns, will again treat its customers with good food and great stories in the latest lineup for its famed Cultivating Thought author series. The restaurant has enlisted 11 artists to craft original tales and artworks for its bags and cups.
This year's contributors yet again make another impressive bunch. Chipotle takes pride in being able to have a Newbery Medal winner, a Pulitzer Prize awardee on board to festoon their bags and cups with beautiful words. The artists are touted to be widely held for their bestselling works, some of which having been adapted into blockbuster films and popular series.
People who seek to fill their tummy with some tortilla and sofritas will also be served with writings and drawings from Anthony Doerr, Colson Whitehead, Jonathan Franzen, M.T. Anderson, Laura Esquivel, Laura Hillenbrand, Lois Lowry, Mary Roach, Stephen J. Dubner, Sue Monk Kidd and Tom Perrotta.
Apparently, these contributors have different motivations in taking part in the project. "Honestly, Chipotle store credit was a decisive factor. Chipotle is my go-to fast food restaurant. I also admire its wish to be a good corporate citizen," Franzen, the author of "Purity," told LA Times. Dubner, on the other hand, joined because he was a fan of bestselling author Jonathan Safran Foer, who serves as the curator o f the series.
"Our mission has always been to change how people think about and eat fast food, and in addition to highlighting our fresh ingredients, we seek to encourage curiosity in our customers about the world around them," chief creative and development officer Mark Crumpacker said in a press release. "Cultivating Thought has succeeded as an extension of that idea, by not only inspiring new ways of thinking, but by also extending the customer experience in our restaurants," he went on to say.
Chipotle debuted Cultivating Thought back in May 2014 with the help of Foer. The restaurant describes the project as "an extension of Chipotle's progressive approach to food and culture by offering meaningful, thought-provoking and accessible content" and its own approach to defy the convention of fast food service.
As per Galley Cat, award-winning authors namely Neil Gaiman, Judd Apatow, Amy Tan and Malcolm Gladwell among others have all contributed stories for the restaurant's packaging in the past. The new batch of stories, as well as the previous ones, created for Cultivating Thought is available on the official website for the project.
However, this year is extra special because Chipotle is launching a new online sweepstakes called the Super Short Book Report, which invites customers to make a summary, a "book report" as Chipotle described, of a story created by the authors for a chance to win an Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. Details of the contest are posted on the official Chipotle website.