Is it the Starbucks effect? Barista Lavazza has announced a tie-up with Penguin Books under which the latter would be releasing its books at select Barista cafes across the country. After associating with fashion designer Rina Dhaka recently to bring out a fashion-inspired menu, books are the next category for the Italian café chain.

The first release at Barista Lavazza will be Shobha De’s new book ‘ Sethji’ . Taking inspiration from this, the coffee chain is also launching a new flavour ‘Sethji Coffee’ named after the lead character of the book.

This would be followed by book launches by other eminent writers. Fans and followers can also attend the launches and interact with their favourite authors during the ‘Author Meet n Greet Sessions’. Going forward, Penguin books will also be placed in Barista Lavazza cafes across the country to give patrons an opportunity to enjoy reading their books with coffee.

Barista Lavazza also plans to start a ‘Book Club’ at its cafes, where customers can enjoy book reading sessions. Another initiative will be the ‘Emerging Writer’s Awards’. Barista Lavazza will invite entries from people with literary interests, while Penguin (along with its writers’ panel) will judge the entries and the winner will be awarded by both partners.

R. Shivashankar, South Asia Director, Barista Lavazza, said, “This alliance will be able to create and provide a platform to both our existing and potential customers, by giving them the opportunity to enjoy through two binding forces — literature and coffee.”

The coffee retail category has been witnessing increasing competition with the entry of Starbucks, urging existing players to innovate to differentiate and have new offerings for customers, claim industry observers.

Purvita@thehindu.co.in

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