Chipotle Mexican Grill is embracing on-table entertainment, not with trivia boxes or newspapers, but with short stories, printed on their cups.

Author Jonathan Safran Foer, one of the authors that will have a short story featured on a Chipotle cup, can be at least partially credited for the idea.

One day Foer was sitting at a Chipotle restaurant eating a burrito. He found himself bored, he had nothing to read, nothing to do while he was enjoying his food. He didn't bring a newspaper or a magazine, and he didn't own a smartphone. 

Foer sent an e-mail to Chipotle CEO Steve Ellis asking for the company to print these original essays by famous authors on Chipotle bags. Ellis loved the idea.

"We live in a world in which there is shrinking space for literature and writing, and less time than ever for quiet reflection," Foer said in a news release. "The idea of expanding the space and time, of creating a small pocket of thoughtfulness right in the middle of the busy day, was inspiring to me - particularly given the size and diversity of the audience, which is America itself."

Small messages will go on the bags while entire stories will be placed on the drink cups.

Here are the authors that will be featured:

  • Judd Apatow - Golden Globe nominated writer/director/producer, "This Is 40," "Bridesmaids," "Girls"
  • Sheri Fink - Pulitzer-prize winning reporter/author, "Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital"
  • Malcolm Gladwell - New York Times bestselling author, journalist and speaker, "The Tipping Point," "Outliers," "Blink"
  • Bill Hader - Emmy-winning comedian/actor/producer, "Saturday Night Live," "South Park"
  • Michael Lewis - New York Times bestselling author and journalist, "Flash Boys," "The Blind Side," "Moneyball"
  • Toni Morrison - Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winning author, "Beloved"
  • Steve Pinker - award-winning experimental psychologist, renowned writer on language, mind and human nature
  • George Saunders - New York Times bestselling short-story and essay author, "Tenth of December," "The Braindead Megaphone"
  • Sarah Silverman - Emmy-winning actress/comedian, "The Sarah Silverman Program," "Saturday Night Live," "School of Rock"

    • "I selected the writers, and insofar as there was any editing, I did it," Foer said. "I tried to put together a somewhat eclectic group, in terms of styles. I wanted some that were essayistic, some fiction, some things that were funny, and somewhat thought provoking." 

    What a creative way to encourage reading and to get literature some exposure.