For the love of food and words

A new concept encourages people to exchange an old book for a meal

De05 Book

A food kiosk near Vallabhbhai Patel Chest Institute at Delhi University’s North Campus has become a popular hub for students over the past few months due to a unique concept.

The brainchild of Shivam Dewan and Paras Arya, engineers, animal lovers and budding entrepreneurs, the concept of “XCO — Xchange Over Coffee” has gone viral over the Internet.

The concept behind the kiosk is to encourage people to exchange an old book for a meal. Those who don’t want to part with their books can lend it to the kiosk and borrow a book in return.

Website

Started in June 2016, the initiative aims to develop a “shared economy” that involves food and love for books. Although the book exchange and sharing began primarily on the official website in March, the eatery was a successful follow-up.

‘Free food’

Ever since, people have been coming in to do away with their old novels for a meal — a food item and drink of their choice — or having a short-term exchange with other readers and share their love for books.

“Not all people demand something in return for the books; Some do it out of goodwill too. But the idea of getting ‘free food’ is what attracts most of customers as Indians simply love anything that is free,” said Shivam.

Basic idea

XCO has two cooks trained by Shivam and Paras using YouTube, bright posters and fliers, and a table and tiny stools in the vicinity.

Since most customers are students from nearby colleges, the place offers Paytm and Swiggy services as well.

The basic idea was inspired from Kunzum Travel Café in Hauz Khas combined with the popularity of Starbucks, said the co-founders.

From deciding the menu and coordinating between bibliophiles to managing social media, everything is done by the enterprising duo.

“The demonetisation move has certainly helped our cause. The planet is tired of buying. Let’s just share whatever we have for a change,” added Shivam.

Healthy social network

He added that although not very profitable, XCO manages to make a difference in the community. In the age of Tinder and Airbnb, the entire motive is to garner trust and support from people and establish a healthy social network.

Speaking about the roadblocks they have been facing, Shivam said: “The police in the area is a little troublesome as they don’t really understand our concept of food and books. That makes our work slightly cumbersome. We had plenty of racks for storing books, but they made us remove them. It’s not easy to keep everyone happy.”

(The writer is an intern with The Hindu)