In the ‘middle’ of pandemic

BENGALURU: The pandemic has ravaged lives and livelihood of lakhs. Whether it’s the hospitality business, local artisans or designers, each of them is trying to stay afloat, if not able to swim, and attempting not to sink. Cuppa, a 10-year-old cafe in Bengaluru with five chains in the city, is implementing social distancing at its cafe in a unique manner – by using the ‘middle tables’ to provide a platform for local designers to showcase their products. Called CuppaForArtists, the initiative kicked off at their HSR Layout cafe on Monday and will go on until at least things return to a semblance of normalcy. It will be expanded to the other outlets in about a fortnight. 

As a part of hygiene protocols, restaurants and cafes can allow seating on alternate tables only, to follow social distancing norms. “Instead of bare tables, we decided to use mannequins to create pathways and the required distance between tables. The empty tables will also carry products from various artists and craftspersons in the city, while the mannequins will be clothed in designs from Bengaluru’s upcoming fashion designers,” says Visakh Vishwambharan, director, Cuppa, about the initiative.

Currently, the products on display include stationery, handicrafts, crockery, candles, soaps, designer clothing and coffee.  Before the lockdown, they had conducted standup comedy nights and had musicians performing there. “However, in light of the current pandemic, we realise that the usual avenues for artists are closed but we could become a new avenue. We are providing a safe, sanitised environment for our patrons to hang out. And instead of leaving the tables bare, we could make this a platform for artists to sell their work,” adds Vishwambharan. 

Given the proximity to National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), the cafe also intends to allow students to showcase their work at the cafe. “We’ve always been about experiences. Each of our cafes has a different theme, which is meant to create different experiences for our customers. Dining out, we have always believed, is also about experiences... catching up with friends, enjoying a meal. Now, we want to bring in the arts and culture experience, and of course, the shopping experience especially since we’ve always believed in supporting local artists of all kinds,” says Vijay Sreedhar, director.