Pay it forward at Bianco

Customers visiting Bianco gourmet pizza cafe on Victoria Street can now buy a coffee and muffin for a stranger as part of a charity project launched this week.

The initiative is based on a custom popular in the Italian city of Naples, where someone can buy a coffee for a person in need to claim at a later time.

Cafe owner and manager Charlotte Otranto said she had put her own twist on the tradition and hoped other cafes in Bunbury might also adopt the idea.

“The reason we’re offering a muffin and a coffee is because we would like to give them something in their bellies as well, ” she said.

“We see a lot of homeless people walking the streets and in winter we really feel for them.”

Customers can pay $5 for a “voucher”, which will go into a jar and be tallied at the end of every week.

Ms Otranto is hoping people can take up the offer through referral by local charities who will distribute the vouchers.

“We wanted to have the vouchers to remove the discomfort for people having to come in and ask for a suspended coffee, ” she said.

“This way people can come in and just hand over a voucher.

The project received significant support on the cafe’s Facebook page.

“Some people said they would buy their coffees specifically from Bianco’s because of this project, ” Ms Otranto said.

The Salvation Army have expressed interest in being involved in the project.