Chick-fil-A is now giving its customers free ice cream if they put away their mobile phones before sitting down to eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The Atlanta-based restaurant chain allows people to ditch their smartphones or tablet devices in the Cell Phone Coop before they eat a hearty meal of chicken sandwiches, waffle fries, and iced tea.
Families who can finish the whole meal without picking up their handsets get a free Chick-fil-A Icedream cone.
The rules of the challenge are basic. Families must put their devices in silent mode before placing them in the phone coop, and later inform a restaurant employee after finishing their meal in order to receive the free dairy dessert.
Brad Williams is a Chick-fil-A operator in Suwanee, Georgia who had the idea of the coop, according to CNBC. He explains that Americans spend an average 4.7 hours every day using their cellphones.
Williams said in a statement the company wants to build a sense of community for its customers. That allows friends and family to spend more quality time.
He explained about some interesting situations the new program has caused. Some families need more than one meal to go phone-free, while some customers even ask to take phone boxes home with them.
The restaurant chain's Cell Phone Coop Challenge is not nation-wide yet. However, over 150 locations have called the corporate office to ask for the white boxes with a chicken-wire pattern, according to Grub Street.
Chick-fil-A is not the first restaurant chain to offer prizes for customers to ditch their mobile devices. Restaurants across the country have given discounts to customers who eat a tech-free meal.
In related news a New York City restaurant manager reviewed security camera videos from 2004 and 2014 to learn what caused wait times to almost double. It was customers' mobile gadgets.
The manager made a post on Craigslist about his findings. In 2004 the average service time was 1 hour and 5 minutes, but in 2014 it spiked to 1 hour and 55 minutes.
The restaurant had increased staff and cut back on menu items, but the manager learned that mobile devices distracted customers while ordering.
Here's a Chik-fil-A commercial: