Opting not to use your phone while dining with friends or family can lead to increased social connections and more intimate conversations.
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Now, a device-free dining experience can earn guests free ice cream at Chick-Fil-A.
Eager for a surge in face-to-face interactions, the popular fast-food chain is offering a free ice cream scoop to diners who unplug from their phones during their meal.
Brad Williams, who owns two Chick-fil-A restaurants in Georgia, was inspired to implement the ice cream initiative after witnessing a mother of two spend an entire meal on her cell phone.
"It just got me thinking how to get people to disconnect in order to connect and to take a technology timeout," Williams told ABC News. "Be present where your feet are."
In response, Williams created the "cell phone coop," a box that sits on every table in his restaurants.
Decorated with a wire coop, the box instructs diners to silence their phones and place them in the coop. If the phones stay inside the box for the entire meal, diners get a free ice cream dessert.
Williams started placing the coops in his two restaurants in mid-January. The restaurant owner uses a local printer and ideas from Pinterest to design the boxes locally.
Nearly 200 CFA Restaurants Offer Phone-Free Prizes
The device-free concept has spread like wildfire, with multiple chains joining the fray.
Since January, Williams says more than 10,000 coops have been made. Nearly 200 independent Chick-fil-A operators are using the idea in their own restaurants.
"It's almost like we're starting to create a no-cellphone zone," he continued.
Williams shared that the impact of the cell phone coops has been apparent.
"There's more conversation and chatter," he said. "It's hard to sit with your family and not do the challenge now."
A January 2018 study found that one in three Americans can't eat a meal without being on their phone.
Chick-Fil-A hopes to buck that trend with their clucking new coops.
