Families used to sit and talk to each other during meals, but with nearly everyone having a cell phone nowadays, that’s become increasingly difficult. One Chick-fil-A franchise owner in Georgia thinks he has the solution to this problem.
Brad Williams created what he calls “the cell phone coop,” a box his restaurants put at the end of tables. He encourages families to turn their phones to silent and put them in the box. If staffers see that they enjoy their meal without distractions, they will be given a free ice cream dessert.
“It just got me thinking how to get people to disconnect in order to connect and to take a technology timeout,” Williams told Good Morning America. “Be present where your feet are.”
The idea started in January in Williams’ two restaurants, but has started to spread beyond his franchise. Almost 200 independent Chick-fil-A operators are also using the coops.
It turns out that Chick-fil-A isn’t the only company aware of how distracting cell phones can be during meals. AdWeek points out that Isobar Poland created the “MasterCard Capsule,” which holds phones while you dine at three Warsaw restaurants. Here’s a video that shows how it works: