Put your phone in a box during your meal, and you get a free ice cream cone on the way out. That's the Cell Phone Coop Challenge, and a Chick-fil-A in Towson, Maryland, is running it right now for a limited time.
The idea isn't new. A franchisee in Georgia named Brad Williams ran the same challenge at two of his locations back in 2016, inspired by watching a woman spend an entire meal on her phone while her kids sat across from her. He brought it back in January this year. As of this week, though, employees at those locations said the promotion was no longer running.
Williams told ABC News back in 2016 that the challenge had been picked up by at least 200 other operators at the time. “Be present where your feet are,” he said.
It's a simple enough premise. Ask an employee for the coop, place all phones inside on silent, eat your meal phone-free, when the table finishes, everyone at the table receives a free Icedream cone (Chick-fil-A's signature soft serve) as a reward.
Three locations have confirmed running some version of it. How many others have tried it quietly is harder to say.
Phone-free dining has been picking up in other forms, too. Some people have switched to dumb phones entirely. Others use devices designed to physically block smartphone connectivity. A free Chick-fil-A cone is a gentler entry point.
That said, Chick-fil-A hasn't commented on whether the promotion is part of any broader company initiative or simply an effort by individual franchisees.
Sources: Business Insider, ABC News, Chick-fil-A (Towson Facebook)