Today it’s not unusual to see entire families or groups of friends eating out together but barely interacting, and Chick Fil A wants it to stop.
In the age of the smartphone, it can sometimes feel as though people spend more time chatting virtually than in real life. Now fast food chain Chick Fil A has come up with an incentive to encourage people to talk to each other while they eat.
Chick Fil A to encourage conversation in its restaurants
According to an announcement made on Tuesday, selected Chick Fil A locations across the United States will offer customers free ice cream if they can manage not to touch their smartphones during their meal. Over 150 locally-owned Chick Fil A restaurants are taking part in the promotion.
“Although our phones were meant to bring us closer together, they can sometimes have the opposite effect,” the company said in its announcement.
Brad Williams, a Chick Fil A operator in Georgia, has been credited with coming up with the idea. Williams has taken to offering a cardboard box that he has christened a “cell phone coop” in order to store phones during a meal.
Put your device in a “cell phone coop” for a chance to win free ice cream
“As we all know, technology increasingly demands more of our time and can be a big distraction, even while we’re eating,” Williams said in a statement. “This got me thinking about what we could do to reduce this distraction during meals.”
Not every Chick Fil A location is taking part in the ice cream offer, so check with your local restaurant before setting off in search of free ice cream. The restaurant chain is best known for chicken sandwiches and other poultry products, and recently expanded into New York City. After the success of a midtown location, the company announced that it would be opening another restaurant in the city.
Competition is heating up for the company after McDonald’s announced that it was testing a chicken breakfast sandwich and Shake Shack started selling fried chicken sandwiches. If you are a fan of ice cream and think that you can go half an hour without checking your phone, it’s time to get down to Chick Fil A and test your willpower.
