Overview
- At least one restaurant in Towson Place, Maryland, is promoting a Cell Phone Coop Challenge that gives each diner a Chick-fil-A Icedream cone for keeping phones in a box during the meal.
- Chick-fil-A told The Independent the challenge is not a nationwide initiative and that individual owners decide whether to run it.
- The idea comes from Georgia franchisee Brad Williams, who launched it in 2016 and reintroduced it in January with a chicken wire box where guests store silenced phones for the meal.
- Williams says more than 10,000 coops were made and nearly 200 independent operators adopted the concept, while Business Insider found only three locations confirmed offering it and some staff said it was temporary.
- Studies cited in coverage link phones at the table to lower enjoyment and more distraction, which the challenge aims to counter by nudging families to talk face-to-face.