Some Chick-Fil-A locations across the U.S. are offering customers free ice cream in exchange for going screen-free.
The company said on Tuesday that customers at more than 150 locally-owned Chick-Fil-A locations across the country can win a free Chick-Fil-A Icedream provided they can make it through their meals without looking at their phones.
“Although our phones were meant to bring us closer together, they can sometimes have the opposite effect,” the company said in its announcement.
The promotion is the brainchild of Brad Williams, a Chick-Fil-A operator in Georgia, who has been offering dining families a square, cardboard box he calls a “cell phone coop,” where they can place their phones (in silent mode) for the duration of their meals.
“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.”
The phone-free ice cream giveaway is not available at every Chick-Fil-A location, so the company advises potential customers to contact their local operator to inquire about availability.
Known for its chicken sandwiches and other poultry products, Chick-Fil-A recently expanded into New York City with a successful midtown location that led the company to announce a second Big Apple location in the works. The restaurant chain has been facing increased competition from fast-food rivals such as McDonald’s (MCD), which recently started testing a chicken breakfast sandwich, while growing chain Shake Shack (SHAK) is also now offering fried chicken sandwiches.
