Chick-fil-A’s Viral Challenge: Put Your Phone Away, Get Free Ice Cream

Brad Williams invented the Cell Phone Coop in 2016 at his two Chick-fil-A restaurants in Georgia after watching families sit together staring at their screens instead of talking. He put a white box on every table and invited customers to store their phones in it for the whole meal. If everyone participated, the table earned a free Icedream cone.

“It just got me thinking how to get people to disconnect in order to connect and to take a technology timeout,” Williams told ABC News. “Be present where your feet are.” He said the change in atmosphere was immediate: “There’s more conversation and chatter. It’s hard to sit with your family and not do the challenge now.”

The idea has resurfaced this week after a photo from the Chick-fil-A Towson Place location in Maryland went viral. The restaurant is running what it calls a “Cell Phone Coop Challenge.” The rules are simple: ask a team member for a coop, place all phones inside on silent, and eat your meal without checking them. When the meal is over, everyone at the table gets a free vanilla Icedream cone.

Chick-fil-A confirmed that this is not a nationwide initiative. Because locations are independently owned and operated, individual restaurants can run their own promotions like this one.

The challenge taps into a broader cultural frustration. A 2023 study found that 68% of households have someone using their phone during a meal with others. Among respondents, 65% said they don’t like it and 42% described it as rude. Earlier research backs that up: a 2018 study published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology tested the same concept at a Vancouver café and found that diners who kept their phones on the table reported lower enjoyment, higher boredom, and greater distraction than those who put them away.

Online reaction to the Chick-fil-A challenge has been overwhelmingly positive. Franklin Graham called it a “great idea,” while many commenters echoed the same sentiment: “exactly what we need right now,” “genius move,” and even “rare fast food W.” Some pointed out that it’s a little depressing that people need to be incentivized with ice cream to put their phones away at dinner, but even those critiques often ended with “props to Chick-fil-A.”

For Williams, the goal was never just about a free dessert. It was about creating small, repeatable moments that change behavior over time. He described it as building “rituals that create disciplines and will slowly create habits.” A no-cellphone zone, one free ice cream cone at a time.