Here’s a deal most families wouldn’t expect to find at a fast-food restaurant: Put your phone away and get a free dessert.
A Chick-fil-A location in Towson Place, Maryland, is offering complimentary Icedream® Cones to customers who agree to stash their phones in a container for the duration of their meal. The promotion is called the “Chick-fil-A® Cell Phone Coop Challenge,” and it’s a limited in-store initiative — not a nationwide rollout.
Scroll below for everything to know about the offer.
How the Chick-fil-A Cell Phone Coop Challenge Works
The concept is refreshingly simple. According to signage shared by the X account Complex, the instructions read:
- “Ask a Team Member for a coop, place all phones in the coop, and enjoy your meal together.”
- “After you finished let a Team Member know and everyone at the table will receive a Icedream® Cone as a reward.”
- “Grab a coop and take the challenge.”
That’s it. No app download, no loyalty points threshold, no purchase minimum beyond what you’re already eating. You just ask for a “coop” — a designated container — drop your devices in and eat your chicken sandwich like it’s 2005.
The Chick-fil-A Towson Place location also promoted the challenge in a Facebook post, stating:
“Take the Dine-in Cell Phone Coop Challenge at Chick-fil-A Towson Place. Ask a Team Member for a coop, place all phones in the coop, and enjoy your meal together without distractions. When your table finishes, let a Team Member know and everyone will receive an Icedream Cone as a reward. Are you up for the challenge?”
The Phone-at-Dinner Problem Is Bigger Than You Think
If you’ve ever glanced around a restaurant dining room and noticed entire families silently scrolling, you’re not imagining things. According to a 2023 study, 68 percent of households have someone using a phone during meals with others.
And here’s the kicker: most people don’t even like it. The same study found that 65 percent of respondents do not like it, and 42% believe using phones during meals is rude.
That’s a striking disconnect — the majority of people are bothered by mealtime phone use, yet it happens in more than two-thirds of households anyway. It’s one of those habits most people recognize as a problem but haven’t quite figured out how to break.
Will the Challenge Expand to Other Chick-fil-A Locations?
Before you start mapping out a road trip to Maryland, it’s worth repeating: the initiative is not a nationwide program. This is a single Chick-fil-A location testing the idea, and there’s no indication from the company that it plans to expand the challenge to other stores.
Still, the concept has clearly struck a nerve online, with the posts gaining traction across platforms. The appeal is easy to understand. It’s a low-stakes, feel-good challenge that trades a small sacrifice — putting your phone down for 20 minutes — for free ice cream and maybe an actual conversation with the people sitting across from you.
Whether other Chick-fil-A locations or competing chains take notice remains to be seen. But for now, if you’re dining in at the Towson Place location, the coop is waiting.
