A restaurant in Sydney is offering a free glass of wine to customers who lock away their smartphone during a meal. Contact Bar and Kitchen owner Markus Stauder has installed small lockers where staff will place the phone for the duration of the meal. Stauder said that the initiative is meant to help people connect – in keeping with the name of the establishment.
“I’ve been in the hospitality industry for 20 years. Over time I saw phones intruding during the meal more and more,” he said. “I thought, why do we keep getting dragged to our devices over and over? I just want people to enjoy the food and drinks. People miss half the night because they’re on their phone.”
Contact isn’t the only restaurant to offer an incentive for customers to put their phones away. Sneaky’s Chicken in Iowa offers a ten percent discount for customers who put their phone in a box and not touch it for the meal, while a restaurant in Israel offers a whopping 50 percent discount to anyone who keeps their phone off.
