Customers at Sarah’s Corner Café in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania who want to unplug and enjoy a meal together are rewarded. The restaurant has “family recharging stations” at tables where you drop your phone and enjoy some interactive games like Hangman and Tic Tac Toe, and doing it will earn you a 10% discount on your bill.
Owner Barry Lynch says he got the idea after watching his customers and observing the parents and kids staring at their screens instead of talking to each other while they’re sitting face-to-face. He’s gotten a positive response to his phone-free meals and plans to keep it up.
“I just thought it was such a shame not to have more time together just to talk,” he says.
“A lot of people are starting to do it and it’s taken on a life of its own.”