LA Restaurant Offers 5% Discount To Eat Without Your Phone

Hi RHU, Hellraiser here! I found this article today about the Eva Restaurant in Los Angeles that is offering diners a 5% discount if they leave their cell phones with the receptionist for the duration of their meal. Awesome idea, and not just from a Retail Hell standpoint. Call me old fashioned, but I find it incredibly rude when the person I'm dining with is texting every two minutes.

Any chance of this idea catching on? And how many people do you think crack halfway through?

--Hellraiser

 

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Cell phones often claim a spot on the table in restaurants, sitting right next to utensils, plates and glasses. One restaurant is trying to change that.

Eva Restaurant in Los Angeles offers diners a 5% discount for leaving their phones with the receptionist for the entirety of the meal. The new policy went into effect a bit more than a month ago, according to chef Mark Gold, who runs the restaurant with his wife, Alejandra.

Since then, the chef estimates that 40% to 50% of customers have opted in and ditched their phones.

"Eva is really about family and being at home. That's what we want to exemplify," Gold says. "We just want people to connect again."

He came up with the idea after a conversation about how annoying he found it that people were constantly communicating on their devices.

Eva notifies its customers of its cell phone policy with a statement on its menu.

Plenty of eating spots ask patrons to refrain from using their phones, but Gold believes his contemporary restaurant, located on LA's Beverly Blvd., is the first to dangle a discount.

Those who come to the 42-seat eatery often take to the idea of going phone-less for dinner.

"They actually get really enthusiastic about it," Gold says. "I think people generally like the idea of being able to turn off their cell phones. They just haven't been given the opportunity to or thought about it."

In June, Consumerist reported on a deli in Vermont that adds $3 to each customer's bill if they use a phone at the counter.

Last year, a restaurant in Washington, D.C. explicitly prohibited cell phone use in the establishment. Rogue 24's "reservation contract" asked that "all guests refrain from the use of cell phones and photography."

However, chef and owner RJ Cooper said his restaurant eventually budged on its stance. About six months ago, Rogue 24 began allowing diners to use their phones.

Why? To take pictures and share them on Instagram, of course.

via money.cnn.com

 

 

 

Comments

[Raven]

Like hell I'm going to leave a $500 phone with a receptionist. What's to stop me from just keeping it in a pocket and saying I don't have it?

[JoJo]

Personally, I don't care if someone is talking on their phone in a restaurant. Talking is talking. How is talking on a phone worse than talking to another person at your table? If the concern is the handful of people who are LOUD on the phone, I guarantee they are just as loud having a conversation in person. If I want to talk on my phone while I wait for my food, get over it. As far as texting goes, big deal. Would you get upset about someone reading a book or newspaper at the table? No, so get over that, too.

[Skittles]

If only there were a way to get people to stop constantly checking their phones in any other social situations. This is a brilliant idea. To those who seem upset by this idea go fuck yourselves then come back to the post and read it again. It says it is optional not mandatory you fucking halfwits. Also yes it is rude to talk on your phone in a restaurant, as whether or not you realize it or will admit to it you talk louder on the phone than you do in person. It is also incredibly rude to ignore the person you are dining with to ignore them while texting or calling other people. I don't care if they 'don't mind' it's still rude. I'm not generally too big on politeness but to me this about basic respect of another individual not manners.