Cooolum offers a free wine or beer for skipping the phone

by Leon Gettler

There are some restaurants and eateries that ban people from using mobile phones. Others have rules around where exactly you can use them.

But My Place, a Coolum bar and restaurant, has decided to offer inducements.

From tonight, it’s introducing a new rule. It’s telling customers the drinks with dinner are on the house if they put the phone aside and don’t look at it.

My Place owner David Hadid said it’s just about making meals a social occasion. He is tired of seeing diners with their heads bent over their phones not talking to each other,

“I'm tired of mobiles. It's not social," Mr Hadid told the Sunshine Coast Daily.

"You come to a restaurant to talk to your family and friends and get engaged but people are always floating away on their mobile phones and looking at their social network all the time."

He says he can’t understand how some parents will bring their children to the restaurant and stick them in front of screens while they enjoy their meals.

“They are not getting the real experience of going out and having a meal," he said.

"We want people talking and enjoying themselves. It's good for the energy of the place.

He said the restaurant had already slapped a ban on laptops.

"We don't want the place looking like an office,’’ he said.

"I try and tell them why we do it. We're here to offer a social experience on top of a good meal and a good view."

Whether diners are prepared to take up the offer remains to be seen. But Mr Hadid say the feedback he has received so far has been encouraging. 

"A lot of people are coming up to me, even on the beach when I went for a walk this morning,’’ he said. “A couple of people said, 'This is amazing, what you're doing'."

1^st April 2016