Coaster encourages diners to stack smartphones

Heckler Design has introduced its WindFall Coaster as a solution to the decline in table turn many restaurants have experienced as a result of phone distractions.

The coaster also provides restaurant owners a way to tastefully encourage diners to stack their phones at meal time and engage in the traditional dining experience, the company said in a press release.

WindFall Coaster is constructed of powder-coated steel and includes soft elastomer corner pegs that lift the phone away from liquid and other tabletop debris and reduce vibration noise when a phone is silenced. By keeping the phone visible and face down, diners stay engaged in the experience, yet won’t risk phones being inadvertently thrown away or left behind, the company said.

“Restaurateurs and chefs have a love/hate relationship with phone use in the restaurant,” said Dean Heckler, founder and lead designer at Heckler Design. “Though customer Instagramming while dining is a helpful form of marketing, restaurant phone use has frustrated servers and significantly impacted table turn in recent years. WindFall Coaster was created to give restaurateurs a stylish and polite way to create a much-needed phone etiquette.”

“We love that our guests are sharing their experience at POSH in real time, but we have noticed phone use has added time to the dining experience,” adds Joshua Hebert, owner and chef at POSH Restaurant in Scottsdale, Ariz. “Being a fine dining restaurant, we’re also all about the experience. The fact that WindFall Coaster encourages diners to put the phone down and be fully present in the experience has been a tremendous benefit.”

WindFall Coaster is intended to be placed in the centre of the table to encourage all diners to stack their phones together, and a playful diagram on the bottom of the phone coaster depicts how to use it. The coaster is available in a variety of colours, and start at US $15 for an individual phone coaster, and $149 for a pack of 12.

www.hecklerdesign.com