Restaurant offers customers free bottle of wine on one condition — no phones

Angelo Lella, owner of the Al Condominio restaurant in Verona, decided to take a risk.

In the era of ubiquitous technology, he decided to take an unusual step to attract customers.

In an interview with The Guardian, he explained that he wanted to create a place where customers could put their smartphones aside for a moment and enjoy a real conversation over a bottle of good wine.

"It's a really beautiful thing to see people talking to each other instead of looking at photos or replying to messages on their phones," says Lella.

"That's why we chose this format — customers can give up technology while still enjoying the moments together. Technology becomes a problem — you don't have to look at your phone every five seconds, but for many people it's like a drug. Thanks to this, they have the opportunity to put it aside and drink good wine."

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The idea is simple but effective. Restaurant guests can leave their phones in a special box that is locked. In return, the waiter gives them a bottle of wine. But this is not the end of the attractions — customers can also write a review of their meal, and the author of the most favourable review is invited for another meal.

Lella's experiment seems to be producing the expected results. "90 percent of customers decided to leave their phones in exchange for wine. It's a really beautiful thing to see people accepting it - talking to each other instead of looking at photos or replying to messages on their phones," says the Italian restaurateur.

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Could this be the beginning of a new trend in gastronomy? Time will tell, but for now it seems that detoxing from technology in exchange for a good bottle of wine is very popular among Al Condominio customers.

This article was originally published on Onet Woman.