Krusteaz launches the Pancake Pause Box, a phone safe that comes with a year's supply of pancake mix

Key Takeaways

• Krusteaz has created the Pancake Pause Box, a limited-edition phone safe designed to keep devices off the breakfast table.

• Phones go inside and the box locks when the knob is turned until hearts appear.

• Each box comes with a year's supply of Krusteaz Buttermilk Complete Pancake Mix, which the brand puts at eight 32-ounce boxes.

• Requests open at PancakePauseBox.com on 15 October at 12pm ET, with boxes available in limited quantities on a first-come, first-served basis.

Krusteaz has found a very persuasive way to get people to put their phones down at breakfast, which is to lock them in a box and pay them in pancakes. The pancake mix brand has created the Pancake Pause Box, a limited-edition phone safe for the kitchen table that arrives with a year's supply of its Buttermilk Complete Pancake Mix.

The idea is that the pings and buzzes get shut away while the stack on the plate grows, and nobody gets their phone back until the box is unlocked after breakfast. Krusteaz is giving the boxes away for free via a request form that opens later this week, though the brand is clear that supplies are limited and that filling out the form does not guarantee a box.

Krusteaz opens requests for the Pancake Pause Box at PancakePauseBox.com on 15 October

Getting everyone together for breakfast is one thing, but keeping their attention away from their phones is another. Krusteaz is hoping to help with its Pancake Pause Box, a phone safe that gives families and friends somewhere to put their screens while they catch up over pancakes.

The box works with a simple twist of a knob, which locks the phones inside when the hearts appear. Designed to earn a permanent place on the kitchen counter, according to the brand, it can become part of the breakfast routine long after the accompanying pancake mix has been eaten.

And there is plenty of that to get through. Each box comes with what Krusteaz describes as a year’s supply of its Buttermilk Complete Pancake Mix, giving recipients another reason to gather around the table. The small print puts that at eight boxes weighing 32 ounces each, based on a household getting through one every month and a half. More enthusiastic pancake eaters may need to replenish their supplies a little sooner.

“As our lives become more intertwined with technology, people are craving opportunities to go offline and connect in real life,” said Andy Heily, president and CEO of The Krusteaz Company. For Krusteaz, the breakfast table offers a familiar place to encourage those conversations, with the box providing a physical reminder to leave the scrolling until later.

Anyone hoping to get one can visit PancakePauseBox.com from noon ET on Thursday 15 October and complete the request form. The boxes will be available in limited quantities on a first come, first served basis, although the brand has not announced how many will be up for grabs.

The idea joins a growing collection of campaigns encouraging people to put their phones away while spending time together. Earlier this year, the Chick-fil-A restaurant at Towson Place in Maryland promoted its Cell Phone Coop Challenge, inviting families to place their phones in a small coop and enjoy their meal without them. Everyone at the table then received an Icedream cone, as Fox reported in March.

Both campaigns give diners an incentive to step away from their screens, though Krusteaz takes the idea beyond a single restaurant visit. Its box goes home with recipients, where the accompanying pancake mix could help turn a one off challenge into a regular breakfast habit. It is a fitting setting for a brand whose roots go back to 1932, when Rose Charters developed a pie crust mix that needed only water.

Other brands have approached the same ambition through the phone itself. Heineken’s Boring Phone, created with Bodega and unveiled at Milan Design Week in 2024, stripped the device back to calls and texts to encourage people to spend more time with the friends around them.