Would you pay to eat dinner with strangers? At first blush, this idea seems a bit absurd. Why would anyone pay to eat with people they have never met before? Hold that thought.
When I was working, I would attend a lot of conferences, probably four per year. To maximize idea sharing among professionals, dinners were invariably scheduled, providing an opportunity to break bread with fellow wealth managers. Individually, almost everyone enjoys their own financial advisor, and most can be quite charming. But collectively as a group, I have found them to be a little much. These professionals would try to size each other up to see who had the biggest practice, who was the Alpha. This game has never interested me, and I find these people to be exasperating.
Occasionally, these dinners were delightful, as you may be seated across the table from someone very interesting and engaging, while the others may be dullards. One time, I attended a conference in New York City, and I didn’t know anyone else there; there may have been a hundred or so people. At the end of the first day, we were assigned a table number in the banquet room, and I dutifully took my seat at a round table for eight.
We all went around and introduced ourselves to our dinner mates, and then promptly started the salad course. I enjoyed speaking with the people on either side of me and often picked up conversations from the other side of the table. By the time the entrees were served, it became evident that we had an unusually engaging group. I glanced at the tables near us, and there was not the same level of dynamism. For the first time in my life, I found myself sitting at the “cool table.”
Before dessert was served, I suggested a question that we each answer, an icebreaker, even though the ice was already broken. I thought that maybe we could collectively have a conversation instead of three or four of them. The question was this: “What is one thing about you that no one else would know?” This is a loaded question, and I was prepared to get pushback on it.
The woman two to my left said, “I’ll start.” She proceeded to tell us that she was on the US Olympic Gymnastics team. I don’t recall the year, and that is less important. She told us about training and competing and how all-consuming that part of her life was. I felt like we had a winner, and we only heard from one person. The next gentleman sat directly across the table from me, and his hidden secret was that he was also a magician and had performed at the White House for two different U.S. presidents. What?! Are you kidding me? Another was a competitive sharpshooter. In case you were wondering, mine was that I lived on a commune and spent a day as the White House Press Photographer.
We were on a roll. The stories continued all through dessert and coffee service. Not one weak story out of the eight of us, each one as memorable as the previous. Before we knew it, people from other tables hurried through dessert to drag their chair around ours. I imagine it was like people gathering around a casino table as the stakes were getting higher and higher. Our table more than doubled in size as others joined. The conversation morphed into other topics as others joined in, while the rest of the dinner guests left the room. Eventually, we all decided to pay a visit to Times Square, where we took selfies and hung out as a group of newly minted friends.
Hours earlier, we didn’t know one another, and somehow we bonded over this shared experience. I have tried since then to duplicate that magic to no avail. There was a chemistry present that I have not been able to recreate.
Fast forward to my discovery of this new app that is designed to fashion this convivial gathering in major cities around the world (sadly, Traverse City is not one of them). The app is called Time Left and originated from asking the question, What do I want to do with the time I have left? Kind of like a bucket list. The creator started on a journey of self-discovery and, along the way, discovered how much he enjoyed learning from and talking to people he didn’t know. This notion turned into an app that is designed to draw people together and learn from one another.
Essentially, you would pay to join the community and then have access to the app. You would be prompted to answer questions about your personality, which goes through their algorithm to match people with similar interests and avoid conflicts. The dinners are held only in select cities and take place each Wednesday evening. You would learn the name of the restaurant on Tuesday evening, and the other guests only a couple of hours before the Wednesday night meal.
Each person is responsible for paying for their own meal. I should also mention that your desired price point is part of the selection process: budget, mid-range, and more expensive. Upon arrival, you join your tablemates and start the conversation. I have read several reviews about how this process works, and the app provides conversational prompts to get things going. In most cases, the reviewer indicated that they never even got to the prompts.
Some experienced an enjoyable evening with new people, but nothing more. Others found some of their newest best friends and have stayed in contact since. I should also point out that this is not a pick-up place to meet potential daters. This is strictly designed to meet new people and create an enjoyable experience.
I have not used the app, so don’t mistake this as an endorsement. I do plan on using it, for sure, whenever I find myself on a Wednesday evening in one of their select cities. I thoroughly enjoyed that memorable dinner in NYC when strangers became friends, and I have been looking for a similar experience. Time left may be just the ticket.
What do you think? Would you ever pay to have dinner with strangers? I’d love to know.