in restaurants across the country total strangers are gathering for conversation and community over shared meals I signed up for something wild tomorrow the connections are made through time left an app that sets the table for you and five others basically just going to go meet a random group of people users take a personality test and for a fee their algorithm books a reservation for a like-minded group to dine at a nearby restaurant the app was co-found by French entrepreneur Max barbier in 2020 we are missing human offline interaction we are missing talking to a people
saying hi to someone just having a laugh Max experimented with a few Concepts before landing on the dinner party format one year ago people love to eat it's something we have all in common so I made my way to Broken Shaker here in New York City to give it a try with some of the app's users after some brief introductions I'm Nathan K oh Adam us strangers were already making some unlikely connections my dad's from Ghana West Africa mom's from Uganda East Africa I spent some time in tap Coast no one's been there I've been
there I would not have expected that connection that's why it's good to talk to strangers some folks love meeting strangers others can find it intimidating was anyone nervous when they hit their first session I both love it and very intimidating for me at the same time and then once you start engaging in conversation oh okay this feels good show of hands how many of you have use dating apps how does this differ from that a lot less pressure it's a lot easier to be like hey I want to be your friend versus like hey I'd
like to go on a date with you that's just like a very different ask it's an Ask that's resonating time left is now in 50 cities across the US and over 60 countries just one in a growing Market of friendship making apps and the dinner party concept is growing in other ways too how fast do you think I can get eight strangers to come to my apartment for a dinner party tonight brothers alesandro and Carlo Al onz O Garza host weekly dinner parties at their homes in Washington DC and New York the pair get their
RSVPs from folks they meet by chance encounters on the street you can only sign up if you see us out right so that's the big thing I see it's all about the in-person connection they call the dinner series blind eight and since launching this year the brothers say they have hosted over 40 dinners at their homes what was part of the inspiration behind this alander and I were taking our first brother trip to Mexico and we hosle hopping meeting strangers it was just so open and freeing I came up with the idea to just have
friends of friend meet each other and kind of grow a community that way eventually you went from friends of friends to strangers yeah right we moved the needle with this little piece of cardboard right here no matter the format these platforms all have one goal in common fighting loneliness the US Surgeon General actually sort of announced an epidemic of loneliness in the country mhm all of you are nodding mhm do you feel like that's accurate without a doubt why say more I met a lot of strangers who say the same things they have friends but
those are some friends they can go party with but a lot of times when they have some issues they don't have anyone when things get deep yep people think that the more acquaintances they have the more friends they have but having a friend is something different in fact one in three Americans say they feel lonely every week but users say these dinners are helping have you met any people your time left that you've become close with yeah uh couple me on is what yeah I've definitely learned that I can become really extroverted if I want
to I was just looking at the wrong places I actually invited five of the time at people to my birthday party two weeks ago they all turned up it was great to strangers and new friends cheers cheers and while young people are Behind These dinner parties popularity these events are open to individuals of all ages the it's true and it aims to hit people within a 15E age range the time left co-found so you all can go to and the founder of this app even said his 72-year-old dad found a friend by going to one
of these diners you can find a friend I got enough friends you do I don't need any more friends would you do it I I mean I did it and I would do it again especially in cities like this it's so hard to meet people especially as you get older and older and I think a lot of young people are looking to can I sound cicle please no when do you not I I I do wonder if sometimes they go to these dinner parties with the hope of maybe meeting someone and developing different kinds of
friends that you could make that's but I think given how lonely so many people are platonic friendship you can't sleep on that looking for friends with dinner yes thank you Z thank hey thanks for watching don't miss the Today's Show every weekday at 11:00 a.m. eastern 8 Pacific on our streaming Channel today all day to watch head to today.com allay or click the link right here
