New York Dinner Parties

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We are in the midst of a loneliness epidemic. Half the country says they struggle with it and 12% of Americans say they don’t have a single friend.

One response in New York – especially among younger people — has been to organize dinner parties.

These are nothing like dinners my parents hosted when I was young. Those involved the same close friends every month, usually at home.

The modern version assembles people with common interests who don’t know each other. They meet in restaurants. Everyone pays for themselves.

Last week, Jacklyn Dallas, a tech YouTuber, invited me to join a dozen people at a restaurant in Little Italy. 

It was the December meetup of Founders Dinner Club, something she invented to connect people who are “interesting, ambitious, and kind.”

Each month she assembles an entrepreneurial group. Most work in tech, media, finance and the attention economy. Some are close friends, others people she barely knows.

She invites some people directly, but also posts open invitations on social media for anyone to apply. 

The use of social media is probably the most Gen Z element. It’s hard to imagine many Gen Xers doing that.

There is an energy to the meetings because:

–Most of the people don’t know each other 

–People have diverse interests

–There’s no set agenda 

–There’s an age gap

The evening I went we had ten people (she invited a dozen but two were sick). I was the oldest at 59; Ryan was the youngest at 20.

The group included an actor, a TV anchor, four YouTubers, an fintech founder, an events organizer, a serial entrepreneur and someone about to join the Singaporean military.

Jacklyn doesn’t distribute the guest list in advance so there is some mystery. As it turned out, I had previously met three of the guests at tech meetups.

One of the YouTubers I hadn’t met, but felt like I had. I’d been following the person for years and knew about his arrival in New York, his decision to build a cottage in Connecticut and subsequent return to the city. I knew what he liked for breakfast!

Jacklyn books a table at a restaurant and afterwards everyone Venmos her the amount they spent.

More and more people are doing similar dinners. Andrew Yeung convenes VCs and people working on startups; Phil Rosen does one for journalists; Frank Meehan invites people focused on climate.

Jacklyn said the conversations can range wildly from a serious discussion about AI to talk about pop culture movies like Mission Impossible.

At my dinner, we talked about how work culture has changed since the 1990s and speculated on why. The discussion benefited from having both younger and older voices. 

Jacklyn said her favorite guests “have the core belief that the world around them is malleable – that with enough hard work, consistency, optimism, love and help from others & time anything is possible.”

Jacklyn’s recipe for a great dinner party: 

–Set a regular monthly schedule

–Invite passionate, fun people 

–Let the conversation flow

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