Outward
Published on August 24, 2023

Wednesday dinner club experiment – London edition

written by ericaeyoung

This past summer I decided to host dinner at my place in London every Wednesday for 8 weeks in a row. My goals were varied, but in general I wanted to see who would participate and what impact that had on my network. I also wanted to understand how important curation actually was for dinner parties I hosted. Last but not least, I wanted to see how much more efficient it would be to host dinners this way in terms of coordination and preparation.

To kick things off, I sent an email out to my entire network that went something like this:

Hope your summer is off to a great start! Would love for you to be part of an experiment I’m running. I will be hosting dinner at my place every Wednesday from July 5th to August 23rd inclusive. You are invited to join for any one (or more) of these evenings. 

Please reply to this message with which date(s) you’d like to come and whether you are bringing a +1. Space each Wednesday will be limited to 12 on a first come first served basis. I will host regardless of how many people RSVP, so I might end up having some of you to myself :].

A few details:

  • Significant others, family members, friends, and out of town guests are all welcome
  • Dinners will always be vegetarian friendly, but please remind me if you or your guests have other dietary restrictions
  • Please let me know at least 72 hours in advance if you can no longer make a date so that space is made available for someone else

Look forward to hosting you this summer!

It was a huge success and I learned lots from the experience. Thought people might enjoy a few stats and reflections about the first experiment now that it’s over. 

  • Sent out about 75 email invitations
  • Hosted over 60 unique diners over 8 dinners with an average of 10 people per meal (including me and 6 repeat guests)
  • Only 4 day-of cancellations (usually I’d have at least 1 per dinner)
  • 60% had never been to one of my dinners before
  • I met about 1/3 in what I would describe as a work context
  • I’ve known 7 of the guests for 10+ years and 5 had never met me before

Experience

As I have previously shared, there is a sweet spot in terms of size, usually around 10 people. Smaller groups basically require the table to have one conversation, where larger groups make it near impossible without facilitation. After this experiment, I’m even more convinced that active curation is not necessary. You all are very multifaceted and can connect in many different ways given a welcoming environment. Of course, I got less one on one time with everyone, but people benefited from the serendipity. As designed, this wasn’t particularly useful for expanding my network or deepening my closest relationships, but it was valuable for building and maintaining relationships with my sympathy group and close network, as well as facilitating introductions.

Efficiency

While it seems like a lot of effort, it was actually extremely efficient. The ingredients were consistent and just got incorporated into my weekly shop. Most of the food could be made the day before (and tasted better when it was). By a few weeks in I was able to make all the salads within 3 hours (desserts varied more). I often ate the leftovers for several days, so it reduced my meal prep time. It saved me lots of coordination time because I didn’t have to go back and forth around dates and availability. It also saved me tons of travel time. 

Cost savings

This wasn’t a goal, but hosting in this way certainly had a positive impact. My average weekly grocery bill this summer was £63, which means that it must have cost me on average less than £6 per person. If you and I met for a drink, we would each have spent more! I did splurge on a few things (e.g. award winning gelato), but overall this was not an expensive experiment since guests were asked to contribute. This also made the experience accessible to everyone since no one had to “pay to play” or spend more money just to stick around.

Recipes

Here are some of the recipes I used or was inspired by during the summer in case you are interested:

Salads 

Desserts

Happy to share more details if you have any questions. Look forward to doing this again when I’m back in London for an extended period of time!