6 ms·

A friend and I host a monthly dinner club for people interested in ethnic cuisine. We work with a single restaurant each month to create an 8-12 course all incl

A friend and I host a monthly dinner club for people interested in ethnic cuisine. We work with a single restaurant each month to create an 8-12 course all inclusive price fixe menu. The food is served family style and is authentic to the region we are hosting. We typically host the dinners on a Tues or Wed when the restaurants in our region aren’t too busy and could use the extra business. So far we’ve hosted 12 dinners over the past year. Growing from out first meal with 13 friends to as many as 80 guests for this months meal. Our mailing list has over 400 people on it and we’ve sold out every event since our 4th. Sometimes we end up hosting multiple nights. It’s not a very scalable business as it exists today. For now is just a passion project that makes a few bucks, allows us meet interesting people, and provides the opportunity to discover new foods and restaurants.

StephenSmith 3y ago
Very cool! Any advice for someone who would want to replicate this endeavor?
- keiferski 3y ago
  Not the poster but I used to host potlucks on a semi-regular basis. No money involved but I imagine the skills are basically the same; inviting people, managing the incoming food, etc. I would probably start by hosting a potluck for 5-10 people and then scale up from there.
- agotterer 3y ago
  I'm happy to share my experience and lessons, but its a bit too much to type. If you are serious about starting one feel free to shot me an email (address in my profile). What I will say is that I think the timing was right. My co-host and I lived in Manhattan pre-pandemic and regularly took advantage of the restaurant variety there. Our dinners are hosted on Long Island and our theory is that people who move from Manhattan to Long Island over the last 20 years started to expect higher quality food and a larger variety of ethnic options. Over the past decade or so the variety and quality of Long Island restaurants has greatly improved from what was here 25 years ago when I was growing up. Post pandemic we saw an appetite (pun intended) for people to just get out of the house, be around other people, and have an experience. Quite a few people who come to the dinners say that they keep coming back because their partner/family aren't adventurous eaters so they never get to try new foods or typically wouldn't order some of the things we put on the menu. We aren't going for a fear factor vibe, but we do try to get people out of their comfort zone. We have a large number of solo guests who enjoy meeting new people and sharing a like-minded experience. Initially the group skewed heavily towards males in their 30's, which was our friends. Today its a very diverse group of people.
  - kentlyons 3y ago
    Very cool story! How did you grow the group? Was it all through word of mouth from your initial seed group of friends?
    - agotterer 3y ago
      The first dinner was all 1st degree friends. Then it turned into friends of friends of friends. The 4th or 5th dinner was a big turning point. We had a minimum of 55 to hit for a popular restaurant we wanted and we were trending short (we actually would have ended up hitting it) and for the first time opened the dinner up to people who weren't directly connected. We posted an invite in a popular Long Island food Facebook group and after that we never had a problem selling out a dinner again. Last month Newsday wrote an article about us which added hundreds of Instagram followers and close to 100 new applications for membership. We sold out 48 seats for our April dinner in under and hour and ended up working with the restaurant to add a second night. https://www.newsday.com/lifestyle/restaurants/dead-chefs-society-long-island-f7960f5o https://www.newsday.com/lifestyle/restaurants/dead-chefs-soc... (https://archive.is/w9Z1A https://archive.is/w9Z1A)
pwython 3y ago
How do you monetize it?
- agotterer 3y ago
  The cost per plate is negotiated with the restaurant ahead of time. We collect all of the money at time of RSVP which includes our margin. We then pay the restaurant and keep our fee.
  - biztos 3y ago
    How do you deal with drinks? As a customer I'd probably want to run a tab at the restaurant for whatever I drink (assuming they're alcohol-friendly) but as an organizer I'd probably want an upfront corkage fee I could take a reliable cut of.
    - agotterer 3y ago
      Most meals include at least one alcoholic drink as well as soft drinks. Anything not included can be purchased a la carte and paid directly to the restaurant. A couple of dinners have been BYOB if the venue doesn't have a license and there's no fees for that.
epolanski 3y ago
[flagged]
- trillic 3y ago
  That attitude isn’t invited to the dinner party.
  - epolanski 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - pc86 3y ago
      You're right, how dare these rubes not ship in gallons of water from Turkey so they can boil that to be truly authentic. What idiots.
      - dffdsa432 3y ago
        If you know anything about cooking, water affects the taste of food. The water in Turkey vs America taste very different. Therefore it is very difficult for restaurants to achieve the same "authentic" taste in foreign countries.
    - agotterer 3y ago
      I “think” I understand what you’re trying to get at. But it’s an unfortunate and limited perspective. Sure, New York isnt Thailand and the restaurant didn’t source their ingredients from a Bangkok market at 4am that morning. But that doesn’t mean the chef didn’t cook, study, or live in the region previously. So does that mean the only thing that makes a dish authentic is its local ingredients and there’s no credit given for the chefs experience? Also, how do you know the chef didn’t import any of the ingredients or spices from the place you’re expecting for it to be authentic?
      - dffdsa432 3y ago
        You are coming from what I assume a Western perspective. You should talk to the restaurant owner about authenticity. They will likely have the same opinion as the person you're replying to. Meat or veggie ingredients if imported from a different continent, will often be frozen and not fresh. The water obviously is not imported and that affects the taste directly. The meat will have a different smell if sourced locally, etc.
sebiandev 3y ago
This is actually a really cool idea because for those of us who only dine out once or twice a month, it's nice to make it a unique or fun experience rather than a humdrum outing to eat average or templated food. I would definitely be interested in something like this coming to our area.
artosispylon 3y ago
Where do you host it? At the restaurant itself or at your own venue?
- agotterer 3y ago
  At the restaurant for the monthly meals. We are also experimenting with a "chefs table" with a smaller more intimate group hosted in pop up locations.
Abishek_Muthian 3y ago
> For now is just a passion project that makes a few bucks, allows us meet interesting people, and provides the opportunity to discover new foods and restaurants. What an unique side project, I'm very impressed.

StephenSmith 3y ago

Very cool! Any advice for someone who would want to replicate this endeavor?

keiferski 3y ago
Not the poster but I used to host potlucks on a semi-regular basis. No money involved but I imagine the skills are basically the same; inviting people, managing the incoming food, etc. I would probably start by hosting a potluck for 5-10 people and then scale up from there.
agotterer 3y ago
I'm happy to share my experience and lessons, but its a bit too much to type. If you are serious about starting one feel free to shot me an email (address in my profile). What I will say is that I think the timing was right. My co-host and I lived in Manhattan pre-pandemic and regularly took advantage of the restaurant variety there. Our dinners are hosted on Long Island and our theory is that people who move from Manhattan to Long Island over the last 20 years started to expect higher quality food and a larger variety of ethnic options. Over the past decade or so the variety and quality of Long Island restaurants has greatly improved from what was here 25 years ago when I was growing up. Post pandemic we saw an appetite (pun intended) for people to just get out of the house, be around other people, and have an experience. Quite a few people who come to the dinners say that they keep coming back because their partner/family aren't adventurous eaters so they never get to try new foods or typically wouldn't order some of the things we put on the menu. We aren't going for a fear factor vibe, but we do try to get people out of their comfort zone. We have a large number of solo guests who enjoy meeting new people and sharing a like-minded experience. Initially the group skewed heavily towards males in their 30's, which was our friends. Today its a very diverse group of people.
- kentlyons 3y ago
  Very cool story! How did you grow the group? Was it all through word of mouth from your initial seed group of friends?
  - agotterer 3y ago
    The first dinner was all 1st degree friends. Then it turned into friends of friends of friends. The 4th or 5th dinner was a big turning point. We had a minimum of 55 to hit for a popular restaurant we wanted and we were trending short (we actually would have ended up hitting it) and for the first time opened the dinner up to people who weren't directly connected. We posted an invite in a popular Long Island food Facebook group and after that we never had a problem selling out a dinner again. Last month Newsday wrote an article about us which added hundreds of Instagram followers and close to 100 new applications for membership. We sold out 48 seats for our April dinner in under and hour and ended up working with the restaurant to add a second night. https://www.newsday.com/lifestyle/restaurants/dead-chefs-society-long-island-f7960f5o https://www.newsday.com/lifestyle/restaurants/dead-chefs-soc... (https://archive.is/w9Z1A https://archive.is/w9Z1A)

pwython 3y ago

How do you monetize it?

agotterer 3y ago
The cost per plate is negotiated with the restaurant ahead of time. We collect all of the money at time of RSVP which includes our margin. We then pay the restaurant and keep our fee.
- biztos 3y ago
  How do you deal with drinks? As a customer I'd probably want to run a tab at the restaurant for whatever I drink (assuming they're alcohol-friendly) but as an organizer I'd probably want an upfront corkage fee I could take a reliable cut of.
  - agotterer 3y ago
    Most meals include at least one alcoholic drink as well as soft drinks. Anything not included can be purchased a la carte and paid directly to the restaurant. A couple of dinners have been BYOB if the venue doesn't have a license and there's no fees for that.

epolanski 3y ago

[flagged]

trillic 3y ago
That attitude isn’t invited to the dinner party.
- epolanski 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - pc86 3y ago
    You're right, how dare these rubes not ship in gallons of water from Turkey so they can boil that to be truly authentic. What idiots.
    - dffdsa432 3y ago
      If you know anything about cooking, water affects the taste of food. The water in Turkey vs America taste very different. Therefore it is very difficult for restaurants to achieve the same "authentic" taste in foreign countries.
  - agotterer 3y ago
    I “think” I understand what you’re trying to get at. But it’s an unfortunate and limited perspective. Sure, New York isnt Thailand and the restaurant didn’t source their ingredients from a Bangkok market at 4am that morning. But that doesn’t mean the chef didn’t cook, study, or live in the region previously. So does that mean the only thing that makes a dish authentic is its local ingredients and there’s no credit given for the chefs experience? Also, how do you know the chef didn’t import any of the ingredients or spices from the place you’re expecting for it to be authentic?
    - dffdsa432 3y ago
      You are coming from what I assume a Western perspective. You should talk to the restaurant owner about authenticity. They will likely have the same opinion as the person you're replying to. Meat or veggie ingredients if imported from a different continent, will often be frozen and not fresh. The water obviously is not imported and that affects the taste directly. The meat will have a different smell if sourced locally, etc.

sebiandev 3y ago

This is actually a really cool idea because for those of us who only dine out once or twice a month, it's nice to make it a unique or fun experience rather than a humdrum outing to eat average or templated food. I would definitely be interested in something like this coming to our area.

artosispylon 3y ago

Where do you host it? At the restaurant itself or at your own venue?

agotterer 3y ago
At the restaurant for the monthly meals. We are also experimenting with a "chefs table" with a smaller more intimate group hosted in pop up locations.

Abishek_Muthian 3y ago

> For now is just a passion project that makes a few bucks, allows us meet interesting people, and provides the opportunity to discover new foods and restaurants. What an unique side project, I'm very impressed.