dinner with strangers

How to have dinner with random strangers in Toronto

It's not always easy to meet new people in Toronto. That's why David King created Random Dinner, a soon-to-launch service that'll bring strangers together for nights filled with food, drinks and discussion.

"It's sort of like a response to networking events sucking and Tinder sucking and there not really being a great way to make random connections in the city," says King, 28. He hopes to hold his first Random Dinner this April. Each one will consist of six diners, plus a facilitator - most likely King - to keep conversation flowing. He's now talking to a few different restaurants to secure a location.

"It's not necessarily a dating thing and it's not necessarily a business thing," says King. "It's like, how do you actually meet new, interesting people and actually connect with them?"

King posted about Random Dinner on a number of social forums, including on large, public Facebook groups. So far, around 150 people have signed up to get more information about his newfangled project. He estimates most of them are between the ages of 25 to 35. And, many of them seem to be in the creative fields.

While many Toronto newcomers are interested, King notes that Random Dinner is also popular with long-time Torontonians who are looking to expand their circle of friends with like-minded individuals.

"The one sort of common denominator with all of the people that have signed up," he says, "is that they're interested in meeting new people."

Photo of Rasa by Jesse Milns.


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