Starting A Dinner Club
I’ll start this post by saying that the whole concept of a dinner club is pretty new to me. In fact, about a year ago I had no idea what a dinner club even was!
I was inspired by a blog post I read by one of my absolute favorite food bloggers, Pinch of Yum. She talked about how much starting a dinner club enriched her life, and I just fell in love with the entire idea of starting one here in Indianapolis.
I mean honestly what’s NOT to love about this idea? Sharing food and conversation over a table is one of my favorite things EVER. The idea of being a part of a club with people that valued that too was something I really wanted. But who could I find that was as passionate about the idea as me, and how? So I just started talking about it- a lot. I brought up how I wanted to start one with co-workers, friends and acquaintances and hoped something would come of it. I figured you never know who might know someone perfect for your club. And it worked!
Now, one year later, with some trial and error and lots of cheesy themes and tasty meals behind us, we are in our flow and ready for another year! Below I’ve shared some of my own reflections and pointers to keep in mind if you’re interested in starting your own dinner club.
Some Advice on Starting a Dinner Club:
Getting Started. Don’t worry about having it all figured out right when you start. For our group we started out with a very informal potluck with a handful of interested people. Keep in mind that asking people to commit or solidifying guidelines too early can be a little overwhelming for most people. Invite interested people to try it out with you for a couple of meetings before committing to see how they like it. Then you can narrow down your guidelines together. If you feel like no one in your life would be interested in this, start talking about it and asking around. You might be surprised how many people around you may be very interested and excited about an invitation! It’s also helpful when starting out if each guest/member knows at least one other person.
Put Together some Guidelines. It’s helpful to all be on the same page with how you want to run the club. Decide on around how many members you want, how often you want to meet and whether you want to have themes around dishes. Figure out who is in charge of scheduling, hosting and cleanup beforehand so that when you start meeting you can just enjoy the experience. Are your meeting members-only? Is there a theme around each meal? What kind of scheduling tool will be the easiest? Don’t be afraid to change and reevaluate as the club evolves or expands!
For an example, this is how ours works: Our club is women-only (not including guests) and meets monthly. I send out a doodle a few weeks in advance so we can schedule a date that works for everyone. We rotate who hosts and the host is in charge of drinks, dishes, and choosing the theme. I got really lucky because the whole group enjoys and is interested in vegetarian food- so our dishes are generally vegetarian unless we are hosting a large event. We usually all send out what we are making via email a few days in advance. Right now we have four core members so generally each member can bring a guest if the host has enough space. We want to keep membership between 4-6 people for this reason. The host often invites any roommates or family they live with as well, and although it’s not required- our guests usually join in on the theme and bring a dish!
Preparation for meetings. If you’re really taking a chance on a recipe for the first time, consider practicing it beforehand. I have done this a couple of times when I wasn’t sure what I was doing. If you’re meeting on a weeknight, consider making some of your recipe in advance or make a quicker recipe so you’re not scrambling around stressed about finishing in time right after work.
Make sure everyone is on board with any changes. Being the person in charge of keeping things going can be a big responsibility. For me, I am in charge of scheduling and keeping people in the loop. I also try to get feedback regularly so we can continue to grow and create richer experiences in our meetings. Some of my ideas about the direction we should go in were received well and some were not. Communication is key! Like running any club, constructive feedback is going to be a part of it and sometimes you just have to put your pride aside and roll with it.
Celebrate each other’s strengths. I am so inspired by how amazing and creative the women in my group are with food! Tari makes delicious savory dishes and really thinks outside the box- I never would have thought of taking our home cooked food out on the town, but having our end of year wrap-up at Daredevil Brewery was such a cool idea! Cari is an incredibly talented baker and I love photographing her desserts because the styling is so on point. Lyndsay takes on all kinds of culinary challenges I’m too intimidated to try- from homemade cinnamon rolls to banana split/cookies and cream ice cream cake! It’s also really fun when our guests get into the theme and surprise us with their delicious dishes!
There’s no wrong way to do it. As you go along your club will develop its own culture and traditions that fit the personality of the group. Our whole group enjoys hosting and we enjoy the creative freedom of coming up with a theme. We also are different than many other dinner clubs in that our meetings aren’t strictly members only- we generally have a couple of extra guests present. But that’s just us. Create a club culture that works for you! You have a hand-lettering expert that wants to send out formal invites before every meeting? Do it! If you prefer members only dinners- that works! If everyone cleaning up together after dinner makes more sense- do that!
We are definitely changing up how we do things as we go along. Halfway through the year we decided we really wanted to host a special dinner club Friendsgiving. One of my favorite parts about being part of this group is how creative everyone is with thinking outside the box. Being open to changes and each other’s ideas has just made it that much more amazing.
Have fun! This is a chance for you to try out new recipes and grow together in your love of sharing food. So take a chance on that new recipe or that crazy theme, send out those invites and see what happens! Do you have a dinner club or are you thinking about starting one? Comment below and let me know your thoughts!
