A forecaster predicts Gen Z will go to 'supper clubs' more and more. 3 professionals share how they host theirs.
Courtesy of Khao Suppers
- Supper clubs — dinner parties hosted at someone's home — are trending among Gen Z, a forecaster told BI.
- Professional hosts and chefs shared their best practices for pulling one off.
- Their tips include putting your personality on the menu to joining guests at the table.
Gen Zers are increasingly ditching late nights out for cozy nights at home.
They're also seeking out supper clubs — dinner parties hosted in people's homes, often by professionals — as an "affordable alternative to traditional bars in a trendy setting," Elizabeth Tan, WGSN Insight senior culture strategist, told BI.
BI spoke to three professional supper club hosts about their tips for hosting your own.
Accept you can control what comes out of the kitchen but not the conversation at the table
Aidan Brooks worked as a chef at the Chiltern Firehouse, a luxury hotel and restaurant in London, before he founded his supper club, Eleven 98. He's been hosting paying customers in his home in London for six years.
Courtesy of Eleven 98
He keeps lists and documents on his laptop to plan the menus and asks guests about their dietary requirements, but he said one of his biggest tips was to let the dynamic and conversation at the table flow.
"I'm a bit of a control freak, as most fine dining chefs are," Brooks said.
"I can ensure that I execute the food on point but the one thing that's out of my control is the unique dynamic that's created at the table. I have to allow that to flow organically," he added.
Share personal stories and anecdotes about what you're serving
Punam Vaja, a self-trained chef who has run a supper club since 2018, said that personal stories can help people connect with cuisines they aren't familiar with.
She told BI that, when hosting, she takes time to introduce herself and share anecdotes or stories that inspired her dishes throughout the evening.
Manda Shutler
"People can really tell when somebody is being authentic," she said.
"If someone's sharing something or even being a little bit vulnerable, it's really easy to kind of be like, 'Ok, I've never had this food, but I'm really open to trying it because that story or that moment or the experience they're sharing reminds me of my own,'" she added.
Vaja said she liked her dishes to reflect her feeling of being "very British" and her Indian Gujarati heritage. She also aims to reflect influences from East Africa, where her father was born, and Mumbai, where her mother grew up, she told BI.
Take a seat at the table
Ariel Pastore-Sebring, a supper club host in Portland, Oregon, swears by several rules. These include setting a definite end time so she's not up until the early hours, cleaning for hours, and never serving "family-style," where food is placed on platters for diners to serve themselves.
But she said her main rule was hosts should sit at the table.
Courtesy of Ariel Pastore-Sebring
Pastore-Sebring said that the host's presence can make people feel more comfortable when they are strangers to each other.
"If I'm in the kitchen the whole time, they'd be like, what are we doing here?" she added.
Pastore-Sebring, who started her supper club in 2023, carefully plans meals and limits the number of guests to 10 to ensure she can be at the table.
"I've gone up to 13, and it was too much," she added. "I want to be able to sit at the table and have us all be in the same conversation. More than 10 people and it really starts to get broken up and lost."