Six strangers sitting around a table with one goal in common: taking advantage of whatever time they have left.
This is what French entrepreneur Maxime Barbier, 39, pictured when founding Timeleft, after realising the need for human connections following the pandemic.
“In 2019, I didn’t know what to do with my life. I had a crazy idea and took 100 coffees with 100 strangers to open my horizons, says Maxime. “After posting a video on my social media, I received over 200 requests.
“Each coffee was a small leap into the unknown, not knowing what to expect or what we were going to talk about. They knew me for sure, but to me they were all strangers.
“I realised [at that point] I wasn’t the only one lost about what’s important in life.”
In 2020, Timeleft began matching people based on bucket lists that they constructed and submitted. After a couple of years of trial and error, Maxime launched Timeleft as it is known today – an app that brings strangers together over a meal.
After answering a few questions resembling a personality test, an algorithm matches six people of different ages and backgrounds and sets up a dinner every Wednesday in restaurants in different cities around the world.
While initially launched in just three cities, the app has spread across 70 cities in 16 countries, including London.
“We went from 300 people having dinner at the same time in December of last year, to 6,000 people now,” says Maxime.
The mission behind the now global phenomenon is “to fight big-city loneliness, one dinner at a time” through a weekly tradition of sitting down to a meal together.
“Fifty years ago, people used to wait for Sunday morning to go to church and meet people; we completely lost this ritual,” says Maxime.
Odd One Out decided to try it.
“Fight big-city loneliness, one dinner at a time”
Participants might be a bit sceptical at first. Can they really put their faith in an algorithm? How could it understand us just by asking if we like to work out or asking if academic success matters to us?
Having answered the questions, the dinner is booked. The deal is sealed. One day before the intimidating feast, the platform disclosed some information about the other five mystery guests who would be joining me for a meal somewhere in London, in this case close to London Bridge and Camberwell.
One would expect to be told the names of these people, but Timeleft thought that revealing zodiac signs was more relevant. The platform really doesn’t want us to have any expectations or premade judgements.
This particular dinner took place at 400 Rabbits, a pizza restaurant in Elephant & Castle. It’s a nerve-wracking experience. The adrenaline rush you get in getting ready for the dinner resembles the one of preparing for a hot date: first impression is key.
After asking for the Timeleft reservation at exactly 7pm, all worries swiftly went away once directed to the table where everyone had the biggest, brightest smile.
“It’s not about bringing the same people to the table; it’s about creating a good recipe for a good dinner”
With the cocktails and conversation flowing, everyone realised they were sitting at a very international table. Jo was born in Singapore to American parents, Luisa was born in the UK but had lived all her life in France, Madihah came from Dubai, Esther had Nigerian parents and Rob is from Bristol, but had moved to London only one week before.
They were all new to the city and, for most of them, this was the very first time using Timeleft. Esther had been to a dinner with strangers the previous week and she confirmed that it was worth her time. “I love the concept. I had so much fun meeting everyone at dinner, it was really heart-warming to meet nice people especially when being new to the city,” she says.
At 7:15pm sharp, the app unlocked a game that the whole table played. The game offered conversation topics by asking questions spanning from the three red flags they look for during a first date to how they define success.
The table spent two hours delving into one another’s past and it was such a refreshing experience. While everyone was different in many ways, they also were bonded by some unidentifiable underlying trait, a curiosity about other people.
“It’s not about bringing the same people to the table; it’s about creating a good recipe for a good dinner,” says Maxime. “You need a mix; you need a bit of everything.”
Maxime has been to 46 dinners with strangers across the world, going almost every week. “It’s an amazing luxury as the founder to be able to witness what I have done.
“If you feel stressed or intimidated by attending a dinner, just know everyone feels the same, everyone is a bit panicky.
“We just want to be the day of the week everyone is waiting for in big cities; we want Wednesday to be Timeleft day.”
Signing up for a Timeleft dinner is £12.90, not including the price of dinner itself. More information about Timeleft can be found here.