Dead Chefs Society
"A monthly dinner club that partners with local restaurants to create curated 8-12 course prix fixe ethnic cuisine experiences, serving family-style to a growing community of food enthusiasts."
Marketing Channels
Word of mouth
The community grew entirely organically — passionate members tell friends, who tell others. Never spent a penny on marketing.
Local newspaper coverage
Coverage in the regional newspaper was the single largest driver of new membership, credited with expanding beyond personal networks to strangers
Facebook food groups
Local Facebook food groups have driven membership sign-ups
Instagram (shared reels with restaurants)
Shared reels with partner restaurants drive some of the restaurant's traffic to Dead Chefs Society social pages and website
Influencer coverage (organic)
A few influencers documented their experience without being paid — drove some members but quality was lower than newspaper/Facebook referrals
Email marketing
Save-the-date emails with previous event recaps and teaser content sent 4 weeks before each event
Growth Levers
- Expand to additional cities — multiple commenters expressed interest in similar clubs in London, Sydney, and other locations
- License or franchise the operational playbook (3-month planning process, lottery system, code of conduct) to aspiring dinner club organizers
- Sell branded merchandise (already started with shirts) as both revenue and community identity builder
- Make the geographic operating area more prominent on the website — a commenter had to hunt to find it
- Leverage the milestone program (20-event aprons, milestone celebrations) to drive retention and word-of-mouth
First Customer Strategy
Started with a dinner of 13 friends with no intention to make money — just organized the location and menu. People told their friends, who told others, then local newspaper coverage expanded the reach beyond personal networks. The community grew purely organically without any paid marketing, transitioning from 1-2 degrees of separation to complete strangers joining.
Pricing Insight
Average ticket is $115, all-inclusive (food, one drink, tip, and tax). The organizers negotiate a per-seat all-in cost with restaurants and add roughly 20% margin on top. Tickets become non-refundable 5 days before the event (transfers allowed). The biggest cost risk is guaranteeing seat minimums to restaurants and falling short, which eats into margin fast but rarely happens.
New Market Opportunities
- London supper clubs Expressed interest in doing the same thing in London, focused on meeting people and community rather than profit
- Sydney dinner club Noted that some cuisines (e.g., regional Chinese) are optimized for large-group sharing and expressed wanting something similar in Sydney
- Franchising / operational playbook licensing Thinking about doing something similar, asked about bad experiences and legal considerations — creator offered mentorship via email
- Cuisines optimized for group dining Regional Chinese and other cuisines with large shared servings are a natural fit for the dinner club format, enabling dishes that small parties cannot order
Key Takeaways
- • Starting with friends and zero profit motive can organically grow into a six-figure revenue community business through word-of-mouth alone
- • Local newspaper coverage can be the inflection point that expands a community business beyond personal networks — it is more valuable than influencer coverage for quality of members
- • A curated experience (off-menu dishes, themed regional cuisine, community milestones) is the differentiation over simply going to a restaurant yourself
- • The 20% margin on a service business requires careful cost management — seat minimums guaranteed to restaurants are the biggest financial risk
- • An LLC and code of conduct are practical legal safeguards for community event businesses in the US
- • The operational playbook (3-month lead time, lottery system, save-the-date emails, recap content) is itself a franchisable asset
Sentiment Analysis
8 PosNotable Quotes
"This is so cool! — bot347851834"
"We never intended to make money. The first dinner was with 13 of our friends. — agotterer"
"We've never paid for marketing or advertising. — agotterer"
"The largest driver of new membership came from coverage in the region newspaper. We credit that with the transition from 1 or 2 degrees of separation to people we had no connection to. — agotterer"
"I totally want something like this here in Sydney. — suranyami"
"this actually is a great idea! — KellyCriterion"
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