If you’ve felt lonely over the past few years, you’re not alone. According to a 2023 report from the US Surgeon General, about half of adults in the US reported feeling lonely even before the COVID-19 pandemic. The report warns that loneliness and isolation can have physical consequences, such as a 29% increased risk of heart disease and a 32% increased risk of stroke.
A new app called Buffet aims to combat the loneliness epidemic by helping users meet new people by quickly matching them with a person and a meeting place (think Tinder + OpenTable). The app aims to remove the hurdles and hassles that come with meeting new people and then finding a place to hang out. Buffet’s goal is to help users meet like-minded people, whether they’re looking for a new friend, a romantic partner, or a gym buddy.
At launch, Buffet will be available in Los Angeles. Expansions are planned for additional cities later this year, starting with New York City.
The app is the brainchild of Buffet CEO Rich Hacking and COO Sean Emery. The couple worked as financial analysts before starting Buffet and came up with the idea for the app while on a business trip to Dubai.
“We started throwing this idea around and thought, Hey, there’s something,” Hacking told TechCrunch. “We saw the loneliness epidemic and realized the market needed something new. Large established companies have lacked innovation over the last decade. There was obviously a great chance of disruption. So we put one foot in front of the other and started building Buffet.”
To get started with Buffet, users enter five of their interests, such as motorcycles, horseback riding or reading. The app then asks a series of five questions to get a better understanding of their personality and what places and people they would be interested in.
Photo credit: buffet
Buffet’s algorithm then matches users. If interested, they can send an invitation to the person they were matched with. The matched couple can then message each other through the app to arrange a time and date to meet. The buffet is designed so that participants can complete the majority of the personal conversation and getting to know each other. Buffet encourages people to go beyond a chat box and digital communication and actually meet in the real world.
If there is a match with someone, but the app’s suggested meeting place isn’t a good match, users can choose from a list of other locations that might be more interesting. And if users are not interested in their match partners, they can update them and be matched with someone else.
Buffet’s target audience is people most affected by the loneliness epidemic: 18- to 25-year-olds. The app also aims to appeal to young professionals in their late to early 30s. Hacking believes that if Buffet can win over the average 25-year-old professional, he can win over anyone.
“The app will be free to use for the foreseeable future,” Hacking said. “We want to convince users. We want to build trust and if you look at the state of the market right now people are frustrated with all the paywalls.”
Considering the app’s business model, Buffet will use advertising. The company plans to build an in-app community forum where local businesses can advertise directly to users and promote happy hours and other discounts.
The app is currently only available for iOS, but the company plans to launch an Android app in the future.