Reinventing the Supper Club: Why Gen Z is Taking Over London's Dining Scene

There is a new wave of Gen Z-focused supper clubs popping up across London, as twentysomethings increasingly turn away from sticky dancefloors, bars and dating apps in favour of informal yet carefully curated gatherings hosted by their peers.

 A Gen Z spin on excellent food at fair prices blends the right ingredients of a dinner party with the spontaneity and excitement of forging connections on a night out. Supper clubs are a well-established and often affordable form of social dining, usually in the form of a themed ticketed dinner where participants find themselves surrounded by strangers and feast on specially designed menus. They are believed to date back to 1930s California, where Lawrence Frank, the restaurateur behind the legendary steakhouse chain Lawry’s Prime Rib, opened the first supper club in Beverly Hills to ring in the end of Prohibition.

This cabaret-style dining boomed in popularity and glamour in the US until the 1960s, and only truly emerged across the Atlantic this century in the form of pop-ups at intimate or lesser-known venues and exclusive one-night dos with top chefs. Now, as twenty somethings - often dubbed the “stay-at-home” generation - ditch clubbing (around three nightclubs have closed each week in the UK since the start of 2024) and are increasingly health-conscious, supper clubs are becoming popular again, particularly with graduates of Covid-era university cohorts, who seek alternative ways to socialise away from partying.

Some of London’s most appealing Gen Z supper clubs rely on social media to connect with like-minded young diners looking to switch up their socialising habits. Online followers of supper-club communities or the emerging chefs involved in them will quickly snap up tickets in advance; some, such as D4100, sell out so rapidly that the organisers recommend setting reminders when tickets are due to be released. Usually communal-dining experiences, supper clubs are ideal for those hoping to broaden their social horizons.

The concept struck me - a recent graduate newly moved to London - as a great way to meet new people with shared interests. The clubs I have tried, run by and designed for Gen Z, may be a fruitful starting point for anyone willing to step outside their comfort zone and form new and tangible connections.