In the event you’ve been feeling lonely over the previous few years, you’re not alone. Based on a 2023 report from the U.S. Surgeon Common, about half of U.S. adults reported feeling lonely, even earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic. The report warns that loneliness and isolation can result in bodily penalties, similar to a 29% elevated danger of coronary heart illness and a 32% elevated danger of stroke.
A brand new app known as Buffet is aiming to handle the loneliness epidemic by serving to customers meet new folks by shortly matching them with an individual and a spot to satisfy up (Suppose Tinder + OpenTable). The app is designed to take away the boundaries and hassles that include assembly new folks after which looking for a spot to hang around. Buffet goals to assist customers meet likeminded people, whether or not they’re searching for a brand new buddy, romantic companion or gymnasium buddy.
At launch, Buffet is accessible in Los Angeles, with expansions deliberate for extra cities later this 12 months, beginning with New York Metropolis.
The app is the brainchild of Buffet CEO Wealthy Hacking and COO Sean Emery. The pair labored as monetary analysts earlier than beginning Buffet and got here up with the concept for the app whereas they had been on a enterprise journey in Dubai.
“We began, throwing this concept round, and thought, hey, there’s one thing there,” Hacking advised TechCrunch. “We noticed the loneliness epidemic and noticed that the market was in want of one thing new. The huge incumbents have lacked innovation within the final decade. There was an apparent key alternative for disruption. So we put one foot in entrance of the opposite and stared constructing Buffet.”
To get began with Buffet, customers enter 5 of their pursuits, similar to bikes, horseback driving or studying. The app then asks a collection of 5 inquiries to get a greater understanding of their character and what sorts of locations and other people they might be occupied with.
Picture Credit: Buffet
Buffet’s algorithm then pairs customers up. If , they’ll ship an invitation to the individual they’re matched with; the matched pair can then message one another by way of the app to determine on a time and date to satisfy. Buffet is designed to permit folks to do many of the speaking and getting-to-know-each-other in-person. Buffet encourages folks to transcend a chatbox and digital communication and really meet up in the true world.
If there’s a match with somebody, however the app-suggested assembly place isn’t a great match, customers can select from an inventory of different locations that may be extra attention-grabbing. And if customers aren’t occupied with their match companions, they’ll refresh and get matched with another person.
Buffet’s goal demographic is individuals who have been affected by the loneliness epidemic probably the most: 18- to 25-year-olds. The app additionally desires to focus on younger professionals within the late to early 30s. Hacking believes that if Buffet can win over the typical 25-year-old feminine skilled, it could possibly win over anybody.
“The app can be free to make use of for the foreseeable future,” Hacking mentioned. “We wish to win over customers. We wish to construct belief and proper now, while you learn the market, persons are annoyed with all the paywalls.”
By way of the app’s enterprise mannequin, Buffet will leverage promoting. The corporate plans to construct up an in-app neighborhood discussion board the place native companies would have the ability to promote on to customers and promote completely satisfied hours and different reductions.
The app is at the moment solely obtainable on iOS, however the firm plans to launch an Android app sooner or later.
