In the bustling heart of Melbourne, a new wave of social experiences is taking root. Supper clubs, intimate gatherings built around shared meals and conversation, are offering a welcome antidote to the digital deluge of the modern world.
My name is Sophie McIntyre, I am the founder and host of Club Sup.
In 2013, I moved to Melbourne to study fashion. After my studies, I went on to work in footwear production, then transitioned to a role as a fashion planner/buyer for Uniqlo Australia. My plans to spend three months in Italy in 2020, followed by a move to London, were unfortunately crushed by the pandemic, like so many others’. During a lockdown break, I found myself living in a share house with strangers.
With everyone’s living situations in disarray at the time, I was one of three strangers to move into that house. We all enjoyed a somewhat normal three weeks of living our own lives before being plunged back into the long lockdown of 2020. During that time, the three of us transformed from co-habitants into friends, who then became the great platonic loves of our lives
Having moved to Melbourne eight years earlier, I found it difficult to find friends who felt like my people. As a 19-year-old in a city on her own, without any close friends or family, I threw myself into university and work to set myself up. I rarely partied and invested way too much time in my romantic relationships. This way of life meant that when my romantic relationship crumbled, I found myself in some very dark and enduring bouts of loneliness.
In many ways, the pandemic changed the course of my life. When I moved into this shared house and found my people, it truly felt like I had been born again. It was from this experience that I started Club Sup in March of 2021. I felt like I had found healthy, rich, and encouraging platonic love, which gave me a level of happiness, confidence, and stability I had been searching for throughout my entire 20s. I wanted everyone in the community to feel a slice of that.
I felt the need for a space post-pandemic in Melbourne to connect with new people. I couldn’t bear the idea that after this truly challenging time, where we were all separated from loved ones, people in my age bracket actually looked after one another, and there wouldn’t be a way to continue that sense of community. I knew that in my city, Melbourne, there had to be something out there that encouraged people to talk to each other and believe that, if they were feeling lost in life, there was a way they could connect with the world and get back on track.
I had planned on joining supper clubs in London when I was going to move there. However, since that was now completely off the table, I decided to start one myself, Club Sup. But what exactly is a supper club? In its purest form, a supper club is a ticketed dinner party that exists outside the traditional restaurant format. These events can be held anywhere from living room tables to rented event spaces, and sometimes even in restaurant spaces themselves.
Alongside this, I had also done a lot of research on loneliness and its effects on people. Often, loneliness is treated as a genuine health concern, especially for the elderly. The impact of loneliness on your body can be as bad as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, even magnifying the severity of pre-existing health conditions. It’s astounding to think that cigarettes are on their way to being banned, while people walk around our cities feeling physically lonely every day. Social media, with its never-ending scrolling, posting, and messaging, makes it even worse. It tricks you into thinking you’re not alone and that everything is fine. I read that this was an issue pre-pandemic, and in 2021 after our first wave, I just knew it had gotten significantly worse.
And I was right. Everyone I spoke to was desperately yearning for connection. So, after the first wave of lockdowns in Melbourne in 2020, I launched tickets on our Instagram for our first supper club event in March 2021. I hosted the Club in unused gallery spaces or people’s homes. I would get up for the market at 6:00 AM, cook all day, and then set up and host in the evening. Hosting it this way was a great way to let off some creative steam. I was in a job that drained my creative spirit, and cooking had been my favorite way of connecting with people since I can remember. The suppers were gorgeous and intimate affairs that seemed to right all the wrongs of the pandemic.
Each month, we (myself and the Club guests) gather at a Melbourne restaurant. On weeknights, it’s Cam’s Kiosk, and on weekends, it’s Old Palm Liquor. We come together to enjoy a meal with strangers in these beautiful locations, indulging in some of the best produce and wine Australia has to offer.
Now, three years later, we’ve moved the Club to our favourite restaurants, which is really exciting for me as a host! I love to cook, but by hosting the Club in restaurants, it allows us to dine in some of Melbourne’s best restaurants while retaining the gorgeous intimacy of our first events.
The way each supper works is we sell tickets for a supper of 16-20 people. Guests can come alone or with a friend/partner. At the Club, we strip everything back. There are no cheesy conversation starters, name tags, or games. Every time someone comes in, I say “Take this drink and then go introduce yourself to just one person. That’s the hardest part!” Then I say, “After you’ve said hi to someone, all we’re going to do tonight is talk and eat dinner. I’m sure you already know how to eat.” As soon as our guests know that, their nerves dissolve, and a beautiful energy fills the room. The room is filled with kindness and care for one another. It’s like everyone becomes hyper aware of each other’s journey in leading them to sit at this table.
Over the last year, we’ve expanded our suppers to Sydney as well as our events to include book swaps, chatty Pilates classes, art classes, and more. My vision for the Club’s future is that if you want to make a few new friends, you start with us. I’ve seen so many authentic friendships blossom. People have fallen in love across the table, become roommates, secured new jobs, and found a whole new family of friends from dining at the Club Sup table.
Increasingly, I am finding that we are living in an online world. If we wanted to, we could eliminate human connection altogether. We can order our food, work from home, and even avoid talking to our Uber drivers. But that isn’t life. Real life is about getting to know each other, helping each other out, and sharing the experience of being human together. And the quickest and most authentic way I know to feel connected with someone is through food—the ultimate equalizer and universal language.
So, with that in mind, I encourage you to come to the Club to meet someone new. Or, if that feels overwhelming, gather a few friends and have them each invite someone new. Expand your circle—you literally never know where a conversation might lead or when you’ll need to rely on someone. You’ll be so thankful you actively built a community for yourself.
