According to a 2023 report from the US Surgeon General, about half of American adults 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 address the loneliness epidemic by helping users meet new people by quickly matching them with a person and a place to meet (think Tinder + OpenTable). The app is designed to remove the barriers and hassles that come with meeting new people and then trying to find a place to hang out. Buffet aims to help users meet like-minded people, whether they are looking for a new friend, a romantic partner, or a gym buddy.
At launch, Buffet is available in Los Angeles, with expansions to other cities planned 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 founding Buffet and came up with the idea for the app while they were on a business trip in Dubai.
"We started tossing around this idea and thought, hey, there's an opportunity there," Hacking said. “We saw the loneliness epidemic and saw that the market needed something new. The big incumbents have lacked innovation in the last decade. There was an obvious key opportunity for 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 better understand their personality and what types of places and people they would be interested in.
Buffet's algorithm then matches users. If they are interested, they can send an invitation to the person they are matched with. Both of you can send messages through the application to decide the date and time to meet. Buffet is designed to allow people to talk and meet in person. Buffet encourages people to go beyond chat and digital communication and meet in the real world.
If there is a match with someone, but the app's suggested hangout location is not 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 matchmaking partners, they can upgrade and match with someone else.
Buffet's target demographic is the people who have been most affected by the loneliness epidemic: 18- to 25-year-olds. The app also wants to target young professionals in their 30s. Hacking believes that if Buffet can win over the average 30-year-old professional, he can win over anyone.
"The app will be free to use for the foreseeable future," Hacking said. “We want to win over users. “We want to build trust and right now, when you read about the market, people are frustrated with all the payment environments.”
In terms of the app's business model, Buffet will leverage advertising. The company plans to create a community forum within the app where local businesses can advertise directly to users and promote happy hours and other discounts.
The app is currently only available on iOS but the company plans to release an Android app in the future.
