Outclose, the app that matches LGBTQ+ strangers for a weekly dinner, is now open in Manchester, its second UK city after London and one of 26 worldwide.
The first Manchester dinner is Thursday, 22 October at 7 PM at a restaurant in the Northern Quarter, a convenient short walk from the Gay Village, and a new one follows every Thursday after that.
To take part, you simply take a short quiz about your life stage, your interests and how you like to spend a night out. Outclose then matches you with a small group of other LGBTQ+ people in Manchester, books the table at an LGBTQ+-owned or LGBTQ+-welcoming restaurant, and tells you where to be.
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All you have to do is show up, then after dinner you rate the night, and anyone you mutually want to see again unlocks in the app so you can keep the conversation going.
The product is built on a simple idea: light tech, heavy hospitality. “The quiz and the match happen in the app. Everything else happens at the table.”
Dinners cost £12.99 each or £15.99 a month. Outclose also runs brunches and drinks nights in many of its cities.
“The places where LGBTQ+ people used to find each other by accident keep closing, and nothing has replaced them,” said Cody Bumbarger, founder of Outclose. “Dating apps are for dating. Big events are for people who already have friends to go with. We built Outclose for the person who just wants a few friends who get it. Dinner is the oldest way there is to do that, and it still works.”
Surveys consistently find LGBTQ+ adults report loneliness at close to twice the rate of straight adults, and the bars, cafes and bookshops that once filled that gap are closing faster than new ones open. Outclose’s answer is deliberately small. A table of strangers who were chosen to fit each other, a good restaurant, and nothing to perform.
Since its first dinners in New York, Outclose has opened in 26 cities across the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, France, Belgium and Germany.
Outclose is available on iOS and Android at outclose.com.
