There’s a perfect storm brewing between the post-pandemic “urban doom loop” evidenced by work from home trends amidst a growing sense of American loneliness that is causing a surge in demand for products that aim to bridge the gap between the physical and digital. Over the past two decades, the average American adult has spent 90 fewer minutes per week interacting face-to-face with other humans thanks to services like Zoom, Netflix, and DoorDash that have revolutionized how we work, play, and eat. Last year, the US Surgeon General declared an epidemic of loneliness and isolation, likening the increased likeliness of death from it to the equivalent of smoking as many as 15 cigarettes per day. Enter Timeleft, a three-year-old startup that is bringing together ~60k strangers per month in 285 cities all over the world together for weekly dinners at local restaurants. Last week, Co-Founder & CEO Maxime Barbier shared a chart showing that the startup had quickly surpassed €12mm in ARR from virtually no revenue at the beginning of the year. This week, HNGRY decided to take a closer look at the trend, Timeleft’s business model, and how restaurants might be able to double down on their roles as third places.