This text is part of the special Pleasures notebook
One table, five strangers around a meal: this is what the new Timeleft application offers.
What do a subtitles attendant, a real estate broker, an IT specialist, a building manager, a translator and the author of these lines have in common? They all had the audacity to register on the platform and let chance (and the algorithm) do the rest.
Timeleft has taken several forms since its creation in 2020. But it was in 2022 that it began to bring strangers together around a meal, first in Lisbon, and then spread to more than 200 cities, including Montreal, and more than 50 countries.
It is simple to use: you enter your email and answer a few questions. “Do you prefer auteur cinema or blockbusters ? » and “How important is humor to you?” » are among the thirty or so subjects used by the algorithm to pair individuals around the same table.
The location is only revealed on the morning of the big day, as is some information about the other strangers who join the dinner: profession, nationality, astrological sign. The rest is left to surprise, when we arrive there. This time, the meal was held at Virunga, rue Rachel Est, on the Plateau-Mont-Royal.
The application has around forty restaurants spread across the Sud-Ouest district, Ville-Marie and Plateau-Mont-Royal, explains Maxime Barbier, CEO and co-founder of Timeleft. Montreal is currently the only Quebec city where the experience is offered, but the company plans to soon extend its services to Quebec and Laval.
The places are chosen, among other things, based on their evaluations, the atmosphere and the culinary diversity found there. “What we want is to create a good atmosphere conducive to people talking. These are not too chic or too noisy restaurants,” explains Maxime Barbier. By registering, participants can specify their food preferences and can rate the establishment at the end of their experience.
Break the ice
An introvert wanting to get out of her comfort zone, a thirty-year-old who wants to “recover the social skills lost during the pandemic”, a broker who wants to expand her network, a French person looking for companions to share a meal and drinks during the week… There seems to be every reason to meet new people. Another, older, who is participating for the third time, explains that he hopes to rediscover the spontaneity that has disappeared with the use of cell phones. “In life, everything is worked out like clockwork. But there, we launch into the void, we discuss and we are ourselves, describes the fifty-year-old. In my twenties, that’s how we met people. »
Maxime Barbier is also categorical: Timeleft is not a dating tool strictly speaking. “Unfortunately, for most people, the only way to create connections is to use dating applications, but this is not very effective for forming friendships,” relates the co-founder of the platform. We don’t ask what users are looking for, we want them to be open. So when they come to the table, maybe they’ll find love, maybe not. Maybe they’ll find a friend. At least they aren’t disappointed because they won’t have expectations. »
Three men, three women, two extroverts and four introverts… “We realized that there are lots of things that promote a good dinner and we included that in the algorithm,” explains Maxime Barbier.
Around a Virunga table, discussions go well as soon as the first contact is established. As the evening progresses, tongues are loosened, even those of the most timid, for an atmosphere that resembles that which one might find during a friendly meal between colleagues.
End the evening as a group
Towards the end of the meal, Timeleft invites participants to continue the discussion in a more festive atmosphere, with all those who took part in meetings in the same geographical area.
Around thirty people of all ages and from all backgrounds now meet in a bar, minus the barrier of shyness, already crossed earlier in the evening. A man from Washington who signed up to make connections during his stay in Montreal is trying to hold back the early nights. He also plans to repeat the experience once he returns to his hometown.
If the application offers a “match” to participants who wish to stay in touch, many do not wait to have access to this option and are already exchanging their telephone numbers and information on social networks. Will they see each other again? Most likely.
To experience it, visit timeleft.com/en.
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Dutyrelating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.