Dinner Lab
Dinner Lab is a New Orleans-based, membership-driven social dining platform founded in 2011 that pairs undiscovered chefs with adventurous diners through curated culinary events. The company raised approximately $9.1 million across two funding rounds and acquired Dishcrawl in 2015.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2011
- HeadquartersNew Orleans, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Dinner Lab does
Dinner Lab is a membership-based social dining platform founded in 2011 and headquartered in New Orleans, Louisiana. The company's stated proposition is to unite undiscovered chefs with adventurous diners through curated, members-only dining events, functioning as a two-sided marketplace and experiential venue for experimental cuisine rather than as a traditional restaurant operator. The go-to-market historically relied on paid memberships or per-event ticketing for diners, paired with a curated pipeline of emerging culinary talent seeking a venue to test new menus and concepts.
The company raised approximately $9.1 million across two disclosed funding rounds: a $2.1 million round in June 2014 from Roser Ventures, followed by a $7.0 million round in August 2015 led by James River Capital with participation from Innovation Catalyst. In December 2015, Dinner Lab acquired Dishcrawl, a comparable social-dining venture, in an undisclosed transaction that signaled an intent to consolidate or extend the curated-dining model across U.S. markets. Reported headcount is in the 11–50 employee band, and the company remains privately held.
The current Dinner Lab website displays only a placeholder message ("Something is about to happen…") with no live membership enrollment, event calendar, pricing, product documentation, or management information. There is no public pricing structure, no disclosed revenue or ARR, no segment or customer data, and no AI or technology stack detail in the available source material. The combination of concentrated capital deployment in 2014–2015 followed by an apparently dormant or transitional web presence creates material uncertainty about the present operating status of the business.
Dinner Lab firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Dinner Lab
- Website
- https://dinnerlab.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2011
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Dinner Lab is a New Orleans-based, membership-driven social dining platform founded in 2011 that pairs undiscovered chefs with adventurous diners through curated culinary events. The company raised approximately $9.1 million across two funding rounds and acquired Dishcrawl in 2015.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Dinner Lab industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Experiential Dining Services
- NAICS
- Full-Service Restaurants (722511), Restaurants and Other Eating Places (72251), Caterers (722320)
- SIC
- Retail-Eating Places (5812), Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Private Culinary Experiences (Chef’s Table, Home Dining, Market-to-Meal) (THAJALAH)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Chef’s Table & Tasting Menu Restaurants (THAFACAG), Exclusive Dining Access & Chef’s Table Reservations (HSACAMAJ)
Keywords
Where Dinner Lab is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New Orleans
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Dinner Lab business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Dinner Lab product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Dinner Lab is a membership-based social dining platform that organizes pop-up, themed culinary events pairing undiscovered chefs with adventurous diners in rotating, non-traditional venues. Members gain access to exclusive, curated dining experiences that double as social gatherings. The company operates as an experiential dining service rather than a traditional restaurant.
Product overview
No product or service information available in the source data.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Dinner Lab Membership A membership subscription to themed pop-up dining events where members attend curated meals prepared by undiscovered chefs in rotating, non-traditional venues. Targeted at adult consumers seeking novel culinary and social experiences.
Companies that use Dinner Lab
Customer profileIdeal customer profiles1 record
Dinner Lab technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Dinner Lab partnerships and signals
Strategic signalRecent moves3 records
Expansion highlights2 records
Dinner Lab competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Cozymeal: Cozymeal is a marketplace for private chefs, cooking classes, and food tours, with significant overlap in target customer (experiential diners) and supply side (independent culinary talent).
- EatWith (VizEat): EatWith is a global marketplace connecting local hosts and chefs with travelers seeking authentic home-based dining experiences, the closest direct analogue to Dinner Lab's chef-diner matchmaking model.
- Feastly: Feastly operates a curated marketplace of pop-up dinners and supper clubs hosted by independent chefs, competing head-to-head with Dinner Lab on the 'undiscovered chef, adventurous diner' positioning.
- Traveling Spoon: Traveling Spoon is a private dining marketplace focused on home-cooked meals and cooking classes with vetted local hosts, overlapping directly with Dinner Lab's experiential dining format.
Broad incumbents
- Airbnb Experiences: Airbnb Experiences is a broad incumbent offering curated culinary experiences (including chef's tables and food tours) as part of a much larger travel marketplace, with massive network and capital advantages over Dinner Lab.
- The Infatuation: The Infatuation is a restaurant discovery and dining guidance platform that overlaps with Dinner Lab's 'adventurous diner' audience, even though its monetization model (content/affiliate) differs.
- OpenTable: OpenTable is the dominant restaurant reservation platform and increasingly curates unique dining experiences; it competes for the same diner mindshare and could expand into the curated chef experience category.
Emerging players
- HUNGRY: HUNGRY is a tech-enabled private chef and corporate meal platform connecting vetted chefs with consumers and offices, representing a more operationally scaled version of the same chef-marketplace thesis.
Others
- Goldstar Events: Goldstar operates a discounted events marketplace that includes culinary events, providing a partially overlapping distribution channel and customer base for experiential dining inventory.
- SupperClub (generic category): Independent supper clubs and pop-up dining collectives compete for the same adventurous-diner segment on a local/regional basis and represent the fragmented competitive set Dinner Lab was trying to aggregate.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat2 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights5 records
Customer concentration
Dinner Lab social profiles
Digital presenceDinner Lab financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Dinner Lab leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Dinner Lab funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors3 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Dinner Lab M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Dinner Lab
What does Dinner Lab do?
Dinner Lab is a membership-based social dining platform that organizes pop-up, themed culinary events pairing undiscovered chefs with adventurous diners in rotating, non-traditional venues. Members gain access to exclusive, curated dining experiences that double as social gatherings. The company operates as an experiential dining service rather than a traditional restaurant.
When was Dinner Lab founded?
Dinner Lab was founded in 2011. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Dinner Lab based?
Dinner Lab is headquartered in New Orleans, United States, in the North America region.
Who are Dinner Lab's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Cozymeal, EatWith (VizEat), Feastly and Traveling Spoon. Broad incumbents are Airbnb Experiences, The Infatuation and OpenTable. HUNGRY is listed as an emerging player. Others are Goldstar Events and SupperClub (generic category).
Does Dinner Lab have an API?
No public API is recorded for Dinner Lab.
What industry is Dinner Lab in?
Dinner Lab's product category is Experiential Dining Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAJALAH, Private Culinary Experiences (Chef’s Table, Home Dining, Market-to-Meal), with a secondary code of THAFACAG, Chef’s Table & Tasting Menu Restaurants. Its NAICS code is 722511 and its SIC code is 5812.