Luke Haverty wants you to break bread. A self-proclaimed extrovert and an overtly gregarious leader, Luke is a natural community builder. He is the founder of A Supper Series, a New York based supper club with a global reach, which holds the idea of breaking bread loosely but takes the notion of community very seriously.
Luke’s plight was a familiar one. He moved to the city six weeks before the pandemic and was confronted, instantly and brutally, with New York’s loneliness problem. Inspired by the lore of a Manhattan based supper club founded in the ‘70s by a friend’s parents, Luke confronted his problem with a modern take on an age-old institution. In a city with a burgeoning dinner party scene, A Supper Series differentiates itself by invoking the community it’s built. Each Supper relies on a medley of creators—chefs, musicians, artists—to draw people into a given space and, hopefully, into the present moment. This is partly attributed to Luke’s other plight: he doesn’t cook. Luke instead sees his role as providing “a container” for people to gather intentionally. “The rest is up to you,” he says. And he’s executed this role all over the country and all over the world, hosting Suppers in Miami, Mexico City, Berlin, and Tokyo.
My conversation with Luke was, at risk of sounding cliche, incredibly inspiring. It’s a helpful reminder that anyone can host a dinner party if you’re scrappy, innovative, and willing to ask for help. But, if that idea is still daunting, follow along @asupperseries for dinners, events, and activations happening in your neighborhood.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Hi Luke. Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me. You’re catching me in my childhood bedroom.
Are you back home for the weekend? Or are you there like now for the time being?
No, just for the weekend. I'm Manhattan based. Where are you based?
I'm based in New York City. Yeah. I moved here about four years ago.
Where are you from originally?
I’m from Kansas City, Kansas.
Yeah, I'm curious about your background and then we can get more into the weeds.
Yeah… I'm happy to provide some context. So I’m from Kansas originally, I went to the University of Kansas, and got a job with a private equity firm in Denver post graduation. I was there for about a year and a half as part of an analyst rotational program, and then got an opportunity outside of this program in New York City. So I moved to New York 6 weeks before the pandemic. And I honestly didn't really want to come. I was told that this was the right career step from mentors, but it wasn’t exactly exciting to me. I moved here not knowing many people. And within six weeks, the pandemic hit. So once the pandemic hit, l everyone left the city and work picked up pretty dramatically, but I began to think of ways of building community.
And so for the next like 18 months, I was trying to find my niche within the city. And I couldn't really find something that stuck. But I was listening to a podcast at some point, in which they said something that was like, if you can't find community, build a community. And so I was like, okay, how do I do this?
I started having some conversations and my friend Greg–his parents had a dinner club back in the 1970s in New York City. And they said, to this day, it's how they built their whole New York community. And they still have dinners a couple times a year and will get the group together.
But it really forged these really meaningful connections for them. And so, you know, at that point in time, I'm kind of like, this is a great idea, but how do you actually execute something like this? It was pretty daunting. And there were some basic logistical questions I needed to answer. How are you going to split up the bill? Or, what if people order more drinks than somebody else?
I mean, I couldn’t afford to cover this. It’s the general question of what do you do? So we started small. The first one was ultimately a “second degree dinner” where I texted five or six friends and said, “Hey–we're running basically like a social experiment. Bring one person that no one else knows. And we're going to see how this goes.”
So the first one was maybe 12 people. And it went really well. And then we began having these monthly dinners thereafter. That was ultimately the beginning of it. Soon after that, we started trying to think of creative ways to loop in different kinds of communities in order to bring people into the circle and engage with different crowds from different friend groups. But we also wanted something that was more differentiated than what already existed.
Two weeks later, she quit her job, went full time musician and since then has put a couple of albums out and is crushing it. The feedback we got from her was that this dinner was one of the pivotal moments for her that told her that she needed to be doing this full time.
I had a friend who, at the time, was an up and coming musician–and this was probably six to eight suppers in–and we held a Supper in Central Park. I said to her, “Hey, we're going to have an 80 person picnic. Why don't you come through and play a couple songs at the end of the picnic?”
The thought was: it’s a great scene and maybe, you know, it's not a huge platform, but at least a good way to get some traction, potentially. And so she agreed. And the sun's setting, and it's just a beautiful, beautiful New York night. So when she gets up there and plays like three or four songs, it was extremely moving. Because all of these different components of New York were brought into this centerfold of food, music, and art. Two weeks later, she quit her job, went full time musician and since then has put a couple of albums out and is crushing it. The feedback we got from her was that this dinner was one of the pivotal moments for her that told her that she needed to be doing this full time. Once we got that feedback from her and feedback from other guests who ultimately saw this person ignited with passion, we decided that we were going to start featuring creative minds within New York at all of our Suppers.
So that's kind of how it all began. And then from there we've held dinners outside of New York and have just continued to grow.
Wow. I mean. That’s sort of amazing. I feel like there are very few moments in New York that I cite as pivotal to that same degree. So was the intention when you started to see this idea grow or was it really to make a community of your own?
Yeah, I think it really never was about creating a community for me. It really was much more external, and I just thought that it could be a great way to get people together.
I mean, growing up, I always tried to organize things and it was a skill that I had developed over time. It was always a great way to meet new people. And so, you know the beautiful thing about Supper is all the hands that have gotten involved over the years. It started out maybe as an idea from me, but then over time there've been countless numbers of people that have helped out.
We’ve had over 50 features. There's been brands that have gotten involved and it's given us the opportunity to showcase creators in cities outside of New York. We've done dinners in Tokyo, Mexico City, London, Miami. And so quickly, as it grew outside of New York, we've had great things come that, in retrospect, have been super moving for me, personally.
People have met their significant other at dinners. Creatives have gone full time as a result of this. People have sold meaningful amounts of work. And I mean those are just like some of the few things that I've been told about. But that's really what gets me going, as well as just the broader community aspect of it. It’s why you live in a city like New York in my opinion.
What I've found is, especially early on, being able to adapt to your environment and kind of hold the idea of supper lightly, not put extreme pressure on it. It's more so you have to roll with the punches and keep the focus at the forefront. And the focus for us is community engagement, igniting people that have like minded interests and that are doing interesting things.
Absolutely. I mean, I couldn’t agree more.
It's been such a ride and it's fun to take a step back in moments like these and just be grateful. Because being in New York, it's a very daunting place that can be very lonely. When you put yourself outside your comfort zone–and that's what we encourage everyone that comes through to do–a lot of times, that can be a very intimidating thing to do. But we found that it's returned much more value over time than we could have ever anticipated.
So you mentioned that in the early days, you hosted that dinner in Central Park. How did deal with the sort of universal New York struggle, which is the constraint of space?
I think the best answer is just like we had to get really scrappy. You know, we were obviously bootstrapped and so we took the approach of, if restaurants will have us, we'll go into restaurants. If galleries will host us, we'll do a gallery. If we can't find a space, we'll throw one in Central Park and make it a picnic. We didn't want to limit ourselves based on things that were outside of our control.
What I've found is, especially early on, being able to adapt to your environment and kind of hold the idea of supper lightly, not put extreme pressure on it. It's more so you have to roll with the punches and keep the focus at the forefront. And the focus for us is community engagement, igniting people that have like minded interests and that are doing interesting things. And then also this creative piece, which is, for us, storytelling. And if that remains at the focal point of what you're trying to convey to the world, everything else kind of just works out.
All right, well, it sounds so easy when you say it like that.
It's not easy at all, Sara. Honestly, there's constant hurdles, as with any project or startup. But the mindset that I've found is most helpful is just knowing that they're going to be there and attacking them with excitement and purpose rather than dreading them or putting pressure on myself or the team or the community to do things that maybe aren't in our power.
I guess that brings me to my next question, which is, I feel like you need to really care about the thing that you're doing. And I agree that community is obviously such an important thing to care about, especially in a city like New York. But, like what do you attribute that to? Like where did that sort of innate sensibility or interest sort of come from?
Yeah that’s a great question. I'm an extrovert at heart and have alway loved gathering groups of people from a very early age. Like, I remember back in middle school and high school, a couple of buddies and I would plan every year a Turkey Bowl where we'd get 25 or so different people and organize volleyball tournaments or football tournaments.
And then, you know, we got super involved with the student section in high school. Uniting community was kind of something that I just had a passion for. And I didn't really understand it at the time, but then, getting to college, you know, I was involved with my University and also my fraternity in planning events and coming up with ways to connect people. I was on a polar plunge committee that raised money for the Special Olympics. And that was like one of the more impactful moments of my life.
And after that, I was just like, I have this skill that I've learned, and it can either be applied in a good way or a bad way. And like my goal over my lifetime is to leverage this skill of uniting community, bringing people together, and hopefully in a positive way that leaves an impact.
And what role does food or the notion of supper play in this? Like, why attach that to the name or to the concept versus other ways of gathering people?
I think what's unique about it is, there are always activations and events where people can go to like a cocktail hour and kind of walk around, and you can go to something like that and meet no one, right? Like you aren't forced to talk to anyone.
But if you walk into a space and you're seated at a dinner table for 60 to 90 minutes, you probably are going to have to say something to somebody at some point. And the goal was to make the events we do have this homey feeling and we do our part to make people feel comfortable.
I always say it’s our job is to get people in the room and then it's up to that person to really make the most of it. But we try to provide a container or a space where people feel comfortable. We provide conversation starters and other ways to get people engaging with each other. So for me, the idea was when you break bread, it's much more homey and friendly than just kind of like walking around a space.
And so that was kind of goal: like, can you dine for 60 to 90 minutes with strangers? And my guess (Luke laughs) is that not everyone is going to have the best time. But the feedback we've gotten is that it typically works.
Are you, are you a cook?
I wish. No, my mom is an angel on earth and she's like the best cook in the world. But I unfortunately did not get those genes. It's a struggle but I’ll try.
So the way that you have positioned yourself then is sort of as uplifting creators in the community has been a good way of getting people who like to cook to cook?
It kind of, it's like a multi-pronged approach where you have the community involvement, where people are coming into a space looking to meet other people. You have creative people that are doing interesting things that are maybe like pushing themselves outside of their comfort zone. And then you have this food dynamic, which we like to engage with chefs that have a differentiated style. And when we are working outside of New York, for instance, we like to play in cities that have a little bit of character.
So for instance, like we did one in Mexico City. I'm from Kansas. I'm not going to pretend like I know anything about Mexico City. Right? And so my job was to find the people in the city that know it well and can give the supper an authentic experience. Be it a chef, a producer, a painter. And so ultimately, like, through the community we’ve built, have found those people and they helped pull it off for us. But we like to feature local cuisines, local chefs that can really pull in flavors that are, you know, unique to that city.
I think this is my fourth or my fifth interview that I've done for this series and obviously everyone has their own hosting and gathering styles. But it's very interesting and I think it will be very helpful for people to know that there's a way to gather and to have a meal that doesn't require you to be a cook. I think that that's so much the barrier to entry. People are like: okay, I want to have a dinner party, but I can’t cook. And you don't need to roast a chicken to have a dinner party. You can literally order sushi. AndI think that however you can, you should be able to, you should be able to host and you should be able to gather.
Yeah, it's a great point. What I've learned over time is you need to make it as simple as it can be on yourself. If a lot of fear in hosting comes from cooking, like order pizza. If you're worried about what people are going to talk about, have conversation starters. If you're worried about the space in your apartment, host in Central Park. Don't put limitations on yourself, because our minds will come up with any reason to resist something when it feels uncomfortable. You have to push through that and make it as simple for yourself as possible.
Do you have a place where you get inspiration for your conversation starters?
I mean, honestly, this is like more of a new thing but we recently partnered with artists that has cards, similar to We're Not Really Strangers, that we've used at dinners. I also co-founded a project with my buddy Tadzio called Circle, and it’s basically prompts to encourage weekly accountability meetings in small groups of three of four. In those prompts were questions that sometimes we consider. And then, a lot of times, I am lucky to be surrounded by incredible friends and family that ask me great questions. So like, when I hear things from those people or even like podcasts, I'll just mark them down and then we'll include them.
What is your process for hosting an event? Like how far out are you planning and when you're picking a new city, is it somewhere that you've already been or is it somewhere that you hope to go?
Yeah, great question. I think. It depends and it's changed over time. Like our, our timeline used to be that, if we came across a space, we’d be like: okay, next weekend, let's do it. You know, and quickly learned that, in the event planning space, you just can't do that, especially when you're bringing in all these like various elements.
And so we like to have like a month or two lead time ahead of a dinner, but a lot of it's opportunistic. For example, one we did at the beginning of this year was in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica. We were there for our New Year's Eve. And one of my friends had been to this beautiful farm to table experience where it's basically like everything is made from their garden.
And you got to walk through the garden, which was stunning, and see the produce and the ingredients they use the meal. But that was kind of like a last minute thing where my friend was like, “Hey, we could do a supper down here.” And I was like, “yeah, like, great, let's do it.” That was like 10 days out. But now we like to have, you know, six to eight weeks ahead of time.
So to the original question, it's pretty opportunistic. For instance, in April, we’re going to Cape Town, South Africa. It's been on the bucket list for a really long time. I have some friends down there that are helping to produce it and loop in different creators. So for that, we'll have a few months lead time.
Okay. Maybe this is a projection of my own insecurity, but what can you say about the process of just asking–I feel like so much of my own inability to execute things is because I'm too afraid to ask. But what have you learned from asking and putting this out there to people?
Totally. Have you ever traveled solo?
Yes.
Okay, so you’ve probably experienced this, but I went backpacking a couple years ago, and one of the most important things I learned in doing that is that there are times where you feel a pull to people and just saying hi can completely change your life.
And if you put zero pressure on just saying hi to somebody, after that, whatever happens is gravy. But I'm just going to say hi and see what happens. Life becomes way easier when you're not thinking about all the different things that could happen. It's kind of like, I'm going to say hi. And see how that goes.
I mena, what my mom always says is “the squeaky wheel gets the oil” or something like that. And I feel like that's very true. You know, you kind of have to make it happen for yourself. Like people aren't going to make life happen for you. And so that's sort of the idea we live by.
And that's, you know, easier said than done.
I guess that's the ultimate feeling for us, is when people are stimulated by the creativity they’re surrounded by. And then the ultimate goal and mission of this is like, how do we stimulate creativity so that people–and this is a powerful statement–walk away wanting to chase what they deem a life worth chasing. Whether it’s art or music or food or any expression of creativity, however that feels to that person.
Okay this is a question that I ask pretty much in every interview, but it sort of a tangent off of what you were just saying, which is: when you're setting up these events, what do you hope guests will get out of that experience? And then how do you set up the event to curate like a certain feeling or like a certain look even?
I think our job is to set people up for success. And I think the way that you really do that is creating what I call a container or a space where people feel comfortable walking in and there's, you know, different sort of flavors around the room.
So it's not just like this traditional setup. You have a live painting here, you have a ceramist molding here. You have a chef cooking here. You have someone playing the piano here. It's just, there's a lot of different flavors so that the mind is like, Whoa. I guess that's the ultimate feeling for us, is when people are stimulated by the creativity they’re surrounded by. And then the ultimate goal and mission of this is like, how do we stimulate creativity so that people–and this is a powerful statement–walk away wanting to chase what they deem a life worth chasing. Whether it’s art or music or food or any expression of creativity, however that feels to that person.
But that's the ultimate goal. And if one of those steps is being introduced to the right person at one of our dinners that leads them in that direction, that's amazing, right? Or just creating a space where there’s an intentional conversation and there's creativity in all places.
Yeah that’s so interesting. I mean, I think a lot of people, when they're looking for jobs–and this was my problem when I was looking for jobs the million and a half times I've now looked for jobs–you almost don't even know what’s out there until you talk to those people who can at least elucidate that to some degree. And I think that that's exceptionally helpful. Sometimes you don't even realize you don't know what you don't know.
Totally. I agree. You don't know what you don't know. Life's a game in a lot of ways. You just got to enjoy the ride.
When you’re hosting, are you wine or cocktails?
We've done suppers with both. We had a ceramic molding class where we partnered with a wine company. We did like live painting sessions where people would paint their own wine bottle. We've done cocktails with different alcohol brands.
Personally, I used to be more of a wine person. Right now I'm on this little sober track, starting the first of the year. And so I’m kind of playing around with that at the moment–pivoting my focus to try to partner with some other non-alcoholic kombucha or other alternatives to liquor. So that’s what I’m focusing on right now.
I love that. I feel like just being a couple of years out of college a lot of people I know are sober-curious.
Yeah, no, it's honestly refreshing. I have my fair share of partying, but I’m excited for a new chapter. And for me, finding, this passion and something I'm really excited about has kind of led me to this part of the journey where I'm like, really want to focus on that.
Is there something at every event that you have to have that's like a non negotiable?
You know, I would say no. I'm pretty open minded–or I should say we are pretty open minded. I've kind of touched on this already but I like finding the right people and letting them run with the vision that they see fit for Supper.
So however they want to present their work, their story, my goal is to support that. I don't like to micromanage, you know a chef or the way somebody presents their art or the way that they sing a song. It's kind of like I want them to be able to do how they want, and so my job is finding the right talent and then letting people run with it.
Yeah, I think I love that. I think that that's very important. Again, I feel like this sort of thing is very often stifled by rules and I don't think you need that many rules.
Yeah, I'm with you. And yeah, that's part of the fun in my opinion is like being intentional with the direction creatively, and making sure things mold together, but from like a holistic perspective and from a partnership perspective, making sure that people are really representing themselves in the way that they would their own brand if it was fully their own.
So another thing that I was thinking about, in anticipation of our conversation was how you’ve been increasingly active on social media with A Supper Series. How do you view those digital communities differently than the in person communities?
Yeah, it's a great question. I think admittedly haven't done a great way of engaging with audiences digitally. We focus on the in person component and capturing that, but I don’t think I’ve done a great job of creating communities for our broader audience on platforms like Slack, for instance, or connecting with people offline. But I do think that's a direction that we could potentially go. Asking the question, how do we connect people outside of an IRL experience and then creating those connections between artists, but also the communities around them so that they are leveraging the platform.
What's your, what's your favorite in person event that you guys have done so far?
We did one in Mexico City–-I think I mentioned it earlier–that was unreal. It was probably the largest one we've done outside of New York. And we had a live painting. We had an amazing chef. We had a musician and a DJ. And like every single component of the dinner was in this outdoor art gallery. And it was just stunning. Everything was executed perfectly and to not because of me, it was a matter of looping in the right people.
And it helped that I had like five of my best friends down there helping produce it. And that's the beauty and that's when you get the most fulfillment from is when people that you care about are involved and that’s what makes the night. So I would definitely say Mexico City.
And then what is your goal for A Supper Series? How do you see it growing in the next year, or next five years?
We've got an exciting year ahead. We've got our second birthday on Saturday, which is sold out. So we're really excited about that. And then there is a highly tentative plan to do a European summer tour. But TBD on that. I think a lot of it between us is going to depend on, you know, if I go full time with this. But that's the ultimate goal this year . And then we're launching a new project that we're calling a journal series, which is going to be a similar model, but like journaling directed by hosts that are like authors or like yogis, sound healer. We want to create spaces for that medium.
Lots of fun ahead and a lot of work to do before then, but we're basically heads down trying to figure it all out and trying to hold it lightly so that, you know, we get to a place where we're impacting the amount of lives that we're called to. And so, if you keep that as the focus, then you really can't lose.
We'll see. I guess the answer is I have no idea.
Following along at @asupperseries or www.asupperseries.com to get updates on everything Luke is up to next. You’re not going to want to miss it.