Members-Only Dinner Club Expands to Nashville

Tasting Collective, a private dining membership club that takes over top independent restaurants for 6-course dining experiences, is launching in Nashville.

Currently operating in Austin, Chicago, NYC, Philly, San Francisco, Oakland, and Washington DC, Tasting Collective takes over restaurants on days when the restaurants are typically closed or slower and fills them up with their members.

Founder Nat Gelb says the idea behind the dinner club is to “create a stage upon which executive chefs can experiment with new dishes and put on a show.” Growing up surrounded by farms in upstate New York, Gelb explains that he grew up eating really well, but not in restaurants — “Food was very much a human experience for me growing up. When I moved back to the city I started exploring restaurants and loving it — but I felt something was missing — the human element facilitating dialogue and connection. And Tasting Collective was born. Gelb launched the company in NYC in May 2016 and has over 4,000 paying members across its six chapters.

Memberships cost $165 annually, and tickets to dinners cost $50. At events, 50-100 members can expect 6-course menus presented by the chef personally, peppered with personal anecdotes and closing with a Q&A session during dessert. Members fill out feedback cards as they go — and the cards are given directly to the chefs after events “so they can get feedback in a private and constructive way - the opposite of yelp.”

The first Nashville event with Tasting Collective takes place Monday, April 1, at Peninsula.

Tasting Collective [Official Site]