The Supper Club Brings Posh Dining Experiences To SF

Tamsin Lonsdale
Tamsin Lonsdale

Photo Credit: Jakub Studios

Tamsin Lonsdale is on a mission. The pretty blonde Brit is determined to bring back the dinner party one meal at a time. With her members only events organization, The Supper Club, she has already conquered London, New York, Los Angeles, and Miami, establishing her upscale institution as a meeting place for everyone from Instagram influencers to up-and-coming musicians. Earlier this year, she set her sights on San Francisco. In a city flush with wine tastings, chef collaborations, and unique food and drink pairings that take place virtually every night of the week, is another dinner party experience really necessary? The answer is yes.

One of The Supper Club's dinner parties
One of The Supper Club’s dinner partiesPhoto Credit: SPF Studios

What Lonsdale is offering is unique and just plain, good old-fashioned fun. She’s giving locals a chance to connect in a welcoming setting over an excellent meal. Who would say no to that? “At any Supper Club dinner party, while you may break bread with the owner of hugely successful tech company, a venture capitalist specializing in start ups or a senior technologist at Facebook, you will also rub shoulders with doctors, private chefs, bankers, media moguls, actors and architects,” Lonsdale told Haute Living. “The common thread between all of our clubs is personality. We bring together a dazzling group of inspiring, passionate, talented, stylish, smart, charismatic, and international individuals.”

Chefs prepare an interactive meal at a Supper Club event
Chefs prepare an interactive meal at a Supper Club event

Photo Credit: SPF Studios

Lonsdale founded The Supper Club 12 years ago in London with the goal of restoring a sense of camaraderie through curated dinners. “What the world needs now is elegance and connection,” Lonsdale believes. “There’s so much texting going on, that people don’t stop; and so many venues are generic. I yearn for the times when my parents opened their home for a spectacular dinner, or threw a grand party. That’s why I started The Supper Club.” There are a variety of membership levels, from six signature parties per year to 40 dinner parties and 20 signature parties per year, and members can pick and choose which events they want to attend. Events range from a dinner for 20 in the wine cellar at the Battery to a blowout Halloween bash with a royals theme.

Happy and good looking guests at a Supper Club event
Happy and good-looking guests at a Supper Club event

Photo Credit: Jakub Studios

Guest lists are kept small and Lonsdale precedes over the majority of events as the consummate hostess, ensuring that everyone has a drink or introducing like-minded friends to one another. What makes The Supper Club’s events so fabulous is that everyone wants to be there and is open to meeting new people—and it’s not too much of one type of personality. “In San Francisco there is more of a technology focus, just like the focus in Los Angeles is on the entertainment industry,” Lonsdale explains. “However in our club, we always strive to have a diverse and balanced membership base, representing different industries and nationalities—after all, variety is the spice of life!”

Elements of surprise, like musical acts, are often incorporated into Lonsdale's events
Elements of surprise, like musical acts, are often incorporated into Lonsdale’s events

Photo Credit: Jakub Studios

When we asked Tamsin to tell us about a Supper Club event that stood out in her mind, she mentioned a lavish, other-worldly-sounding party. “Our Marie Antoinette fête in New York. It was hosted in the Rotunda Room at the Pierre Hotel and showcased the gorgeous new space—a grand oval room with sweeping marble staircases and exuberant frescoes—a true fairy-tale setting,” Lonsdale remembers excitedly. “Seventy-five guests attended, wearing Louis XVI wigs, masks, and flowing silk gowns. Each was given parlor games, goblets of champagne, ripe figs and brie, and macaroons. A gorgeous feather-coiffed chanteuse, accompanied by a live harpist, sang an aria by Bach. There was not a cellphone in sight. It felt like it could be Versailles in the 1700s rather than modern day Manhattan.”

If Lonsdale can throw a party where tech-loving San Franciscans forget about their cellphones, we’d say mission accomplished: Lonsdale and her Supper Club are the hottest new event series to hit the city by the Bay. We’ll toast to that!