The story
Grouper booked blind group drinks — you plus two friends versus a stranger plus theirs — with the bar tab’s first round included. It softened blind-date pressure with wingmen and produced great stories, but the economics of concierge matchmaking never worked and it wound down around 2016.
What it did well
- Low-pressure group format
- Guaranteed real-world meetup
- Fun even when the match wasn’t
Why it faded
- Defunct
- Costly per date
- Logistics limited it to a few cities