Down to Lunch

Down to Lunch (DTL) was a social networking mobile application developed to facilitate spontaneous get-togethers among friends. The company was founded in 2015 by Stanford University graduates Nikil Viswanathan and Joseph Lau and was based in San Francisco, California. The founders, who had prior experience at major tech companies like Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn, reportedly coded the initial version of the app in a single day. Their goal was to create a simple tool to help reconnect with colleagues and friends.

The application allowed users to signal their availability for various activities by selecting a status, such as "Lunch," "Dinner," "Chill," or "Study." Friends on the app would then be notified, and interested parties could connect through an in-app chat to finalize plans. The platform gained significant traction, especially among college and high school students, for its straightforward and easy-to-use interface. At its peak in April 2016, Down to Lunch became the number one social networking app on the Apple App Store.

The business operated on a free-to-use model, with its primary focus on user growth rather than immediate revenue generation. Growth was partly driven by a gamified invite system, which required users to recruit a certain number of friends to unlock certain activity categories like "Blaze" or "Beer Pong". However, this aggressive strategy also led to complaints about spammy notifications. The app's popularity declined sharply following the spread of false rumors that it was being used for human trafficking. By 2018, the app was no longer available on major app stores, and as of November 2022, the company is listed as out of business.

Keywords: Down to Lunch, DTL, social networking app, event planning app, Nikil Viswanathan, Joseph Lau, Stanford University, meetup app, college social app, social discovery, friend meetups, spontaneous plans, iOS app, Android app, out of business, defunct startup