Seeing the Light While Dining in the Dark

Last month, Successful Meetings Magazine came out with an article entitled “Seeing the Light While Dining in the Dark.” It’s a great article that shares the fun, intrigue and success that dark dining has had with diners in restaurants and more recently with companies as a team building/bonding event.

TeamBonding founder David Goldstein introduced Dining in the Dark in October 2010 to an audience of food bloggers in a Boston restaurant called the Hampshire House. You might know it more as Melvilles as it is the restaurant above the Bull & Finch pub, the inspiration for Cheers. It is a beautiful Back Bay mansion that most diners don’t get to see in this unique dining experience.

As the guests arrive they are met at the bar by our dining facilitator, a guide that takes you through your dining experience, blindfolded. In the purest form of this experience, the waiters are blind and the room is dark but in our experience the room is lowly lit and the guests wear pitch black spa-like blindfolds which when worn, block out all light and allow the guest to focus on their other senses including the sense of smell, which is enhanced during the dinner, the sense of sound which is tuned into the music, custom written for this experience, and the sense of touch which comes into play when diners aren’t quite sure what they are eating.

Does it sound like a culinary trust fall? Sometimes it can feel that way but food allergies are accommodated and safety is assured. For team building events, the bonds are built while enjoying a great meal, working together to guess the menu and playing the unique challenges that TeamBonding has come up with to encourage conversation, interaction and fun with your co-workers. Sound like fun? It is. Join us!