Research Lunch Club in Chicago
Chicago's research runs deep — world-leading economics, physics and medicine, spread from Hyde Park to the northern suburbs. Research Lunch Club matches you into a small group of Chicago researchers for lunch, once a month. No seminar, no schmoozing — just three people who do the work, over a good meal, for the cost of a coffee a quarter.
📍 Real researchers, real lunch
Who's in the Chicago group
Our Chicago members include researchers from the University of Chicago, Northwestern and UIC, teams at Google, and national labs like Argonne and Fermilab. Economists, physicists, medical researchers, UX researchers — Chicago's table leans rigorous and wide-ranging.
Researchers from across Chicago
A sense of where Chicago members spend their days — the universities, institutes and companies they come from.
Where Chicago members meet
Chicago groups meet across the city: Hyde Park for UChicago, Streeterville and the Loop for Northwestern's medical campus and downtown teams, Evanston up north, and the West Loop for the tech crowd. Your group picks a lunch spot — the West Loop alone is one of the country's best places to eat.
Third-wave coffee, Chicago-style
Lunch has a way of running into coffee. A few independent, third-wave spots Chicago researchers gravitate to — chains need not apply.
Build Coffee
Hyde Park
Metric Coffee
West Town
Sawada Coffee
the West Loop
🍝 Three researchers, one table
How Research Lunch Club works in Chicago
You get matched
Every month we pair you with two other researchers in Chicago — deliberately across disciplines and career stages, so the conversation goes somewhere new.
Your group picks a day & a spot
You sort the time and place together in the member app — a lunch that works for all three of you, somewhere easy in the city.
You meet for lunch
Show up, swap notes, and build the kind of relationship that outlasts a conference badge. Most Chicago groups keep in touch long after.
Your first lunch is on us
Snap a photo at the table and tag us on LinkedIn or Instagram — we'll cover your first lunch. Our way of saying welcome.
Pricing & the 90-day guarantee
The cost of a coffee
£5 a quarter, and you can cancel anytime. The lunch itself you pay for at the table.
A fresh match monthly
Two new Chicago researchers every month you're a member.
90-day guarantee
Not feeling the lunches in your first 90 days? We'll refund your membership.
First lunch on us
Tag us in a photo from your first lunch and we'll cover it.
☕ Lunch that ran into coffee
Chicago researcher FAQ
Usually Hyde Park, the Loop, Streeterville, Evanston or the West Loop — close to where members work. You sort the day and the spot in the member app.
Other Chicago-area researchers across fields and seniority — UChicago, Northwestern and UIC academics alongside researchers at Google and the Argonne and Fermilab national labs. Deliberately mixed disciplines.
Each month we group members into threes by city, mixing disciplines and career stages and avoiding repeat pairings. A fresh group every month you're a member.
Yes — plenty of Chicago members are industry and lab researchers, from UX to data science and physics. If research is your work, you belong at the table.
About the price of a coffee a quarter — £5, cancel anytime. You cover your own lunch at the table, and the first one's on us.
More on meeting other researchers
Join researchers in Chicago
The cost of a coffee a quarter. Cancel anytime. Your first lunch is on us.