Photo by Neidy Gutierrez / SOC Images.
Imagine waking up at 10 a.m. on a Saturday, with nothing to do.
For many, that may be a dream come true after working all week. But for others, they might notice the warmer weather, disappearing rain clouds and the sudden reminder to try that new drink at the coffee shop around the corner. It’s time to get back out there, but now comes the next question: who can you spontaneously call to meetup?
For those who don’t have spontaneous friends or know morning people, Bunch could be your answer. That’s what founder and software engineer Aleksandra Czajka highlighted about her free app, called “Bunch.” Chatting at Unica Cafe, a local, family-owned cafe in the Jersey City Heights, Czajka emphasized how Bunch is jumpstarting a social movement to open people back up to society and make going out fun again—even if it’s with someone you don’t know yet.
“Our entire mission is to expand your social circle… to open up more of society to you in a very natural way,” Czajka said.
“We want to give you the ability to socialize at any moment that you have free and anytime that you feel like. A concept that I really like to talk about is making better friends. I think in our society, we think that we’re stuck with the people that are in our social circle, even if they’re not making our lives better because it’s so hard to make friends.
Bunch wants you to know that you always have the ability to meet more and more locals.”
Finding Community In Jersey
After spending so much time in New York due to a previous relationship, Czajka craved to be more present in Jersey.
The longtime Jersey City Heights resident had been living in the area for about 10 years at the time, but never had the chance to tap into her community. That changed at the end of 2022 after she started her first meetup.
“When I decided just to hang out a bit more here, I saw what a unique community it is… and how much people don’t have the ability to socialize here,” she added.
“A lot of people are focusing [on] New York. So I decided to start something here. For me personally, [I’d rather] hang out with the cool people of Jersey rather than in New York.”
From there, it quickly grew and adopted the name “Dining Social” in 2023. Czajka helped organize board game nights, social hours and happy hours while also meshing her expertise in software engineering. It then expanded into dinner with someone you don’t know—up to six to eight people—but there was an attendance fee.
“It was meant to be small because I wanted everybody at the table to meet each other. And the concept also came about from what a waste it is to go to a networking event…,” she explained.
“And then where do you add them? You add them either to your phone or you add them to your social media. Now you go home and you try to get a coffee with a person on social media… or you try to reach out through a phone. And how cold is that? That’s very formal. Dining Social was created as a proof of concept.”
But there was “a lot” of things that didn’t work, Czajka said; the attendance fee, the fact that people still needed to pay for their food and, at the end of 2023, a competitor emerged—who she did not name—and “stole” her business idea, she added.
While it forced her to shift gears, Czajka emphasized that it brought her to a new, better and happier chapter: Bunch.
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Socialize In Bunches!
Bunch is an iOS and Android app that connects members who are as close as five minutes from each other, and they—or a group of people, called “Bunches”—can choose to grab a coffee, drink, dinner and more “anytime you have free [time] anywhere you are in the world.”
The app originally started in the Jersey City Heights, then opened doors to Hudson, Essex and Bergen Counties, before now spreading across the water to New York. The founder said members began looking for hangouts at the opera and she said if it was useful, there was no reason for her to restrict it.
“[The app] was originally going to be called ‘Berry,’ but it was a little bit out of the concept,” she said.
Bunch ended up being a better suited name because it’s essentially gathering a bunch of people together.
“I love that idea because it’s also very natural. Bunches are a bunch of grapes, cherries. It’s of our earth and the mission of Bunch as well and it’s technology that is supposed to seamlessly connect us.”
Here’s how it works:
- Visit letsbunch.com and download the free app
- Set up your profile and customize it to you
- Once that’s done, you can automatically see hangouts on your dashboard on a map
- You can start a hangout or join a hangout
- These hangouts can be if someone has met you or there’s an invitation based on your age, gender and/or interest
- The rest is up to you and “how you socialize”
A recent update to the app included: a new design, photo sending abilities, new guidelines and a points system that all play into the member experience. There are also safety features like blocking a member, chat monitoring and chat permissions.
And unlike Dining Social, Bunch is completely free.
“I really want to bring technology to people because I can build anything that nobody else is doing because they’re trying to make money. I full heartedly believe that Bunch as a social movement is my number one priority. If it makes no money, I would still be successful because it improved society [and] improved so many people’s lives,” she said.
And Czajka is looking ahead to continue working on her mission; this includes enhancing the Bunch website, planning on “a lot” of partnerships, looking for investors who align with Bunch’s mission and feedback from the community, “how can Bunch help you?”
“I’m hoping it will absolutely have an impact on our [New] Jersey society that we are ultimately happier people. [That] we’re more connected [and] don’t need to fill it with anything other [than] connection… [Also] if you now put [locals] together that is an opportunity for businesses to say, ‘Come hang out here.’ [But even] without any business partnerships, [Bunch] is improving our Jersey City society [and] economy right away.”
For information on joining the Bunch community, you can visit their website here. If you’re interested in partnering or investing, you can email team@letsbunch.com.
