Meet Artem. He’s a trained chef based in Moscow, and for somewhere between $13 and $65, he will come to your barbecue, grill your meat, tell you jokes, and keep you company for the day. He will not, under any circumstances, become your friend afterward.Artem is one of dozens of men advertising “barbecue companionship” on Russian classified platforms, a service that has been gaining traction in cities across the country. The transaction is simple: you want to fire up a grill, you have nobody to do it with, you pay someone to show up. The companion handles the social side—conversation, atmosphere, possibly a tent, and maybe some groceries if you’re paying on the higher end of the scale. The client covers the food bill. When it’s over, it’s over. The listings are exclusively directed at men, and the companions themselves are a varied group. Yuri, who has a background in psychology, says he posted his ad because he genuinely wants to spend weekends outdoors and doesn’t have anyone to go with him. Nikolai has broadened his services to include concerts, rock festivals, lectures on Aztec mythology, and restaurants—describing himself as the person who shows up when your friends are unavailable or have left the city.The Surprisingly Wholesome Side Hustle Helping Lonely Men Make Summer PlansThe market research confirms the demand. Analysts from Russian online platforms found the service is most popular in Moscow, Krasnodar Krai, and Nizhny Novgorod. HSE University research helps explain why—over 43% of Russians experience some degree of loneliness, driven by urbanization, the growth of single-person households, and a general erosion of neighborhood social ties over the past two decades.Restaurateur Evgeny Demchenko told KP.RU he views the whole thing as basic economics. “Of course, you can’t buy true friendship,” he said. “But for many, this won’t be an attempt to replace friends, but rather to simply spend a comfortable evening and meet new people.”The WHO currently estimates that around one in six people globally experiences persistent loneliness. Someone has to grill the shashlik.The post You Can Now Hire a Stranger to Come to Your Barbecue and Hang Out appeared first on VICE.