Al-Wahshiyyee Ibn Harb (raḍī Allāhu ʿanhu) related that some of the Companions of Allāh’s Messenger ﷺ said, ‘O Messenger of Allāh! We eat, but we do not become satisfied.’ So he said to them: “Perhaps you eat separately?” So they replied: ‘Yes.’ So he said: “Eat your food collectively, mention the Name of Allāh upon it, then there will be blessings for you in it.”¹

Shaykh Ibn al-ʿUthaymīn said: “This indicates that it is essential to eat collectively from a single plate. So if there are five or ten people, they should eat collectively from a single dish, depending upon the situation. Indeed, doing so is a cause for barakah (blessings) to descend, whilst eating separately is a cause for barakah to depart.”²

Endnotes:
[1] Ḥasan: Related by Abū Dāwūd (no. 3764). It was authenticated by al-Ḥāfiẓ al-ʿIrāqee in his Takhreejul-Iḥyā‘ (no. 214).
[2] Sharḥ Rīyaḍus-al-Ṣāliḥīn (7/231) of Ibn al-ʿUthaymīn