diff --git a/app/controllers/groups_controller.rb b/app/controllers/groups_controller.rb
index d73b87e4d6c..b06fd25a715 100644
--- a/app/controllers/groups_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/groups_controller.rb
@@ -30,6 +30,10 @@ class GroupsController < ApplicationController
     count = groups.count
     groups = groups.offset(page * page_size).limit(page_size)
 
+    if Group.preloaded_custom_field_names.present?
+      Group.preload_custom_fields(groups, Group.preloaded_custom_field_names)
+    end
+
     group_user_ids = GroupUser.where(group: groups, user: current_user).pluck(:group_id)
 
     render_json_dump(
@@ -310,6 +314,10 @@ class GroupsController < ApplicationController
       groups = groups.where(automatic: false)
     end
 
+    if Group.preloaded_custom_field_names.present?
+      Group.preload_custom_fields(groups, Group.preloaded_custom_field_names)
+    end
+
     render_serialized(groups, BasicGroupSerializer)
   end
 
diff --git a/app/models/group.rb b/app/models/group.rb
index f137ec8931c..2d4d82f5814 100644
--- a/app/models/group.rb
+++ b/app/models/group.rb
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@ class Group < ActiveRecord::Base
   include HasCustomFields
   include AnonCacheInvalidator
 
+  cattr_accessor :preloaded_custom_field_names
+  self.preloaded_custom_field_names = Set.new
+
   has_many :category_groups, dependent: :destroy
   has_many :group_users, dependent: :destroy
   has_many :group_mentions, dependent: :destroy