The History of Speed Dating

by Andrew Summersgill
Editor
Wednesday, 11th February 2009

The creation of speed dating in it's original form is often credited to Rabbi Yaacov Deyo of Aish HaTorah (an orthodox Jewish organisation and internet portal), as a way to help Jewish singles meet and marry. The format was designed to offer Jewish singles 12, seven minute dates.

The original format involved men sitting along one side of a long table with the women lined up along the other, every few minutes the men moving along one space. Each person then has to decide which people they would like to see again. The organisers facilitate an exchange of contact details if there is a mutual match. This exchange of details most commonly takes place via the organisers website.

Our research indicates that the first ever speed dating event (organised by Rabbi Deyo) took place at Pete's Café in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, USA in late 1998. Events took place there on a regular basis for a number of years and by many accounts led to the marriage of many Jewish Singles.

Soon more commercialised, secular events spread rapidly across the United States and speed dating was gradually established as a fun and rejection free means to meet new people. In the United States some entrepreneurs used the franchise model to rapidly expand their brands across the country.

The success of speed dating is often attributed to the ability of most people to decide, very quickly, if they are romantically compatible with someone they meet for the first time. A 2006 study by Edinburgh University in Scotland showed that 45% of the female participants in a speed dating event and 22% of the men had come to a decision within the first 30 seconds. Interestingly, the study also proved that conversations concerning travel resulted in more matches than dialogue about films.

Speed Dating reached current levels of popularity in the USA in around 2001 with as many as 100 events taking place across the country on any given evening. It has been said that more than a quarter of all New York City bars were hosting a speed dating night at least once a week at this time.

Coincidently, it was also around this time the speed dating concept was picked up by UK-based entrepreneurs and the first event was organised in London. It is not clear by whom and where it took place. From early 2003 speed dating hit the news headlines and an overnight dating craze was born in a blaze of media coverage including TV, radio and print. Several organisers leveraged this publicity to rapidly create nationwide speed dating operations, many of which are still trading successfully today. The perceived low start-up costs of setting up a speed dating business and high profitability also led to many amateur organisers attempting to cash in on the boom. On the whole, many of these failed in their attempts due to the difficulty of consistently attracting an equal number of male and female participants to every event. One notable example of this once promoted a novel speed dating concept that was to be hosted by retired gangster 'Mad' Frankie Frazer. It is unknown at time of writing if this event actually went ahead.

It didn't take long for Speed Dating to spread further afield and speed dating events are known to take place regularly in Australia, South Africa, France, Spain and Italy, albeit on a less commercial basis than in the UK and USA. In recent years race/religion/gender specific events have emerged and events specifically for designed for Gay and Lesbian, Asian, Muslim, Christian and Jewish singles are very popular in the United Kingdom.

Speed dating is also known as speed dating, speed date or speed dating.

The vast majority of tickets for speed dating events are sourced and purchased via the internet. Having a well listed web presence has now become essential for anyone wishing to establish a speed dating business and is the most significant barrier to entry to the market.

Whist the media coverage of speed dating in the UK has subsided speed dating remains a popular dating medium and has firmly established itself in the dating marketplace. The stigma usually associated with attending singles events has largely subsided and speed dating events continue to thrive in urban communities such as London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow.

For another take on the emergence of speed dating you may be interested to read the Wikipedia entry which can be found here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_dating

Dating Trail has nationwide UK speed dating listings here »

topic tags: jewish, speed dating

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about the author

As Managing Director of London's premier speed dating firm Original Dating, Andrew has huge experience of the dating scene and has been helping people meet since 2002. Andrew co-founded Dating Trail in 2008 and is a driving force behind this website.

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