Own business: speed-dating. Speed Dating Business Idea Speed Dating Business
Speed dates or mini-dates are parties organized specifically so that people can get to know each other and chat at a table in a cafe. Such dates do not last long, but this time is enough for sympathy to arise.
Business "Speed Dating"
Mini-date parties (Speed dating) were invented in 1998 by Rabbi Jacob Devo. Jacob and his wife Sue, living in the US, were worried that Jewish girls had no place to meet Jewish boys to start a family. A big city separates people, leaving no time for simple acquaintances, conversations about nothing, during which mutual sympathy usually arises.
An old national tradition prescribes, if not pandering, then assistance in creating families. And so, in the millionaire district of Beverly Hills, in an institution under the sign of "Pete's Cafe", the first express date took place. The combination of theory and practice has led to an improvement in the Speed Dating format: each blitz date lasts 7 minutes, after which the interlocutors change.
At the beginning of the new century, dating parties became fashionable in Europe, Australia, the United States, and indeed throughout the world. Such rapid popularity is clear evidence that so many people of different ages and social groups experience communication problems.
What is Speed Dating?
By participating in Speed dating, you can make acquaintances with 10-15 representatives of the opposite sex in a short time. In Russia, express dating appeared relatively recently, but many have already liked it. Marriage is not always the result of acquaintances at such parties, but pleasant acquaintances and interesting pastime are guaranteed to everyone.
For all the simplicity of speed dating, someone has to take care of organizing them, so why don't you do this noble thing - connecting lonely hearts? You provide people with the opportunity to meet at a cafe table and chat, and they pay you a small amount in gratitude for this. Starting capital to start such a business is not required, only organizational skills are required.
How to set up a speed dating business?
Two options for business development:
- You have your own restaurant or cafe for Speed Dating.
- You gather for express dates in rented premises. This option can be considered a business from scratch.
With the first option, everything is clear - organizational issues are reduced to holding and attracting visitors.
In the second case, you must first find a suitable room. Newly opened cafes that have not yet had time to acquire regular customers will be good places. Cooperation will be beneficial for you and for the owner of the establishment receiving the flow of visitors.
You should choose a cafe in the central part of the city or not far from the business center. In such places, cafes are filled only on weekdays during the lunch break, and there are almost no visitors in the evenings and on weekends. Express meetings are best organized on weekends, so the owner of the cafe will be happy to cooperate. The atmosphere in the cafe should be cozy and inviting, so that the participants do not tense up and feel confident. The task of the organizer is to provide the meeting participants with a pleasant atmosphere, order light drinks, sandwiches, fruits, etc. The cost of organizing a party for 30-40 people will be approximately 10,000 rubles (including rent).
When the issue with the venue is resolved, you can start looking for clients. Do not limit your choice to young people, as experience shows, people of mature age and even the elderly are happy to participate in Speed dating. Groups should be made up of people of approximately the same age, interests and social status. It has been noticed that in European countries, couples go to such meetings, seeking to diversify relationships. Do not try to form groups by eye, have clients fill out questionnaires, on the basis of which you can judge the interests and goals of each person who has contacted you.
Questioning can be carried out when registering for Speed dating via the Internet. To organize this business, access to the Internet is vital: you need your own website where participants could register, there will also be information about the place and time of the meetings.
To attract participants, it will be useful to advertise in the local press, on the streets, in cafes where the event is supposed to be. On average, advertising costs are 10,000-30,000 rubles per month.
How to hold meetings?
At the appointed time, the participants gather in a cafe. There should be an equal number of women and men in the group. Women occupy tables, and men sit down at them. The conversation lasts seven minutes. On a signal, the men stand up and move to the next table. So, moving from table to table, all men will communicate with all women. Participants put marks in the questionnaire, marking their favorite interlocutors. In a matched pair, the participants exchange phone numbers.
If you invite 30 people to parties, selling them tickets for 500 rubles, then each event will bring about 5,000 rubles in net income. This is not bad at all, given the simplicity of organization and positive emotions from communication.
Now I will write, rather, a nostalgic essay on the times from 13-15 years, but I will try to arrange it in a readable form :)
In 1914, I twice went to the Geek Speed Dating event, organized by the St. Petersburg IT bar KL10CH (the institution moved to Moscow at the end of 2015, if I’m not mistaken), which was then still owned by Aida Fazylova and Tatyana Shvetsova.
The essence of the event fully corresponded to the essence of classic speed dating - that is, they preliminarily collect participants' profiles with photographs and some kind of welcome description, then, during the evening, on the date of the event, several "circles" are held in turn, each of which involves about 8 -10 random pairs, each participant has his own number. The couples sit down at the tables one at a time, and on a signal, each participant in a free form gets acquainted with his current interlocutor, after 5 minutes the men clockwise change to the next table, the action is repeated until the circle is completed. At the end, the participants gave the organizers pieces of paper with the number of their favorite interlocutors, and then found out their matches.
The difference between the events in the Key and the classic speed dating was that people were not random, but united by an interest in the IT industry and science, or an interest in IT people and, strictly speaking, geeks - there was already something in common among the participants a priori, in addition, it was free to come. Judging by the photo reports, some of the people came on dates again, simply because it’s fun, and quite naturally - I personally remember that the regulars of the place came with me to the evening of dates twice (they recognize themselves, I won’t deanonymize), for example, a guy, a Toronto-educated, The Big Bang Theory-esque Steward-like, red-haired and charming recruiter; Well, the mistress of the Key also participated. In general, there were funny times, I met colleagues and friends, like-minded people and just interesting characters in this bar.
What can I say about the effectiveness of speed dating? Considering that in my case, some of the participants already knew each other and had some common interests, it’s hard for me to draw conclusions about a classic event that people come to for the first time just from the street. But from the experience of the Key, I can say that this is an appropriate declaration that you are free, do not mind meeting and interested in those who are already in your circle of friends, but, perhaps, were embarrassed to call on a date. It's just that people honestly said, "I'm looking for a mate." I don't know if couples/families have appeared after such speed dating, probably yes; I personally matched up with a beautiful girl I knew before, and the event just pushed the two of us to the idea that we could get along well and meet outside the bar, and the fact that she chose me was very flattering to me :)
If we compare speed dating with, say, Tinder, then I think speed dating has its own important advantage - here I will explain that being able to see a person once is undoubtedly more valuable than being able to scroll through a few dozen photos on the screen - so on speed dates, you meet several new people live in one evening and have equal chances with others to tell about yourself, observe the interlocutors, evaluate their gestures, voice, facial expressions and much more, which, with all the huge choice online, is not available until make an appointment. That is, you save time and get several candidates for subsequent dates at once. At the same time, of course, you will not be able to influence who ends up on the date night in any way - this is all within the competence of the organizers and, as a rule, they simply provide an equal number of girls and men, and they will no longer take care of your taste can.
He came from the USA, where this idea has become a profitable investment of time and money, bringing entrepreneurs a decent income.
"Speed-dating", as such a dating organization sounds in English, implies a meeting of single men and women who are invited to some institution. The peculiarity of the organization of speed dating is in their fundamental difference from what marriage agencies offer, and a completely different clientele shows interest in them. Dating takes place in a fast mode, through short dialogues with each other, and this is much more fun and practical.
Solving the problem of loneliness using a similar concept is a good suggestion for a modern city dweller. Speed dating evenings are steadily gaining popularity, and the target audience of such events is very wide both in terms of age, social status and other characteristics.
Undoubtedly niche has great potential- people who want to meet will never decrease. Nevertheless, dating business - is it profitable or not, what is the profitability, investment and payback? An introductory overview of the possibilities of starting a turnkey speed dating business will help those who want to start their own business from scratch.
How do speed dating work?
An equal number of participants must be invited. Each guest must talk at the table with a representative of the opposite sex in order to talk about themselves and learn about the interlocutor during a 5-minute conversation. Usually, girls sit at the tables, and men sit down at each of them alternately at the signal of the leader. “Transplantation” is done until all participants manage to talk in person.
To make it easier to remember each other, for each guest you need to make badges with numbers. People are invited to enter their impressions from the first acquaintance with each of the visitors in a special “list of sympathies”. It makes notes, the main of which are formulated as follows: liked or not / interesting as a friend / business partner and more, here the organizer can show imagination.
The finale of the event is the “moment of truth”, when, based on the results of studying the lists, the host finds matches of mutual interest, informing the participants about this after the party by e-mail or SMS. The host can announce the results of the evening and directly on the spot. Undoubtedly, those who wish can exchange contacts on their own, however, the problem of refusal is removed, because the rules of the event do not imply this.
Target audience of the event
Speed-dating was originally aimed at middle-class people, they do not meet on the street and do not go to places of entertainment so often. As a result, they are comfortable with the speed dating format, which is not devoid of a romantic component and even erotic overtones. For the most part, these are attractive people, however, they have little time to arrange their personal lives. This fact explains the high percentage of successful acquaintances - as a result of each meeting, according to statistics, at least one pair is formed.
The minimum age of those who are interested in such acquaintances is 20 years old. The bulk of men should be somewhat older than women, on average by 3-4 years, and the average age difference is about 5-7 years.
In general, speed-dating attracts a rather diverse audience, it is only important to find and develop the concept of your business, finding opportunities to give customers something that competitors do not yet have. There is a lot of scope for opportunities and extraordinary solutions in this enterprise. Speed dating business is ideal for creative entrepreneurs who know what can interest contemporaries.
Where to begin?
The classifier of types of economic activity refers such a business to the OKVED code 90: "Creative activity, in the field of art and organization of entertainment." You can register an individual entrepreneur, and if necessary, register a legal entity, it is preferable to create an LLC. This is explained by the fact that an individual entrepreneur and a limited liability company can operate under a simplified taxation system, limited to deductions of no more than 6% of income or 15% of operating profit. But this business does not involve being liable with property, therefore registration as an individual is sufficient.
What do you need for events?
For rent, you need to take a spacious room in a cafe, restaurant or establishment located in a cozy but accessible place. It should not be too noisy here, the atmosphere of mini-dates should be calm and relaxing.
Rental time is 2 - 3 hours, if it is not supposed to continue after the end of dating. The advantage of the organization is that there is no need for significant costs, both for rent and for full meals for guests and the purchase of any expensive consumables.
An important success factor is the promotion of events. It is necessary to create a website with information about the organization, the schedule of evenings, conditions for participation and prices. It is possible to bypass competitors in the region by optimizing the site in order to bring it to the first page of search engines for the necessary queries. These are not mandatory, but desirable investments.
Promotion in social networks has long been in trend. In addition, some popular dating communities, such as VKontakte, offer advertising posts, and this will be an effective way to announce your undertaking.
The work requires a small staff, while at the initial stage, the entrepreneur can take on the main tasks by hiring only one or two assistants. Their task is to communicate with customers by phone or on the Internet, because they will probably have a lot of questions. Business does not entail complex accounting calculations, voluminous tax reporting, payment of utility bills and security. Employees are offered to work not for a salary, but for a percentage of income, thereby motivating them to attract more visitors.
The leader is also responsible. His duties are to show attention to the guests, create the appropriate mood, here no one should feel embarrassed, because many came for the first time. It is necessary to help guests, as their attitude increases the chances of pairing, and the higher the percentage of those, the more good reviews the organization will receive.
Budget and payback calculations
The entrance ticket costs 1,000 rubles - this is the average price in Moscow and St. Petersburg, in the regions it is a little cheaper. In pre-sale, you can attract a price of about 700 rubles. It is quite realistic to recruit at least 10 men and the same number of women, then 20 thousand rubles will remain at the box office of the event. By doubling the number of people who came, you can collect 40 thousand and so on.
Expenses:
- Hall rental;
- meeting advertisement;
- leader's work;
- coffee, tea, soft drinks or champagne;
- badges, paper, pens.
After paying the entrance fee, guests should be comfortable without having to pay for anything else. Usually, everything is limited to providing each participant with a free drink.
The rental price is determined by the level of the institution and its area. A good minimum for speed dates is 20 people, so it's a good idea to look for roomy venues. If the participation of a small number of people is expected, it may take from 2 thousand rubles to pay rent in a medium-sized club or restaurant for each hour of rent. For a meeting on a large scale, you need to count on 5-10 thousand rubles / hour.
As a result, investments in the organization of one evening will cost an average of 5 to 50 thousand rubles depending on its scale. Excluding expenses, as a result of attracting 20 participants, 10 thousand or more rubles of net profit will remain on hand. For a daily income, this is quite worthy even for a big city. Income will grow due to the introduction of our own unique developments into the business, which will make events more diverse and attractive to a large audience.
* Calculations use average data for Russia
Today, no one is surprised by marriage agencies, this type of business has become quite widespread due to its effectiveness. However, not so long ago, a new concept of bringing together single people was proposed, which quickly gained popularity in the countries of Western culture. These are the so-called speed dating, or in the original speed-dating. They consist in the fact that there are single women and men in the same number, after which they are invited to a pre-arranged institution, and there they will quickly get to know each other.
Usually, girls sit on one side of the table, and the guys move from one girl to another until everyone gets to know everyone in private. The couple's conversation is short, this is required by the rules of the event, and therefore people immediately go on to get to know each other. After all this, people leave their preferences anonymously on special sheets, the organizers check for matches, if they are found, then personal contacts are sent to people who like each other. As a result, during the evening it is possible to find several couples, which is much more efficient than the work of a simple marriage agency. However, speed-dating is not aimed at doing something for the client, it simply finds a place for people who are open to meeting and communicating, and then everything depends on them. In this regard, speed-dating only helps in resolving the client's problem, but does not eliminate it on its own, so the contingent here is usually very different from the clients of the marriage agency.
That is why we can say that marriage agencies will not become competitive firms for a speed dating enterprise. As for direct competitors, even in big cities today such a business is not yet very common, it is only developing, so a newcomer has every chance to take his place. At the same time, speed-dating can also be focused on completely different people, the main thing is to develop the concept of your business correctly and offer your customers something that competitors do not yet have. In fact, in such an endeavor there are many opportunities to attract customers through unusual solutions.
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Speed-dating is still focused primarily on young people, so some interesting and spectacular events are offered, which are more likely to take place in the format of a party after they meet. In the classical sense, speed-dating is only a short dating session, after which all participants disperse. However, such events were chosen not only by single people, but simply by those who are looking for communication or new experiences, and their percentage is already quite high among event visitors. That is why speed-dating can slightly change the format depending on what the client is waiting for and what competitors are offering him. Therefore, this line of business is more suitable for creative people, sociable, those entrepreneurs who know what modern youth needs and what may interest them.
However, do not forget that initially speed-dating was focused mostly on people who have a good income, but have absolutely no time for their personal lives, which is why they needed speed dating, which initially carry a romantic or even erotic connotation. . Today, speed-dating is loved by a very diverse audience, and therefore it is necessary to take into account the interests of everyone, holding events of various topics.
This type of business is rather difficult to classify, but is best suited (OKPD 2) 93.29 Other entertainment and recreation services. In accordance with this, the OKVED code is selected. You can register as an individual entrepreneur, and if there is a need to register a legal entity, then it is better to choose a limited liability company. This is due to the fact that a simplified taxation system is available to an individual entrepreneur and a limited liability company, which allows transferring no more than 6 percent of income or 15 percent of operating profit to the state. Registration of a legal entity is an order of magnitude more complicated than registration of an individual entrepreneur, and since in this business you will not have to be liable with your own property for sure, it is better to remain an individual.
For work, you will not need your own office or premises, because all events will be held in cafes, restaurants and bars rented for the evening. Thus, you can save a lot by not paying monthly rent, although some speed dating organizations have their own representative office where they accept clients. However, usually such organizations also practice the work of a familiar marriage agency, for which they need an office. In any case, if there is a need for your own premises, then you do not need to find an office that is too large, one and two employees will work in it.
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Particular attention should be paid to the placement of information on all thematic resources. It is also desirable to create your own website, which will provide all the information about the organization, a schedule of evenings, prices and conditions of participation. In addition to creating a site, if there are a large number of competitors in the region of work, then you will have to pay for the optimization of the site so that it is on the first pages with search queries. In addition to the site, you should create your own pages on social networks, where you can find a very large number of potential customers. Some social networks offer advertising promotion on their portal, which can also be very effective. At the same time, advertising in local media will certainly not justify the funds invested in it, so you won’t have to deal with it.
The most serious difficulties can arise at the stage of finding premises, because each time you will need to find a new hall for the event. Depending on the theme of the party, the institution may also be different, but in any case, it is necessary to rent a whole hall for several hours, in which no one can enter, except for the participants of the event. At the same time, the employees of the institution also serve the participants, but usually everything is limited to providing one free drink. Only free it is very conditional, because its cost was originally included in the ticket price. In any case, the employees of the institution itself must also be in the hall along with the organizers.
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Typically, such events last no more than two hours, if a full-fledged party is not expected after the end of the acquaintance, but the time is chosen the most convenient for potential clients, that is, it is usually evening. There is a successful experience of companies that hold parties daily and even several times a day, although it is mostly convenient for clients to attend dating evenings on weekends. As the institution should be selected depending on the contingent and age group of visitors, an unpopular institution can alienate a significant part of the participants. Moreover, you need to find restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs that are counting on long-term cooperation and are ready to host parties regularly. On the other hand, after each event, you need to collect feedback from visitors in order to understand all the advantages and disadvantages of the evening spent, and if a large percentage of participants do not like the service or the institution itself, then this is a serious reason to think about whether to cooperate with it in the future.
The cost of rent can be very different depending on the level of the institution, and most importantly, on the size of the hall provided. Speed dates sometimes involve more than 30 people, so you need large rooms that are comfortable and roomy. If it is assumed that there will be few people, you will have to pay about three thousand rubles in an average club or restaurant for one hour of rent, if there are enough people, then you need to count on about 5-10 thousand. Also, you should not rent constantly noisy establishments, only if the proposed premises will not be completely soundproofed. The atmosphere at speed dating should be light, calm and relaxing, so lounge bars can be a very good platform. However, if after meeting some kind of party is expected, then in this case clubs are best suited.
The work requires the involvement of a small staff of employees, moreover, the entrepreneur can independently cope with all the tasks by hiring one or two assistants. The entrepreneur himself must perform the administrator and organizational work, and assistants can communicate with customers by phone or through social networks, find them and promote services. If a group of friends started such a business, then they can easily cope with all the tasks without the involvement of outside help. To solve all other tasks that are not related to making a profit for the organization, you need to turn to outsourcing companies that will perform them monthly for the entrepreneur. In this type of business, complex accounting and tax reporting is not expected, utility payments and security are not required, so monthly expenses will be small. Employees, as a rule, do not receive a fixed salary, but a percentage of income, because they also indirectly influence the number of visitors by promoting the company's services.
Quite often, special guests are invited to events of this kind, who can lead the subsequent party or simply act as a date organizer. In this case, speed-dating becomes not only direct dating and finding couples for single people, but also an entertainment event that lasts much longer, but also costs accordingly. In fact, for people who just want to find an interesting person to further socialize outside of the event, what kind of service is not interesting, any special guests and related parties will be in demand by young people who are looking for new and original leisure activities, but not is critically interested in finding relationships.
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The rest of the costs won't be too much, it may only require printing of advertising material and like sheets, but these are minor printing costs that even one party will more than cover. It is also worth taking care of the transfer of invitations to customers if you need to receive money as collateral, and not directly at the entrance. This may be a forced measure, or if the entrepreneur is afraid that a significant part of the customers who have already ordered berets will not come to the event. Also, many organizers of speed dating pre-client meet for an interview. This allows you to identify the type of client, his preferences and, possibly, mental deviations, for which he will have to politely refuse the opportunity to participate. Sometimes, for the convenience of customers, they can take the test via the Internet, but for this a special function must be built into the site. At the same time, it should be noted that not all speed dating organizations are testing their clients.
The responsibilities of the organizer already directly at the evening itself also include the obligation to monitor the behavior of the participants and even help them. The organizer must set the audience in the right mood, create an atmosphere of the evening so that no one feels constrained or uncomfortable. This is a very important point, because the mood of people directly affects the possibility of forming a couple, and the larger their percentage, the more efficient the operation of the enterprise, the more good reviews it will receive in the future. The host also takes care of the simple organization of the evening, for example, he monitors the time of the conversation and informs the participants about the need to change seats.
It is very important to accurately identify the people who will be attending the events. As already noted, speed-dating is most common among middle-class people who are very busy with work and do not find the opportunity to meet somewhere in a cafe or on the street. Thus, the bulk of visitors to speed dating are quite wealthy people who do not have any moral and physical disabilities. This may partly explain the success of most parties, since according to statistics, after a speed dating event, at least one couple develops. And this is in 2 hours without the intervention of third parties, and no marriage agency can guarantee such success. At the same time, quite often the agencies themselves began to turn to organizations that conduct speed dating in order for the clients of the marriage agency to participate in them. This only once again proves the effectiveness of such an undertaking.
Speed dating has also gained popularity among young people who are not very interested in serious relationships or are not interested in them at all, but only in friendship and communication. It is very rare to find a speed dating event where people over 35 are invited, but the age limit applies to the minimum age and is usually 20 years old. It is believed that the average age of a man should be slightly higher than that of women at such an event, so the male half is on average 3-4 years older.
If any theme of the event is supposed, this allows you to more accurately select people who already have some common interests. The organizer should try very hard to pick up people who are approximately similar in spirit and interests, so that in the end everyone is as satisfied as possible, even those who did not like anyone, but just got to communicate. At the same time, even the cost of an entrance ticket already allows you to form a group of people who are approximately similar in their social status. The minimum ticket price is about 500 rubles, but there is no well-thought-out organization at such events, and people often come there only for fun or out of curiosity. The average price for one visit today is about one and a half thousand rubles, but if a famous person is invited or a banquet is planned after they met, the cost can increase significantly.
It is also worth noting that speed-dating is beginning to be used not only for romantic acquaintances, but also for finding business partners or just people who have similar professional interests and seek to unite, that is, to find like-minded people. In this case, you can arrange parties that will be attended by investors or business angels and people with a proposal for a business idea. The experience of some companies in this area has also shown its fairly high efficiency, but to work in this direction, it will be necessary to attract a more serious staff, which should include a marketer and statistician, a psychologist, a consultant on the chosen direction, the organizers will have to conduct a full-fledged presentation, but participants must communicate with each other and independently select people with whom they are interested in dating. The cost of such an event is usually not much different from the cost of a simple speed date. However, this direction can be even more effective and promising for the entrepreneur himself.
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