Keisuke Kamijo, CEO of Mrk & Co., believes that this is a big problem (as do many other singles). His company has therefore release a new dating app called "Dine", the goal of which is to find you a match for dinner or drinks – but as quickly as possible. Being wonderful and charming in a text conversation doesn’t mean that you two will be compatible. The whole point of dine is to actually meet up with te other person in real life.

Mrk & Co. was started by people who had worked at DeNa, a Japanese gaming giant (and one that also partnered with Nintendo). However, Dine is a little different in that it removes a lot of the game-like elements, instead creating a single path towards a real life date. Quite impressed by the whole concept and idea, Apple even featured it on their list of "best new apps".

How Dine Works

Like most dating sites and apps, singles need to fill out a profile. There is an integration with Yelp, which allows you to fill out three bars and/or restaurants. Naturally, places you think would be perfect for the first date. You will then receive 2-5 people each day, as well as the places that they picked. From then, you can request a date with them.

After a date request is sent, and it is of course accepted, the chat function opens. You can then chat with them and see if there is any kind of chemistry. The big difference between Dine and Tinder, however, is that there is already a place that you have organized to meet up at. It makes the whole experience feel a lot less like you are chatting aimlessly.

According to Kamijo, a rough estimate is that around 50% of “date requests” turn into actual, real-life meetups. This is according to the data coming from the app’s beta testing done in Vancouver. Now it has spread all over North America, and there is no telling much further it will go. Of course, with an app like this, your own personal success will depend on how many people are in your area!