It's Just Lunch

For busy professionals struggling to squeeze dating into their already packed agendas, It’s Just Lunch claims to offer a personalized matchmaking service that works behind the scenes to set them up on personal, private, and convenient dates.

Founded in 1991, the company now has over 150 locations around the world where professional matchmakers seek out suitable dates for their clients.

It’s Just Lunch members are interviewed about their lifestyle, relationship goals, and dating preferences by the matchmakers.

These matchmakers then seek out appropriate matches from their pool of members, coordinate the first date, and debrief with them afterward to learn what worked and what needs to change for the future.

Instead of seeing each person as a profile on a website, IJL matchmakers conduct confidential phone interviews to answer any questions about the service as well as discover the personal attributes, previous dating experiences, and life goals of their potential clients.

In this analysis, we take a detailed look at what It’s Just Lunch offers, to help you decide if this service is right for you.

Benefits

As an industry, professional matchmaking services seek to guide the process of finding love for people who are too busy or too disillusioned to set up dates for themselves.

It’s Just Lunch lets you outsource the partner search process, similar to how you might trust your investment decisions to a financial planner.

In this way, the company claims to streamline the modern dating process, so you don’t spend hours endlessly scrolling through online profiles.

Once you sign up, you’re guaranteed to go on dates with hand-selected partners. The company handles every detail of these dates, from the destination to the dinner reservations.

It’s Just Lunch has a customer support team that is available by phone to offer coaching, dating advice, and general service information for their clients.

But this begs a bigger question—is signing up for a matchmaking service a good idea in the first place?

Amber Artis has worked as a professional matchmaker since 1998, and she is the founder and CEO of the boutique matchmaking firm Select Date Society. In her view, working with a matchmaker offers advantages for falling in love you won’t get otherwise.

“Working with a matchmaker is a better strategy for meeting the right partner than using online dating for a number of reasons,” she told us.

“A matchmaker makes it her full-time job to find her clients the one! In my 22 years as a matchmaker, clients often share with me that they make great decisions in every area of their life except when it comes to love.

“A matchmaker is an expert when it comes to dating and can introduce you to the right potentials without wasting your time.”

In other words, working with a matchmaker can be a great way to get some expert insight into your dating life, especially if you don’t have the time or inclination to sort through potential options yourself.

How It’s Just Lunch Works

If you’re intrigued by IJL, the first step is letting the company schedule a free phone-based private interview. This gives them a chance to answer your questions, gather your personal information, and clarify what you are looking for in a match.

The purpose of this interview is for the matchmakers to learn what did and didn’t work in your past relationships, as well as learn about your hobbies, passions, and long-term relationship goals.

Once you complete the interview, you have the option to sign up for your preferred level of membership. After you commit, It’s Just Lunch matchmakers will comb their collection of clients to search for potential matches.

When IJL finds a good fit, a matchmaker will call both parties separately and gauge their interest in each other.

You will only receive each other’s first names, and email addresses; phone numbers, and additional personal information is never disclosed before a first date.

Assuming both parties are interested, a low-pressure date is scheduled for meeting face to face. If sparks fly and you choose to continue seeing each other, you can suspend your It’s Just Lunch membership to see where things lead.

No matter the result of the date, the matchmaking team will debrief with you to get your opinion and start seeking out a different match if necessary.

IJL states that honest feedback is an essential part of the matchmaking process, as it provides the information the matchmakers need to fine-tune future matches and improve your dating experience.

While the company can’t guarantee that you’ll find your soulmate, they do promise that you will go on dates that can open you up to new possibilities for your personal life and renew your enthusiasm for falling in love.

It’s Just Lunch doesn’t perform background checks because it believes that they would provide clients with a false sense of security.

Instead, the company strives to empower clients to use good judgment and take responsibility for their own safety.

Pricing

Signing up for It’s Just Lunch guarantees you’ll go on dates with a variety of matches, personalized attention from your matchmaking team, and further aid and guidance along the way.

The cost of an IJL membership will vary, depending primarily on your location and the number of dates you want to go on. If you’re willing to travel, you can sign up for multi-city packages for a larger pool of prospects.

From our assessment, you can expect to pay around $2,000–$5,000 for a basic membership. You’ll get further information about your personal costs during the interview process.

Analysis of Customer Reviews

Below are our key takeaways from IJL customer reviews on our website as well as other platforms:

Common Compliments:

• Some users had great experiences with quality matches and professional matchmakers
• Valuable service for making connections if you don’t want to date online
• Many members connect with their matchmakers and felt they received great personalized service

Common Complaints:

• Members pay lots of money for the service, often without ever going on dates
• Many are matched with people who don’t fit their criteria
• Many had dates suspiciously cancel at the last minute
• Difficult to get refunds
• Low-quality date options
• Members were often shuffled between different matchmakers
• Expensive, tedious signup process

Alternatives to It’s Just Lunch

These two matchmaking services promise similar things. Both claim to let you outsource your love life to experts so that all you need to do is show up on dates.

They also each promise to improve in value over time, as your matchmaker will use your feedback from every date to guide the search for the next one.

However, each of these services suffers from the same downsides. First, you’ll need to put a lot of money down to start going on dates, with a minimal guarantee that you’ll like who you meet in the process.

Likewise, the pool of potential dates might be limited, depending on where you live. Unless you live in a big city or are willing to travel to one, there’s a decent chance that either matchmaking site is working with just a few hundred potential suitors.

If a large applicant pool is a significant concern for you, we suggest going the direction of It’s Just Lunch. This more-established matchmaking business is available in more US cities, which means you’ll likely have more prospects to consider.

The Bottom Line

It’s Just Lunch claims to offer a dating solution for busy urban professionals who want to find someone to spend their life with. Our research shows that this site seems to be a viable option for anyone looking to go in a different direction with their dating life—so long as you’re willing to pay for it.

While the service is more expensive than online dating, our research looking into the reviews left by hundreds of It’s Just Lunch members shows that customers who are seeking a personalized approach to their dating life often appreciate it.

Besides the initial phone interview, It’s Just Lunch clients report that they liked that they didn’t need to put any effort into finding matches or arranging their dates.

However, customer feedback also shows this service can be limiting. If you want to have some autonomy over the search and planning process of your dating life, you could experience frustration with It’s Just Lunches’ top-level management style.

If you live in a city and struggle to find the time to make meaningful connections with potential dates, then we think It’s Just Lunch might offer you an option for making connections with datable partners, without the initial effort of online dating.