Matchmaker watchdog
It's Just Lunch
A date-arranging service for busy professionals — and the best-documented consumer-protection story in matchmaking.
What It's Just Lunch costs
Observed 2026-06-08. Where a fee is gated we say so — we never guess a number.
| What you pay for | Fee | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Date packages (3–12 dates) Not published; quoted after a consultation. Range reported by VIDA Select, a competing matchmaker — corroborate. | Reported ~$1,500–$6,000(gated)(reported) | source |
How it works: Consultation → sell a package of arranged first dates (no profiles shown) → pause/extension fees
Claims vs evidence
What they promise — and whether anything backs it up.
“"Personalised" matching for busy professionals”
ContestedA 2017/2020 class action alleged IJL charged for "personalised" matching while ignoring clients' stated preferences and using untrained staff — the opposite of the claim.
source
Flags
Red = a documented, serious issue · amber = a friction/credibility concern · green = something notably honest.
- 🔴
$64.75M class-action settlement (proven)
Final approval Mar 2020: $60M in date vouchers + $4.75M cash, over allegedly charging for "personalised" matching while ignoring stated preferences and using untrained staff; the NY subclass alleged a breach of NY's $1,000 cap on dating-service payments.
source - 🟡
EEOC discrimination settlement (proven)
A 2013 EEOC sex-discrimination suit (refusing to hire male dating directors) was settled for ~$900,000.
source - 🟡
Alleged breach of its own settlement
A 2020 class action alleged IJL continued the same deceptive "multiple matches available" representations after the settlement (proposed class = signups after Sept 2019).
source
Who owns It's Just Lunch?
Founded 1991 by Andrea McGinty. Operated as a franchise network ("independently owned and operated" branches).
Private-equity owned: The Riverside Company held it ~2006 until exiting Oct 2024 (the new buyer was not publicly named). A franchise model sits behind the "personalised service" marketing.
The verdict
The cautionary anchor for the whole vertical: a $64.75M settlement (plus a ~$900K EEOC settlement) over allegedly charging for "personalised" matching it did not deliver — followed by a fresh suit alleging it kept doing it. Fees are gated; the "boutique" feel sits on a PE-owned franchise.
Same lens, the whole industry
We decode dating apps, coaches and matchmakers the same way — what it costs, who owns it, and what the claims are worth. No affiliate money, anywhere.
Keep digging
We take no money from It's Just Lunch or any matchmaker. Figures observed 2026-06-08from the firm's own page, mainstream press, or court records; gated fees recorded as gated; figures from VIDA Select (a competing matchmaker) flagged as an interested source. See methodology.