Are you a single female seeking a tall, handsome male with a nice smile, sexy body and promising future?
Hurry Date, a new, nationwide trend in dating that just arrived in the Valley, can help you cut the search down to a minimum.
"It's not a dating service, it's a dating party," said Ken Deckinger, 28-year-old CEO of Hurry Date.
Originally launched a year and a half ago, Hurry Date is a group date that involves approximately 15 girls and 15 guys, participating in an activity called speed dating, a concept developed by a rabbi in Los Angeles.
"The first event was at a place called H2K in Chelsea, New York," Deckinger said. "And from there we branched off."
Twenty-five eager singles were waiting at Scottsdale bar Six last Wednesday for the Hurry Date's kick-off event to begin.
The men were visibly anxious, while the women were steadily drinking.
The women remained stationed around the bar, while the guys rotated around them at the sound of a whistle that the host blew at 3-minute intervals.
Deckinger said he noticed that often the men needed some extra coaxing to move on after three minutes.
He made sure to go around to each table, and acknowledge that he knew that they liked each other, but they must move on.
The waitresses frequented the area, making sure some of the more nervous looking individuals made it through to the end.
"We created this format, called Hurry Date, so we could have a high energy, very fast dating party," Deckinger said.
At the end of the three-minute date, Hurry Daters marked "yes" or "no" on a tally sheet provided for them, marking whether or not they would like to see their dates again.
Deckinger said he wasn't sure if the Valley would be ready for this brand of scorecard dating, so he waited until he thought there was a market for it before bringing it to Phoenix.
"We're an East Coast company, and we know the East Coast market," he said. "Then we went out to the West Coast, and now were moving our way in, basically."
The first few months of Hurry Date's events in the Valley will be held once a month at Six.
Deckinger added that Hurry Date is trying to cater to different types of people—there are suggested age ranges—but as long as you are old enough to enter the bar, you can participate.
"We're offering different events for different age groups," he said. "We're offering a 25-35-year-olds, were offering a 35-45-year-old age group [and] we're going to be launching Gay Hurry Date here in January."
Gay Hurry Date is already going on in New York, London, Chicago, Boston and Washington, D.C., he said.
Deckinger said that he was enthusiastic about the large turnout of Phoenix Hurry Date.
"I think tonight was fantastic, it went very well," he said. "The crowd was great, they were attractive [and] they were very interesting. They were very nice people, and I think everyone had a great time."
Deckinger said Hurry Date has been successful at creating relationships for people.
"Tons of people are dating," he said. "Last month we had our first [marriage] engagement out of Atlanta."
Hurry Dater Kristin Ellis, 23, from Michigan commented on the convenience of a short date.
"It's really easy to talk to people for three minutes," she said. "It's so easy to just talk to people, and if you are shy, you're kind of forced to talk, they have a list of [suggested] questions on the table in front of you."
ASU biology junior and Six employee Dylan Vicha liked the publicity that a dating service brought to his workplace, but wasn't sure whether he would ever participate in the dating.
"I think it sounds fun if you keep an open mind, but I would never want to meet my wife here," he said.
Reach the reporter at nicole.girard@asu.edu.
