There are two major types of competing websites: dating sites and recipe sites. Very few sites actually attempt to promote cooking as a social activity, but those that did were quite similar in feel to recipe sites.

Dating sites focus on pairing people up based on demographics, hobbies, and preferences. While we are to some extent concerned with matching these criteria, our focus on social groups rather than creating couples means we’re less concerned with the fine-grained details of personality and future life plans. We found that dating sites often use cooler colors, and showed primarily images of single people or couples looking delighted.

Food-based sites focus on the selection of ingredients, the recipes, and the preparation of dishes or whole meals. Some will provide suggestions on hosting the perfect dinner party, which dishes go with which, or perhaps food-and-wine pairings. In contrast to dating sites, recipe and food sites tend to use warmer colors and feature pictures of food and drinks.

"Thousands of people list 'cooking' in their dating profiles."

• untapped market, only one site was even close to our idea
• reviews are important when selecting anything online
• viewing upcoming events by date is most common