Salad, we can all agree, is a profoundly isolating meal in our age: Where a family might once have shared a big bowl of the stuff, more commonly we see office drones sadly purchasing individual, customized portions. But one New York restaurant chain wants to change that—with an app that promises to connect you to your “salad soulmate.”
SaladMatch is a service developed by Just Salad, a franchise that features reusable bowls, a healthy menu, and during lunch hour, a line that stretches out the door. The company at some point realized that “their customers really hit it off while waiting in line” and decided to test the idea of salad compatibility further.
The app works like most other dating software—though it’s perhaps not quite as robust as this website catering to gluten-free singles—with messaging, profiles, and photos. The gimmick is that your profile also gets into detail about your salad habits: Do you like meat in your salads, or are you vegan? Do you prefer to make salads yourself, or use seasonal ingredients? Do you “only eat wraps,” and if so, why are you on a service called SaladMatch?
If you’d like to restrict your dating pool to the customers of a particular salad chain, this is definitely the best way to facilitate that. Users indicate their interest in each other, and a match is made when interest is mutual. At that point, you’re prompted to meet up for a salad lunch at—where else?—Just Salad.
You have the option of meeting at someone’s apartment to whip up your own salad, of course, just to gauge the kitchen chemistry. But really, don’t you owe Just Salad your business? They’re trying to help you find true love, after all, which is more than I can say for Subway. Nevertheless, there will always be the cynics and the doubters:
Photo by Andy Grange/Flickr
