Three years after starting Dunedin Dating, Jane Metcalfe is still finding new ways to provide the speed-dating service to people in Dunedin and Invercargill.
Just recently, after persistent calls, she started a new category for those people aged between 60 and 75.
But after a telephone call from an 80-year-old, in Invercargill, she is making an exception after ascertaining the man in question plays golf twice a week and dances regularly.
"He must look 75," she said with a huge laugh.
Ms Metcalfe (36) decided three years ago that internet dating was not for her.
In 2006, she had a house and a job but needed to find a man.
She went on to internet dating sites and found a whole lot of "nice people" but realised they did not really want to meet.
She then found some men who did want to meet her but had difficulty finding places where both she and the man felt comfortable having a beer.
"I heard about speed dating but no-one brought it to Dunedin."
Ms Metcalfe collared Phil Ellis, from Craft and 10 Bar, and said if he could provide a venue she would provide the people.
Speed dating in Dunedin was started with 30 people attending the first event in 2006.
About 30 people attend every weekly event and Ms Metcalfe separates the age ranges out to groups of: 25 to 35; 28 to 42; 38 to 52; 45 to 62; and 60 to 75.
There was a crossover between the ages to cater for people who were close to one age or another but could not decide where they were better suited.
Speed dating was proving popular for a variety of reasons, not the least being the busy lifestyles people led and the change in the way people categorised themselves, she said.
Thirty or 40 years ago, people could go to a weekend dance and know immediately if people were single or married.
Now, they could be single, with a partner in an open relationship and still regard themselves as single, or a variety of other combinations.
"There are no visual signs and fewer community signs. No-one knows anyone any more.
"I can spend an hour chatting up a bloke and he will never tell me he is married with three kids. Having a bunch of single people together means that is one question they don't have to ask."
Not that some married men had not tried to get in on the action, Ms Metcalfe said.
One turned up to speed dating wearing his wedding ring and another "drongo" turned up and told the women he was married but was checking out his options.
Turnover for Dunedin Dating had reached $45,000 annually.
Ms Metcalfe charged $30 a person for speed dating.
Although she gets some criticism about charging from customers, she is happy to point out it costs $100 a person in Auckland.
There were spin-offs for the wider business community from the potential matches made at speed dating, she said.
Restaurants, cafes, taxis, florists and hotels were all known to have benefitted from people taking the next step after meeting at speed dating.
Asked how the balance of men versus women worked, she said that in the 25-35 group she struggled to get women to attend, but in the 60-75 group, she would like more men.
Other groups worked out at 50-50, but men were notoriously late bookers so she sometimes spent Thursday afternoons on the telephone convincing men to attend.
"I have to have complete faith men will book in. I have run hundreds of these things. It is now a case of knowing it will happen."
At the event, Ms Metcalfe meets each person as they arrive and has a chat to them, putting them at ease and recommending some things not to talk about, including past relationships.
When the event starts, couples talk for five minutes before she rings the bell and people move around.
Not everyone found their match at speed dating and some went along just to find people to talk to in a non-threatening social situation, she said.
"You can't wave the politically correct wand over speed dating. There will always be people more popular than others. It is like picking the bullrush team at school.
"But on the night, everyone has as good a time as anyone else."
