Sunday lunch, a birthday at your parents’ place, a holiday table where the same question comes up every year. A companion is a guest who takes the pressure off: someone who is good at meeting people, will pass the plates and ask your aunt about her garden, and then go home. Strictly platonic, and agreed in writing before they accept.
What happens
You write the plan when you book: the restaurant or the address, the time, who will be there, and what you would like from the evening — a buffer, a conversationalist, someone who has met a difficult parent before. The companion accepts that plan or declines it, and declining is free.
Dinner bookings usually run two to four hours. If it stretches, you extend from the booking page. The first meeting with a new companion is in a public place, and a family home is not one — so meet at a café nearby before you walk in together, or make the first dinner a restaurant one.
You do not owe your family an explanation, and neither does your companion. What they will not do is anything past the platonic line, which is the same at your mother’s table as anywhere else. Dinner is yours to pay for; the booking covers their time.
On the booking form this is an in-person date, with a plan along the lines of “Dinner with family, at a restaurant or at home after a first public meeting”.
Where this is open today
Browsing and video dates: open — browse companions.
- In-person dates in Toronto open at 8 approved local companions — not open yet
- In-person dates in Ottawa open at 8 approved local companions — not open yet
- In-person dates in Mississauga open at 8 approved local companions — not open yet
- In-person dates in Hamilton open at 8 approved local companions — not open yet
- In-person dates in London open at 8 approved local companions — not open yet
How booking works
Everyone on the site passes an 18+ age check before they can message anyone. Companions write their own profiles and set their own hourly rate.
You pick a companion, a date and a length. For an in-person date you also write the plan — where, when, what you have in mind — and the companion reads it before accepting. They can decline, and you are never charged for a request they turn down.
A chat opens the moment you send the request, so the two of you can settle the details; it closes when the date is done.
First in-person meetings happen in public places — a café, a restaurant, a busy street — and either person can end any date at any time. Every message is screened, and a person reads every report.
What it costs
The price is their hourly rate times the hours you book, plus a 20% platform fee, shown as one total before you confirm — a two-hour date at $40 an hour, as an example, is $80 to the companion and $96 on your card. They keep 100% of their rate; the fee never comes out of it.
Your card is authorized when you book and charged after the date has happened. If it is declined or cancelled first, the hold is released and nothing is charged. More than 48 hours before the date, a full refund; 24 to 48 hours, 75% back; 2 to 24 hours, 50% back; inside two hours or a no-show, none. Our fee comes back in full at every step, and a companion cancelling is always a full refund.
Questions people ask
Can I book the same companion again for the next dinner?
Yes. Rebooking is the same flow as booking, and the chat between you reopens for the new date. Companions are never obliged to accept, so a good first dinner is the best way to get a second.
What if my family asks questions?
Answer what you like. Companions are used to meeting people and follow your lead on how you introduce them. If a conversation heads somewhere either of you is not comfortable with, either person can end the date — that is written into the community rules.
Does it have to be in person?
No. A cook-together video date — the same recipe in two kitchens, then dinner across the screen — is open everywhere once browsing opens, and it is not tied to a city. In-person dinners happen in the companion’s own city, once in-person is open there.
Thinking of being the person someone books for this? Become a companion — you set your own rate, keep all of it, and choose every booking.