UK
The elite Jewish-American dating app that’s set to swipe you off your feet
In its first venture outside the US, the Lox Club launches in London next week
April 4, 2025 10:05
In its first venture outside the US, the Lox Club launches in London next week
April 4, 2025 10:05Imagine a dating app designed to deliver a suave, ambitious Jewish partner straight into your inbox. An app where real-life matchmakers invested in the smooth running of your shidduch are just a click away.
That’s the fantasy that the Lox Club aims to deliver with its private dating app for “Jew-ish” people sick of swiping through the backwaters of Tinder. The start-up launched in the US back in 2020 but has only just arrived in London to save the city’s droves of lost and lonely wanderers. The launch party is taking place at a trendy Camden bar next week.
The member’s club is aimed at Jews, but there’s no in-app Beth Din verifying identity and being Jewish is not a prerequisite for being admitted. As founder Austin Kevitch has said: “It’s like a deli: culturally Jewish, but anyone can enjoy it.”
Kevitch came up with the idea when he was going through a breakup at 29 years old. His grandmother wouldn’t stop asking when he’d bring back a nice Jewish girlfriend, but he found traditional dating apps awkward. The website began as a joke, advertised as a “membership-based dating app for Jews with ridiculously high standards”. But the joke quickly took a serious turn: By 2021, there was reportedly a 20,000-strong waitlist.
Vogue has called the Lox Club a “Jewish Raya” — the ultra-exclusive dating app for celebrities and influencers. To be accepted into Kevitch’s digital deli you must fill out an application describing your career history, income and ambitions. You should expect your social media to be stalked by the app’s vetting team to see if you pass the vibe check.
It's not status they’re hunting for, Kevitch told Vogue, but rather well-rounded, humble and down-to-earth singles. “We’re looking for people who you’d bump into at a house party and end up talking with in a corner for hours.”
The Lox Club encourages users to swipe thoughtfully, with strict limits on the number of likes they can send in a given period. For those who’d prefer not to swipe at all, personalised matchmaking is offered as a premium service.
Once — or if — their profile is admitted, users acquire the golden ticket to a host of events, from BYOJM (Bring Your Own Jewish Mother) tandem speed dating nights to “Ask Me About My Pickle” Valentine’s Day parties and cosy shabbat dinners.
If the British version of the app is anything like the American one, hopeful singles will get to show off their edgy and sophisticated humour on their profiles by answering a series of prompts, including but not limited to: “weirdest sext,” “never have I ever,” “bar/bat mitzvah theme” and “most neurotic thing about you.”
On downloading the app, users are invited to read a story inspired by Kevitch’s late grandparents — Morris Spielman and his wife Josie — and their fictional speakeasy within a deli in Prohibition-era New York City. It’s all about setting the scene and creating an immersive experience — tugging the user into feeling that this is more than just an app, it’s something living and wistful, a community forged through chance encounters that could be world-changing.