How Much Is An Asian American Spouse Worth?

How much is an Asian American spouse worth? Janis Spindel’s new Asian American matchmaking service will charge Asian American men a minimum of $5000 to match them with a prospective wife. What makes her think that men will pay that? She describes why in this press release.

Janis Spindel already has a matchmaking business that focuses on men as clients. She says that she was approached by an Asian matchmaker who wanted to use her business model and expertise to launch a new division to serve “young Asian Americans who are pressured by their parents to get married and have children.”  She also claims that Asian American parents are willing to pay matchmakers to make that happen.

Spindel’s business model has men paying $5000 at the lowest of two tiers of service after careful screening. Asian American women pay $275 and have to go through the same screening process. From a business standpoint, her move into this new market seems very clever.  She already has the infrastructure for a matchmaking service set up and operational, and expanding into a new market with the same model could be done at a relatively low cost. Having already expanded into the gay men matchmaking market, she is now expanding into the Asian American market and possibly other niche markets where as she puts it:

I realized this could be the start of an amazing launch of multiple niche matchmaking businesses. For instance, other cultures around the world force their children to marry within a specific religion or race. That opens the doors to other niche markets.

I have to say that I do find this last quote somewhat disturbing. Also disturbing is that the fee structure of her business model implies that as an Asian American man, I am only worth 5.5% of what an Asian American woman is worth, and that is at the lowest tier of service. I do credit Spindel with being a clever businesswoman — even if this venture fails, the start-up costs couldn’t be all that great since she has already established the basic infrastructure for making this venture work.

I still wonder whether Asian American men and women will pay these prices, although I think Spindel is definitely targeting an upscale clientele. What do you all think? Would you use such a service? Would anyone you know use it? Do you think it will be successful?

The first office will open in New York in November and then others will open on the West Coast.