No more sitting across the table from your blind date and realizing halfway through the appetizer that you are going to have to inflict pain on the “friend” who set you up.

No more need to come to your first date with a memorized excuse for why you have to leave, say, three hours early.

No more uncomfortable silences when you realize the bar patron you’ve been talking to and “really connecting with” for the past hour isn’t so single after all.

Vicky Leitnaker and her sister Rebecca Price believe their new business may eliminate those dating rituals and several others. The business is Ready-Set-Date, and it will bring the trendy concept of “speed dating” to the Lawrence area beginning next month.

Here’s how it works: An equal number of men and women pay about $30 to attend an event given by the company at a Lawrence restaurant or bar. The men and women are paired off at a table. And then the clock starts.

For the next seven minutes, the couple can ask any questions they want about each other  ranging from “What’s your job?” to “Boxers or briefs?” At the end of the seven minutes, a buzzer sounds and the conversation is over. Each person makes a few notes and then another seven-minute conversation begins with someone else from the party.

At the end of the evening, each participant turns in a “score card” that lists the guests they would like to see again and those they wouldn’t. Leitnaker and Price compile the results. If there are any matches  meaning two people who both say they’d like to see the other again  they’ll call or e-mail each person within 24 hours to provide phone numbers and last names, which are not used during the event.

“At that point, you are on your own,” Leitnaker said.

Leitnaker said she and her sister decided to start the business after reading about speed dating’s popularity on the East Coast.

“I think it is popular because it makes a lot of sense,” Leitnaker said. “The basic premise is that in seven minutes you’ll know if there is any potential there. You don’t have to invest a lot of time into something that may not work.”

Leitnaker said Ready-Set-Date was better than an Internet dating site because participants meet their potential date face-to-face and know right away “whether there’s a physical attraction.” And at $30 a session, or $20 for some special events, she said the service was substantially cheaper than many dating services.

The speed-dating concept hit the Kansas City metro area a few months ago, Leitnaker said. She said the idea would work in Lawrence because the community had its share of people who struggle in their search for that special someone.

“We both have friends in this town who are single but don’t want to be,” Leitnaker said. “For a lot of people, it still comes down to the question of where do you meet people. This will provide a fun alternative.”

Leitnaker said the company expected to do a fair amount of business with college students. But Ready-Set-Date’s target audience is single professionals, who may spend much of their time at work and may no longer fit in at the college bar scene.

“We think there are probably a lot of people in Lawrence who have found out that once you get past the college age, it is harder to meet people,” Leitnaker said.

Ready-Set-Date guarantees participants will meet at least seven people at each event. The minimum number of participants will be 14, but Leitnaker hopes the idea will become so popular that events attract 50 participants.

For the time being, the sisters are running the business as a part-time effort. Leitnaker is a part-time case manager for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Douglas County. Price is a field manager for Kansas Big Brothers/Big Sisters and former executive director for the Douglas County program.