# How Buffet works Buffet is an iOS app for meeting people in real life. Members claim a spot at curated weekly events — dinners, activities, nights out — and once three people join, a group chat opens automatically so the group can make a plan. There are two ways to meet someone on Buffet: join a **weekly event** and get put in a small group, or send a **1:1 invite** to one person. Most members use both. ## How do you join an event on Buffet? - Get a plate. Each week the team publishes a handful of curated events at real venues — dinners, activities, nights out. Claiming a spot is called getting a plate. Nothing is booked and nothing is charged at this stage. - Wait for the group to form. Once 3 people have claimed the same event, Buffet creates a group chat with all of you automatically. If an event never reaches 3 people it does not run, and your plate is returned. - Sort out the details. The group chat appears in your Messages tab the moment it opens. Times, table, who is bringing what — that is the group’s to settle. - Show up. That is the entire product. Groups fill to 6 people and then split, so a popular event becomes several small tables rather than one unwieldy one. The intent is a group small enough to hold a single conversation. ## How does the 1:1 side work? The **1:1** tab shows a short, curated list of individual members each day — not an infinite feed. Each person comes with a match percentage and a one-line note on why you might get along. You can filter by gender. Rather than sending a message, you send an **invite to a specific place**: you pick a venue and optionally add a note. The app is blunt about which works better — invites with a note get answered. If the other person accepts, a direct chat opens. Free members see a handful of profiles a day and Buffet+ members see twenty. When you have worked through the day’s list, it resets the following day. ## What is the reliability score? Every member starts at **80 out of 100**. It moves based on whether you actually turn up to things you claimed a plate for. The point is that a group of strangers has no other way to know whether the fourth person is going to appear. Buffet+ members can see other members’ scores. Free members cannot see scores but still have one. ## What is The Afterparty? The Afterparty is a single end-of-night venue that everyone out on Buffet that evening converges on. Its location is hidden until a set time, then revealed in the app — so separate small tables turn into one larger group later in the night if people want it. ## Do I have to create the events myself? No — and you cannot. Every event is curated by the Buffet team, which is the main structural difference between Buffet and an open platform like [Meetup](https://buffetreviews.org/vs/meetup). It means a much smaller calendar (a handful of a week) with a much higher floor on quality, and it means nobody has to volunteer to organise anything. ## What happens if nobody shows up? If an event does not reach 3 sign-ups it simply does not run, and your plate returns to you — nothing was booked, so there is nothing to cancel. If an individual no-shows after the group forms, their reliability score takes the hit. ## What do I need to get started? An iPhone running iOS 17.0 or later, a phone number to verify, and a profile. Onboarding takes a few minutes: name, phone verification, a short “this or that” preference game that seeds your matching, and your city. Then you are looking at this week’s events. [Get Buffet on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/buffetapp/id6451276445)