Why Is It So Hard to Make Plans With Friends?
There’s a universal moment in modern friendship: someone says, “We should get dinner!” and everyone agrees enthusiastically. Two weeks later, you’re 47 messages deep in a group chat, still no restaurant picked, and somehow... nothing’s on the calendar.
Sound familiar?
You’re not alone and it’s not your fault. Making plans with friends and family has become way harder than it should be.
The Group Chat Problem
Most social planning happens in group chats: iMessage, Snapchat, Instagram DMs, maybe a rogue email. These tools weren’t built for consensus. They were built for conversation.
That means when it’s time to make a real decision like where to go, when to meet, who’s in, things get messy fast. People flake, ghost, get frustrated. Messages get lost. And the one person who always ends up making the final call? Burned out.
“ Everyone throws out options, but no one really decides. Then I just say I’m fine with anything which annoys people.”
This isn’t just inconvenience. It’s decision fatigue. And it’s driving people to cancel more often or settle for the same three places on repeat.
Why Is It So Hard?
Psychologists call it choice overload. The more options you have and the more people involved the harder it is to commit. Add in social dynamics (who’s picky, who’s passive, who always leads), and you’ve got a recipe for planning disaster.
“The social politics of not being too assertive leads to frustration… but no one wants to be the one to speak up.”
And while there are dozens of apps for restaurant discovery, none of them are built for group decision-making. Yelp and Google show you stale ratings from the kind of people who usually tend to leave ratings. They don’t help you find consensus.
What People Actually Want
From dozens of in-depth interviews we conducted, we heard the same themes again and again:
Personalization That Gets the Vibe
Not just menus and maps — users want places that match the mood, the moment, and the aesthetic. Whether it’s a cute brunch spot or low-key cocktails, the vibe matters as much as the cuisine.“I’m big on vibes. Like, what’s the aesthetic? Are we dressing up?”
No Mental Load
People don’t want to be the group planner, the calendar wrangler, or the one who has to suggest 10 places just to get ghosted. They want a tool that does the emotional labor for them.“Just reduce the mental load. That’s the biggest thing.”
Social Alignment
Users want to feel seen by their group even if their picks don’t win. Getting a say (and seeing others’ choices) creates social comfort and buy-in. It’s not about being in control, it’s about not being invisible.“Even if I’m the only no, I’d feel like my voice was heard.”
People don’t want more tools. They want the right one. Something that handles location, preferences, vibe, and availability without turning it into another job.
Meet ForkYes (Almost)
We built ForkYes to solve this.
It’s not a poll. You don’t have to suggest places. You just swipe through a curated set of options based on your group’s preferences, schedule, and location and ForkYes finds the match.
After your group is done swiping, ForkYes throws a confetti party to celebrate finding the restaurant or venue your whole group will enjoy
It even uses AI to learn your style over time. Casual tacos at 7? Date-night sushi at 8:30? Dessert after dinner? We’re building for how people go out, not just where.
And yes it’s powered by a patent-pending group consensus engine, designed for real-life social planning.
We’re launching Soon
We’re going to be testing in Indianapolis in the next few months and then coming to your city! If you're tired of group chat chaos and want to be one of the first to try ForkYes, you can join the waitlist here.
You’ll get notification, behind-the-scenes updates, and maybe a few perks for being a founding user.
Because making plans shouldn’t be harder than the night out itself.