Short answer: Zest is a personal AI agent. An AI restaurant concierge you text like a friend: it recommends places from where you and your friends actually eat, answers questions and sends menus, checks availability and books your table, and can join a group chat to blend everyone's tastes and run a vote.
Zest
Key facts
| Website | https://www.zestmaps.com/ |
|---|---|
| Vendor | Zest (founded Nov 2024; CEO Mario Gomez-Hall, technical co-founder Alex Moller) |
| Channels / category | Text (212) 470-6067, one-to-one or added to a group chat; the Zest map app is on iPhone and Android |
| Pricing / availability | Not published for the text concierge. Zest says booking and food ordering are its first revenue lines (TechCrunch, 30 Oct 2026) |
| Launched | 2026-10-29 |
| Funding (reported) | USD 1.8M pre-seed from Alexis Ohanian's 776 and Steve Jang at Kindred Ventures (TechCrunch) |
| Channels confirmed | SMS/text |
| From the site (verbatim) | “Zest maps every restaurant you’ve been to, automatically, and shows you where your friends keep going back. Free on iPhone.” |
| Sources | [1] [2] [3] |
| Last checked | 2026-11-11 |
What can Zest do?
- Zest introduced its AI restaurant concierge over text on Thursday 29 Oct 2026, after testing it since September source
- Text (212) 470-6067 for picks by cuisine, craving, occasion, dietary needs or neighbourhood; ask how busy a place is, whether it has Wi-Fi, or for the menu source
- Checks availability and books tables through connected services OpenTable, Resy and SevenRooms source
- Can be dropped into a group chat, where it blends everyone's tastes, settles indecision with an in-thread vote and books for the group source
- Learns your taste from real dining history: the Zest app links a card through Plaid with read-only access and keeps only food and drink visits source
- Zest's site lists 250K+ verified visits on the app source
- Recommendations also draw on more than 80 million reviews gathered from across the web source
- Founded Nov 2024 with USD 1.8M pre-seed from Alexis Ohanian at 776 and Steve Jang at Kindred Ventures source
- Food ordering is coming; expanding beyond restaurants to businesses and shopping is being considered source
Frequently asked questions
What is Zest?
An AI restaurant concierge you text like a friend: it recommends places from where you and your friends actually eat, answers questions and sends menus, checks availability and books your table, and can join a group chat to blend everyone's tastes and run a vote.
How much does Zest cost?
Not published for the text concierge. Zest says booking and food ordering are its first revenue lines (TechCrunch, 30 Oct 2026)
Compare Zest
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