Zest launches an AI text concierge for restaurant recommendations
Zest has introduced a personal AI-powered restaurant concierge that operates through text messages, giving users recommendations and allowing them to book tables through OpenTable, Resy and SevenRooms. The restaurant discovery startup says the feature can respond to requests based on a user’s dining history and preferences rather than requiring a long onboarding conversation.
Founded in November 2024, Zest launched its restaurant discovery app earlier this year. The company raised $1.8 million in pre-seed funding from Alexis Ohanian at 776 and Steve Jang at Kindred Ventures. Its new concierge shifts the core restaurant-search experience from the app into a text-message thread.
Recommendations and reservations in one conversation
Users start by texting the Zest concierge at (212) 470-6067. They can request venues by cuisine, craving, occasion, dietary restriction or neighbourhood, and ask follow-up questions about factors such as likely crowding, Wi-Fi or menus. The concierge can then check availability and present booking times before completing a reservation through its connected services.
Zest also supports group chats. It can combine the tastes of people in the conversation, suggest restaurants intended to suit the group, run an in-thread vote to resolve indecision and book a table without forcing participants to leave the message thread.
The company began testing the concierge last month but held the public launch until booking capabilities were available. In testing reported by TechCrunch, the system returned recommendations matched to dining tastes and conditions including time of day, party size and location.
Dining data is the basis for personalisation
Zest’s app links to users’ credit cards and imports transaction data through Plaid, a financial services company used by banks, fintech products and budgeting apps. Zest says it uses only food and drink category transactions to build personalised maps and lists, helping it infer where users have actually eaten and which places may suit them next.
Founder and CEO Mario Gomez-Hall said the approach lets the agent begin with a record of real-world visits and, where relevant, a user’s friends’ history. The company presents that data foundation as a way to personalise recommendations faster than a general assistant that must first gather preferences through questions.
Transaction flows are Zest’s first revenue focus
Zest is positioning bookings and future food ordering as its first revenue lines. Gomez-Hall said the company participates in transactions when it books through OpenTable or Resy, while food ordering is planned. Over time, Zest is considering using its recommendation system for businesses, shopping and other categories.
The launch illustrates how an AI agent can join recommendation, comparison and transaction steps inside a familiar communications channel. For businesses designing customer journeys, the practical implication is to identify tasks where a conversation can carry users from a specific request through to a completed booking while retaining the data and service integrations needed to make that handoff useful.