THE ESSENTIALS IN 30 SECONDS

  • Zest's new concierge agent works over text messages and can be added to group chats, where it merges members' tastes, runs votes and books a table.
  • Recommendations draw on food and drink purchases from credit cards that users link through Plaid, according to the company.
  • The CEO says bookings currently go through OpenTable or Resy; food ordering is planned, and pricing has not been disclosed.

Zest, a startup that launched a restaurant discovery app earlier this year, has added an AI agent that people talk to by text message instead of inside an app. As reported by TechCrunch on October 30, the "restaurant concierge" suggests places to eat and can reserve a table without the user opening a booking service.

How the concierge works

Zest builds its picture of a user's taste from spending data. People link their credit cards through Plaid, and the company says it only looks at food and drink transactions. Users can then text the agent for ideas by cuisine, craving, occasion, dietary need or neighborhood, and ask follow-up questions about how busy a place is, whether it has Wi-Fi, or what is on the menu.

The agent can also join a group chat. There, it combines the preferences of everyone in the thread, holds a vote when the group cannot agree and books the chosen restaurant. Zest lists OpenTable, Resy and SevenRooms as connected services, while chief executive Mario Gomez-Hall told TechCrunch that bookings currently run through OpenTable or Resy. Ordering food is described as coming later. According to TechCrunch, Zest began testing the agent last month and delayed the launch until booking worked.

Business model and open questions

Gomez-Hall summed up the change in strategy: "The agent is the product now." He said booking and ordering would be the company's first sources of revenue. Zest, founded in November 2024, has raised a $1.8 million pre-seed round from Alexis Ohanian's firm 776 and Steve Jang of Kindred Ventures, and TechCrunch describes its user base as being in the early thousands.

In TechCrunch's own trial, the agent gave fairly good suggestions that fit time, party size and location. The publication also noted that table booking has been available in other apps for years, so the main difference is the convenience of handling everything in a text thread. The approach echoes other text-first assistants such as Poke and Instinct.

Several details remain unclear. Zest has not announced pricing or any fee for bookings, and the reports do not specify which cities are covered or how the agent handles restaurants that lack online reservations, a gap The Tech Buzz also highlighted. Users weighing the service should also consider that recommendations depend on granting access to card transaction data, even if limited to food and drink purchases.