Zest restaurant booking has moved into the text inbox. On Thursday the dining discovery startup launched a personal AI “restaurant concierge” that finds places to eat and can reserve a table through a message thread, without opening the app for every step.
Users text the concierge at (212) 470-6067. It can also be added to a group chat, where it blends each person’s tastes, puts options to a vote inside the thread, and books for the group once a choice is settled. That shift mirrors a wider move toward conversational agents that handle tasks once reserved for standalone apps.
How the text concierge works
People can ask for ideas by cuisine, craving, occasion, dietary restrictions or neighbourhood, and can query details such as how busy a place may be or whether it has Wi-Fi. The agent can send a menu to help the decision. When it is time to lock in a seat, it checks availability and books through connected services including OpenTable, Resy and SevenRooms.
Zest began testing the concierge last month and waited to launch until booking was ready. The company says the agent answers from a user’s own dining history and their friends’ history, so it does not need weeks of chat to learn preferences.
Taste data behind the suggestions
Zest started earlier this year after founding in November 2024 with $1.8 million in pre-seed backing from Alexis Ohanian at 776 and Steve Jang at Kindred Ventures. Its core idea links users’ credit cards—imported through financial services firm Plaid—to see where they actually eat. The company says it focuses only on food and drink transactions when building personalised maps and lists, then suggests places at home or while travelling.
Founder and chief executive Mario Gomez-Hall framed the product change plainly: the agent is now the product. “You text it, and it answers from your own history and your friends’,” he said, adding that it starts from where people have actually been rather than long questionnaires.
What Zest wants next
By putting zest restaurant booking inside SMS and group chats, the startup hopes to grow past its initial thousands of users and open revenue paths. Gomez-Hall said booking and ordering are the first lines: tables are booked through OpenTable or Resy today, with food ordering still to come, and transaction fees available to share in those flows. Over time, Zest is considering recommendations beyond restaurants, into other businesses and shopping.
For diners who already juggle group plans by phone, the pitch is simple—ask, vote and reserve in one thread. How widely the New York number and partner booking networks will serve cities outside the United States is not spelled out in the launch details.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Zest ek restaurant discovery app hai jo ab text message se kaam karta hai. Aap (212) 470-6067 par message bhej kar jagah dhundh sakte hain aur table book karwa sakte hain. Group chat mein daalne se sab ke tastes mila kar vote bhi ho sakta hai. Matlab pehle alag app kholna padta tha; ab seedha message se reservation tak ka kaam ho sakta hai.
