Revolutionizing Restaurant Discovery with Real-World Data
A new startup is changing the way people find their next favorite dining spot—and possibly more in the future. Zest, a recently launched restaurant discovery app, leverages a unique combination of transaction data and artificial intelligence to provide personalized restaurant recommendations. Instead of relying solely on user reviews or curated lists, Zest’s suggestions are based on where people actually go to eat, drink, or grab coffee, reflecting authentic dining habits.
Founded in November 2024, Zest has secured $1.8 million in pre-seed funding from notable investors including Alexis Ohanian of 776 and Steve Jang at Kindred Ventures. Since its inception, the app has been in beta, initially inviting friends and family before gradually expanding its user base. Following its public launch, Zest has already recorded over 100,000 visits within weeks, indicating rapid growth and strong user interest.
How Zest Works: Personalized Dining Maps Powered by Your Credit Card
Unlike many apps that let users create dining wishlists or save favorite restaurants, Zest builds recommendations grounded in verified transaction data. Users link their credit card to the app, which then imports their dining history to create a personalized “dining map” that others can follow. To avoid clutter, the app filters out fast-casual and fast-food purchases, focusing on more curated dining experiences.
As the app learns more about a user’s dining patterns—including frequency and spend—it refines its recommendations, suggesting new places that align with one’s tastes. Users can also follow friends or curated profiles, gaining insight into popular spots both locally and when traveling.
Trusted Data Integration and Privacy Considerations
Zest connects to users’ credit card data through Plaid, a widely trusted financial services platform used by banks and fintech apps. This partnership ensures secure access to credit card transactions while filtering only the food and drink categories for import, maintaining user privacy by excluding unrelated spending data.
The idea of sharing purchase data to discover trends is not entirely new. Venmo, for example, has built a social network around where people spend money, and in the early 2010s, startups like Blippy attempted to create recommendation feeds based on purchase history. However, such early efforts faltered due to limited functionality and consumer hesitation around data sharing.
Zest differentiates itself by building a recommendation network that evolves with user preferences, rather than merely sharing raw spending data. This approach aligns with improved consumer comfort around data-sharing in exchange for clear value, as seen in apps like Apple’s Find My Friends and Snap Map.
Curating Hidden Gems Over Prestige
“Our approach with Zest, by doing it via verified dining spend, we actually think that we surface more places that are actually interesting. Instead of it being about social posturing and sharing that you went to this Michelin star restaurant or that,” explains Zest co-founder Mario Gomez-Hall. Gomez-Hall, previously head of Design at social calendaring app Saturn (acquired by Snap), emphasizes that Zest highlights regular spots—the dependable burrito joint or neighborhood café—based on frequency and spending patterns rather than prestige.
Technical co-founder Alex Moller brings experience from Apple and other tech ventures, helping to build the sophisticated AI and data processing that powers Zest’s personalized recommendations.
Building a Social Network of Taste
Drawing on his previous experience with Cymbal, a music curation startup, Gomez-Hall understands how social networks built around shared tastes can connect people beyond their immediate circles. With Zest, this concept is applied to dining. “There’s a limited set of restaurants in any city,” he says. “It’s really all about curation and finding the neighborhood haunts, the hidden gems.”
To enhance its recommendations, Zest incorporates over 80 million reviews sourced from a wide range of platforms—from prestigious guides like Michelin to community-driven sites such as Reddit. This blend of expert and grassroots insights helps the app develop a nuanced understanding of restaurants users save and visit.
New Features and Future Expansion
This month, Zest is rolling out a feature that allows users to write freeform notes about dining spots—sharing tips on reservations, recommended dishes, or general impressions. Additionally, the app plans to introduce “Fresh Picks,” a personalized discovery feature modeled after Spotify’s Discovery Weekly playlist, to help users explore new restaurants in their city.
Looking further ahead, Zest aims to expand beyond food, curating other city hotspots such as shopping destinations. “When we named the company, we named it Zest because it was a nod to food, but it wasn’t 100% food. It’s like a ‘zest for life,’ exploration, and I think longer-term, we could totally see a world where we add shopping,” Gomez-Hall notes.
Conclusion
Zest’s innovative use of real transaction data combined with AI offers a fresh approach to restaurant discovery that prioritizes authenticity, personalization, and community-curated insights. Its rapid adoption and thoughtful design suggest a promising future for the app as it seeks to redefine how people explore dining and urban experiences.
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Read more about Zest’s launch and vision Here.
