Zest: A new app showing where people actually eat

A new startup aims to completely change how people find their favorite dining spots. The new app, called Zest, uses a combination of transaction data and AI to provide personalized recommendations based on where users actually eat, drink, or grab coffee. This is reported by Techcrunch.com reports .

Founded in November 2024, the Zest project has already raised $1.8 million in pre-seed funding from investors such as Alexis Ohanian (776) and Steve Jang (Kindred Ventures). After successfully passing the beta-test phase, the app is now available to the general public. Within a few weeks of launch, it attracted over 100,000 visits and continues to expand its user base.

The main advantage of the Zest app is that its recommendations are based on real-world data rather than dry ratings. Users link their credit cards to the app via Plaid. The system filters out expenses only in the food and beverage category to create a personalized dining map. Fast-food outlets are excluded from the list to avoid cluttering the map.

One of the app's founders, Mario Gomez-Hall (formerly head of design at the Saturn app), and technical co-founder Alex Moller (with experience at Apple and other major companies) emphasize the social aspect of the project. They believe Zest helps identify not just Michelin-starred restaurants for bragging rights, but places people visit regularly that are genuinely delicious and reliable.

Users can not only create their own maps but also follow the profiles of friends or popular creators to get information about new places. By combining social network elements like Apple's Find My service or Snap Map with financial data, it is becoming a next-generation service that provides real value to consumers.