Zest’s new AI agent finds restaurants and books reservations over text

Zest, a restaurant discovery app launched in 2024 with $1.8 million in pre-seed funding, has introduced an AI-powered "restaurant concierge" that operates through text messages. The agent leverages users' credit card transaction data, imported via Plaid, to understand their dining preferences and provide personalized restaurant recommendations. Users can text the concierge at (212) 470-6067 to get suggestions based on cuisine, occasion, dietary restrictions, and more. The agent can also be added to group chats, where it blends everyone's tastes, facilitates voting to settle indecision, and books tables through services like OpenTable, Resy, and SevenRooms without leaving the conversation. According to founder and CEO Mario Gomez-Hall, the agent starts from users' actual dining history, allowing it to learn their tastes quickly. The company began testing the concierge last month and sees booking and ordering as initial revenue streams, with potential expansion into other recommendation categories beyond restaurants.

(Source：TechCrunch)