Zest recommends restaurants from your credit card data
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- Zest launched a public restaurant discovery app that uses credit card transaction data via Plaid and AI to recommend restaurants based on actual spending patterns, drawing 100,000+ visits in its first weeks.
- Zest raised $1.8 million in pre-seed from Alexis Ohanian's 776 and Steve Jang's Kindred Ventures since its November 2024 founding, after beta testing with friends, family, and larger groups.
- Mario Gomez-Hall, co-founder and former head of Design at Saturn (acquired by Snap last year), says the app surfaces neighborhood regulars over Michelin-starred venues by tracking spend frequency rather than social posturing.
- Zest aggregates 80+ million reviews from sources including the Michelin Guide and Reddit, and is rolling out a "Fresh Picks" feature modeled on Spotify's Discovery Weekly, plus freeform notes on reservations and menu tips.
- Gomez-Hall says the company plans to expand beyond restaurants into other city hot spots like shopping, noting the name "Zest" was chosen to evoke "zest for life" exploration rather than just food.
Why it matters: Zest's bet is that consumers will trade credit card data for better local discovery — a gamble Blippy lost a decade ago when such sharing felt invasive. With 100K visits in weeks and 80M aggregated reviews layered on top, Zest is positioning against both Yelp-style platforms and social food apps, while founders are already eyeing expansion into shopping and other urban discovery categories.
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