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Zest raises $1.8M for an AI concierge that books restaurants over text
Zest, a New York startup, raised $1.8M in pre-seed. Its AI books a table from a text message.
Image: TechCrunch
Why it mattersGroup chats pick restaurants by argument. A text agent that reads shared card history is a new way to turn that into a booking.
Picking where to eat with friends is slow. Nobody wants to decide. Everyone has rules the others do not know. Zest, a New York startup, wants to replace that back and forth with a text chat.
TechCrunch reports that Zest raised $1.8 million in pre-seed funding. Alexis Ohanian's firm 776 and Steve Jang's Kindred Ventures invested. The company was founded in November 2024.
Zest launched its text agent on 30 October. Users send a message to (212) 470-6067. The agent replies with restaurant options and books a table.
What the product does
Zest connects to a user's credit card through Plaid. It reads food and drink spending only. From that, it can see where a person has eaten and liked enough to go back.
Founder Mario Gomez-Hall told TechCrunch that this changes how the AI learns tastes. In his words, the agent starts from where a user has actually been instead of asking questions. The user does not have to fill out a long form.
For a group, the agent reads each person's history. It mixes everyone's tastes into one shortlist. The chat has a built-in vote to settle who picks. Then it books the reservation on OpenTable, Resy or SevenRooms.
Users can also ask for a menu, Wi-Fi status, availability, or how busy a place is right now. The agent accepts filters by cuisine, craving, occasion, diet, or neighbourhood.
From app to agent
Zest first released a mobile app in June 2026. That app used the same Plaid link to build a taste profile. Users opened the app and looked at a map of recommendations.
The text version is a different shape of the same idea. Gomez-Hall told TechCrunch that the agent is now the product itself. He said users text it. The agent answers from their own history and from their friends'. The app still exists. The pitch has moved to the chat.
TechCrunch says the service has thousands of users. The company has not published a tighter number. No corporate customer has been named.
The money and the plan
The $1.8 million is pre-seed. Both investors back early-stage consumer products. Alexis Ohanian co-founded Reddit and runs 776. Steve Jang runs Kindred Ventures. Neither firm has said publicly what the next round looks like.
Gomez-Hall told TechCrunch that the first revenue lines are booking and ordering. The company plans to expand past restaurants later, without naming the next category.
A text-only product is a small bet by design. It needs no app store listing. It needs no website visit. It needs no sign-up form past connecting a card. If the agent books a table a group accepts, the booking is the only output the user sees.
Source
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