Zest, a restaurant discovery app that debuted earlier this year, is already envisioning a future where mobile apps aren't the main interface anymore. On Thursday, the startup unveiled a new offering: a personal AI-driven "restaurant concierge" that operates within your text messages, much like other popular AI agents such as Instinct or Poke. This launch mirrors a wider trend in how startups are rethinking AI, as conversational AI agents handle tasks that once required users to open standalone mobile apps. For Zest, this means delivering restaurant recommendations via texts and then letting users take the immediate next step of booking a table. "The agent is the product now," says Zest founder and CEO Mario Gomez-Hall. "You text it, and it answers from your own history and your friends'. It doesn't need weeks of conversation to learn you because it starts from where you've actually been," he explains.

Founded in November 2024 with $1.8 million in pre-seed funding from Alexis Ohanian at 776 and Steve Jang at Kindred Ventures, the app's standout feature is its integration with users' credit cards to monitor their actual dining outings, gaining insight into their preferences and interests. Armed with this data, Zest can offer customized suggestions for places you might want to try next, whether in your hometown or when you're traveling. The credit card data used by Zest's app is imported through the financial services company Plaid, which is utilized by banks and other fintech and budgeting apps. Zest says it focuses solely on transactions in the food and drink categories when creating its personalized map and lists. The startup's newest concept is to address the same issue—where should I eat—from a fresh perspective. It will now provide suggestions within a text message thread and can leverage AI to perform tasks like checking availability and making reservations for you via connected services such as OpenTable, Resy, and SevenRooms.

To use it, users text the Zest concierge at (212) 470-6067. Even better, Zest can be added to a group chat, where it can combine everyone's preferences to find spots the entire group will enjoy. In this setting, it can also resolve indecision with an in-thread voting feature and then book a table for the group without leaving the conversation. Users can ask Zest for recommendations based on various factors, such as cuisine, craving, occasion, dietary restrictions, or neighborhood, and can inquire about the restaurants, like how busy the place might be or whether it offers Wi-Fi, and more. Additionally, you can request that Zest send you the menu to help you decide. While finding an open table is something other apps have provided for years, there's a convenience factor in being able to simply text back and forth about the different options and have it inform you of available booking times. The company started testing the concierge last month but chose to delay the launch until it could incorporate the booking features; over time, the startup is contemplating expanding Zest beyond restaurants to offer recommendations for businesses, shopping, and more. By transitioning to texts, Zest hopes to scale beyond its initial thousands of users and generate revenue. "Booking and ordering are the first revenue lines. Zest books your table through OpenTable or Resy today, with food ordering coming, and there are transactions there to participate in," says Gomez-Hall. "The reason that gets interesting is that Zest learns your taste faster than a general assistant does, because it starts from where you've actually been instead of asking you questions. That's worth something well beyond dinner," he adds.