Zest adds a text message concierge that books restaurant reservations

In short: Zest has launched a text message feature that recommends restaurants and can book reservations for you.

What happened

Zest, a restaurant discovery app, introduced a new “concierge” you can use by texting instead of opening an app. The company says you can text it what you want to eat, where you are, and when you want to go, and it will reply with suggestions.

The concierge can also handle the next step, which is booking a table. Zest says it can check availability and make reservations through services such as OpenTable, Resy, and SevenRooms.

Zest says the tool can be added to a group chat. It can combine what different people like, suggest places that fit the group, run a vote inside the chat, and then book a table without anyone leaving the conversation.

Zest’s recommendations are based in part on where you have eaten before. The app can connect to a user’s credit card transactions through Plaid, a financial services company used by many banking and budgeting apps. Zest says it only uses transactions in food and drink categories for its restaurant suggestions.

Why it matters

For many people, picking a restaurant and making a reservation is a lot of back and forth. Zest is betting that doing this inside texting will feel more like talking to a helpful friend than filling out forms in different apps (like planning dinner in the same chat where you are already coordinating). It also raises practical questions about comfort and trust, since the service depends on access to purchase history to personalize suggestions.

Source: TechCrunch AI