Zest Maps Is The AI-Powered ‘Spiritual Successor To Foursquare’

When Mario Gomez-Hall walked me through his new restaurant discovery app, Zest Maps, the founder stood at a user dashboard and displayed a record of the top restaurants that had logged more than 1,000 visits. He is the cofounder of Foursquare Dennis Crowleyto help test the beta version.

“He’s given us some useful answers,” says Gomez-Hall. “It’s the spiritual successor to Foursquare.” (For those who may not remember, Foursquare was hot Check-in status app (around the 2010s when GPS-based apps first became popular.)

The main point of Zest Maprelease today for iOS users (no Android support), and cut prices at every restaurant and cafe you visit by tracking your own credit cards and use your data to identify other food sites that you may enjoy. This program AI tools check your restaurant history and update a map of nearby ideas with photos and descriptions of the vibe of each place.

Courtesy of Zest

Zest also aggregates user data to highlight upcoming restaurants in your area, as well as new places your friends are visiting. He said: “We only show the first visit to a place. “So, if you go back to the same pizzeria, we don’t refer your friends to the same pizzeria.” Visits to many restaurants are no longer shown on Zest. The program focuses more on your date night at a Brazilian steakhouse than another McDouble at work.

Gomez-Hall is aware that some users are hesitant to link their cards, and emphasizes that the feature is optional and controlled by PlaidA popular platform that integrates fintech applications into your bank; services like Google Wallet and Wealthfront use Plaid. “We don’t see your OnlyFans,” he says. “We’re just focusing on food and drink.” In addition to reviewing dining experiences, Zest allows users to control who can view their trips as friends and remove any restaurants.

The founder’s profile breaks down his 966 trips into the top five categories: cafe, bakery, Thai, pizza, and Japanese. His profile shows Delicious Thai Kitchen and Ike’s Love & Sandwiches in Oakland as several “go-to” spots, as well as a list of reserved restaurants he wants to visit, nearby or on vacation. When your friend visits a location you’ve saved, it will be displayed on your Zest Map.

His ambitions with Zest are sustainable, looking to support the apps people currently use and not try to chase away established players. “The niche network is probably the most important, in many ways, because you have users,” he says. “We don’t want to try to be every app that beats Google and Yelp. We want to be.” the thing about food availability and compliance.”