Google
The Infatuation is a growing restaurant review company. First launched in 2009, The Infatuation has boomed from a local side project of its NYC-based cofounders, Andrew Steinthal and Chris Stang, to a full-fledged business covering several major U.S. cities. The website now has its own smartphone apps, a major Instagram presence, and a texting recommendation service, Text Rex, that recommends eateries based on the user's needs.The company became profitable for the first time in 2017.
The Zagat Survey, which has been around since 1979, was once the only name in the restaurant review game. Initially limited to a survey of New York City restaurants, the Zagat Survey gradually expanded its scope. At its peak in 2005, the Zagat Survey covered 70 cities across the world and reported not only on restaurants but on nightlife, shopping, hotels, and other travel, leisure, and entertainment venues.
Google bought Zagat in 2011 for $151 million, hoping to use it to supplement Google's Places reviews. "All of these users wondering where they should go, where they should spend their time, so to be able to offer accurate information is important, and that's why we've been getting focused on reviews," Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president for local, maps and location services at the time of the acquisition. The purchase of Zagat followed Google's failed attempt to purchase Yelp, Zagat's largest online competitor, in 2009.
Zagat has struggled to remain relevant in the digital age, particularly as it faces competition from tech-friendly, free competitors like the aforementioned Yelp. Up until its acquisition by Google in 2011, Zagat's reviews were available primarily in book form, or a paid subscription Web site. Zagat's integration into Google's services did not go as smoothly as expected. Google reformatted Zagat's website in 2013; it reformatted the site again and introduced an accompanying app in 2016. Still, it dramatically pared down Zagat's staff and cut back on the number of cities it covered. Zagat had initially expected to benefit from increased exposure on Google, which had previously ranked results for Zagat lower on its searches because it was behind a subscription paywall. But Google instead has promoted its own collected reviews over Zagat content.
The Infatuation intends to keep Zagat as a separate brand, and may use it to gather user-generated content that will pair with the curated reviews that currently appear on The Infatuation's website.
