A New Chapter: Introducing Zagat Stories

NEW YORK, Feb. 25, 2020  /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Zagat, the legendary restaurant guide, launched its newest offering, Zagat Stories. The as-told-to editorial channel will feature original stories showcasing the human foundation of the culinary world and can be accessed at stories.zagat.com.

Zagat Stories will exist alongside Zagat's well-known survey-driven restaurant guide. The site's content, both video and text, will feature thoughtful, inspiring, and often intimate storytelling focused around chefs, restaurateurs, and others in the expanded universe of dining and hospitality. 

These stories might be about landing a really big deal, making a life-changing decision, the best or worst opening night, fighting through a major crisis, struggling with personal demons, or the joy of achieving a dream. Or the story might concern a small but meaningful moment, like a breakthrough recipe idea, a single epic meal, or the thought process underlying the design of a room.

The first Zagat Stories to be featured include…

• Chef Eric Ripert of New York's Le Bernardin offers a mediation on his meditation habit.
• Chef Michael Solomonov of Philadelphia's Zahav tracing his long road to recovery through a terrifying addiction. 
• Chef Katie Button of Asheville's Cúrate defending her right to work as both a chef and mother. 
• Chef Paul Kahan of Chicago speaking to the joy of mentoring and letting go.
• And many more personal stories from the likes of Amanda Cohen, Barbara Lynch, Issac Toups, Lindsay Jang, John Yao, Curtis Stone,  Jeffrey Katz, Camilla Marcus, Jocelyn Law-Yone, Mailea Weger, and others in the weeks to come... 

"For more than forty years, the Zagat guide has been there to help people discover restaurants. Zagat Stories is here today to elevate and showcase the human side of the dining experience," said Chris Stang, chief executive officer, Zagat. "This brand has always been a way for the restaurant community to measure itself. With Zagat Stories it will now also be a way for chefs and restaurateurs to express themselves, thereby more deeply connecting the Zagat audience to the restaurants they love and the people behind them."

Zagat Stories is an entirely new offering from the recently relaunched brand. The platform will offer new stories from chefs each week. A trailer for Zagat Stories can be seen here.

Zagat Stories was created and is produced in-house by Zagat under the leadership of CEO Chris Stang, Zagat Editor-in-Chief, Hillary Reinsberg, Zagat Stories Editor Chris Mohney, who recently joined the company after past editorial leadership positions at Serious Eats, Culture Trip, and Tumblr, and Zagat Creative Director Nick Bilardello.

In November 2019, Zagat brought back its first print edition of its legendary guidebook. The 40th Anniversary Edition 2020 Zagat New York City Restaurants Guide is available for purchase now. 

This Spring, Zagat will launch its restaurant survey in select cities across the U.S. The Zagat survey is currently open in Los Angeles, CA and can be accessed via survey.zagat.com. 

Moving forward, The Infatuation, which acquired the Zagat brand from Google in 2018, plans to rebuild Zagat's digital product to extend the brand's global reach through its survey-driven restaurant guides. The new Zagat is slated to debut in the summer of 2020 and will allow diners to rate and review restaurants effectively and responsibly, a nod to Zagat's crowd-sourced roots that leverages significant credibility and user trust in the restaurant discovery space. 

For more information about the company, visit Zagat online, via the Zagat app on your smartphone, or social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About The Infatuation 
Founded in 2009 in New York City by longtime music industry executives Chris Stang and Andrew Steinthal, The Infatuation has developed into one of the most innovative restaurant discovery platforms in the world. The company now covers more than three dozen global cities with a new unique approach to creating and delivering restaurant reviews and guides via its prolific web and social media presence, useful mobile apps, large and influential email newsletter, and its popular SMS-based recommendation platform, Text Rex. The company also hosts and produces more than 50 community events annually, including its large-scale food festival, EEEEEATSCON. In March of 2018, The Infatuation acquired the legendary restaurant review brand, Zagat. 

Press Contact: Michael Sinatra
[email protected] - 551.574.8031

SOURCE Zagat