Zagat

The Zagat Survey was established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979 as a way to collect and correlate the ratings of restaurants by diners. Their first guide covered New York City dining, and was accomplished on the basis of a survey of their friends. By 2005, the Zagat Survey included 70 cities, with reviews based on the input of 250,000 individuals. The Guides, over the years, have reported on and rated restaurants, hotels, nightlife, shopping, zoos, music, movies, theaters, golf courses, and airlines. In addition to numeric scores, the survey also includes a short descriptive paragraph that incorporates selected quotations (typically a few words) from several reviewers' comments about each restaurant or service, as well as the pricing and rating information. In 1999, Tim and Nina Zagat's son, Ted Zagat, joined Zagat and served as president and COO until 2007. Zagat's distinctive thirty-point rankings were replaced with a five-point scale for products not at the Zagat website, following acquisition by Google in September 2011. ==Ownership==

Private equity firm General Atlantic bought one-third of parent company Zagat, LLC, for $31 million in February 2000 and installed non-Zagat family member Amy B. McIntosh as CEO. In 2008, the company was on the block for $200 million. After there were no takers, the company announced in June that it was no longer for sale and that it would seek an organic growth strategy. In September 2011, the company was acquired by Google for more than $150 million, the 10th largest acquisition by Google as of that date, at the championing of Marissa Mayer, its Vice President of Local, Maps, and Location Services. In March 2018, Google sold the company to restaurant discovery platform The Infatuation for an undisclosed amount. In September 2021, The Infatuation was acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co. Zagat was made a part of Chase Dining, and the Zagat Survey of New York City restaurants was reintroduced in November 2023. ==Changes under Google==

Initial integration Google is reported to have planned to use the Zagat acquisition to provide more content and reviews for its locally oriented services. In May 2012, Zagat was officially integrated into Google's services, with its reviews now appearing on Google Maps and Google+ Local pages for relevant restaurants. Additionally, the Zagat online service became free to use, and once required a Google+ account to register though that is no longer the case. By July 2013, the Zagat online presence had (alongside its printed Guides, see below) narrowed from thirty cities, to nine – eight in the U.S., as well as London – though earlier content on other cities remains discoverable by outside search. appear, in concert, as evidence of changing plans of management for the original Zagat team. After the standard Google all-hands meeting where the Frommer's acquisition was announced and discussed, contractors ceased to be invited to these Google meetings. In this period, Hernandez continued to lead the Zagat group, where it is reported that Google reorientation of Zagat from their original business model to "'Zagatize' the world... [through] 100,000 ratings for small businesses" resulted in missed editorial production goals and Zagat contractor resentment toward the new Frommer's Googlers they perceived as having been given their positions. Dissolution of Zagat team The situation and morale in the Zagat unit is reported to have decayed further when, in December 2012, Google informed the contractors, most former full-time Zagat employees, that their contracts would not be renewed in 2013, only to alter course within days and report renewal of the contracts through the end of June 2013. In this new period, communications between Googlers and Zagat contractors are said to have decayed, with a further end to the social perks they had earlier enjoyed. As well, Bernardo Hernandez departed from his leadership role of the unit. ==Prospects==

While Google has declined comment, one source reported in June 2013 that "The future of Zagat book production looks extremely bleak... The whole division as currently structured seems to be on death watch. Lots of chatter about outsourcing." In commenting on the contraction in number of cities covered and in depth of print coverage, and on Google de-emphasis of the distinctive, traditional 30-point rankings (replacing it with a 5-point scale for products not at the Zagat website), Jason Clampet at Skift writes, "Whether or not Zagat's... brand voice will continue to rise to the top remains to be seen," and while "the Zagat brand may not seem as strong [post-Google]... [the] content's influence on diners and drinkers is arguably stronger than ever, thanks to its deep integration into the world's most popular... mapping service." == Acquisition by The Infatuation ==

On March 6, 2018, Google transferred ownership of the brand and assets to restaurant review website The Infatuation. They did not disclose the deal amount. In November, 2019 the print version of the guide was relaunched after a three-year hiatus. ==See also==