The buzz is back in the culinary world as the renowned Zagat Guide is making a comeback to print, starting with its highly anticipated 2020 New York City edition. As reported by the New York Times, this fall will mark the return of the physical Zagat guide to NYC after a hiatus since the 2017 edition, published in 2016. This revival signals a new chapter for the Zagat brand under the ownership of The Infatuation, a digital media company known for its modern approach to restaurant reviews.
In a strategic move in March 2018, Google, after considering various offers, sold Zagat to The Infatuation for an undisclosed amount. Infatuation co-founder Chris Stang expressed his enthusiasm to the New York Times about acquiring such a historically significant brand, emphasizing the “huge opportunity” it presented. While Stang assured that Zagat would maintain its distinct identity, questions arose about how The Infatuation, recognized for its strong social media presence and digital expertise, would revitalize the legacy guidebook. Putting Zagat back in print was, according to Stang, always part of the larger strategy to honor and expand upon Zagat’s heritage.
Since its inception in the 1980s, the Zagat guide has been an annual staple in the restaurant industry, providing user-generated reviews. While it once stood as a definitive source for dining recommendations, the proliferation of online reviews and guides in the digital age has arguably diluted its prominence. For a generation that grew up with the internet, the significance—and even the pronunciation (Zuh-GAT, rhyming with “cat”)—of Zagat might be unfamiliar. Therefore, understanding its history is crucial to appreciating its resurgence.
The Essence of the Zagat Guide: Crowdsourced Reviews
At its core, the Zagat guide is a restaurant guidebook distinguished by its crowdsourced rating system. It assigns numerical scores to restaurants based on four key categories: food, decor, service, and cost. Unlike professionally critiqued guides such as Michelin, Zagat’s ratings and reviews are aggregated from surveys completed by thousands of diners. These surveys form the basis for the overall numerical ratings, and curated comments from these surveys are used to create the signature concise, quote-filled restaurant descriptions that characterize Zagat reviews.
The Zagat Story: From Dinner Party Idea to Dining Institution
The Zagat story began in 1979 with Nina and Tim Zagat, two lawyers with a passion for dining out. During a dinner party at their New York City home, conversations with fellow food-enthusiast friends turned to the shortcomings of traditional restaurant critics. This sparked an idea in Tim Zagat: instead of relying on a few professional opinions, why not gather feedback from a broader community of diners?
He created a typewritten survey and initially distributed it to ten friends, who then shared it further. This chain-mail approach led to the first edition, the 1980 NYC Restaurant Survey. Two hundred amateur reviewers rated 100 restaurants across categories including food, decor, service, cleanliness, and cost (cleanliness was later removed). The comments from these surveys were compiled by Tim and Nina Zagat into paragraph-length, collectively written restaurant reviews. This innovative approach established Zagat as the “original provider of user-generated content,” as the company proudly states on its website, marking a groundbreaking shift in restaurant criticism by democratizing the review process.
Zagat’s Growth and Adaptation
By 1983, the Zagats had self-published 10,000 copies of their guide, distributing them to bookstores. For nearly a decade, they balanced their legal careers with the burgeoning guidebook business. However, by 1990, the Zagats transitioned to focus on their guidebooks full-time. Over the next decade, Zagat expanded its coverage to numerous cities, including Boston and Chicago, and became a familiar sight in bookstores, checkout lanes, and coffee shops nationwide.
Zagat’s cultural impact grew beyond just restaurant recommendations. A 1995 Saturday Night Live sketch featuring Chris Farley and Adam Sandler humorously depicted a couple’s passionate debate over Zagat-rated restaurants for their anniversary, embedding Zagat into popular culture. In 2003, when Brooklyn’s The Grocery achieved a near-perfect Zagat score of 28, it made front-page news in The New York Times, underscoring the guide’s influence.
Restaurants themselves paid close attention to Zagat ratings. In 2004, the famed New York restaurant and drag bar Lucky Cheng’s sued Zagat for libel, trade libel, and negligence, claiming a 35 percent drop in business due to a negative review in the 2004 guide. The controversial review included a low food score of 9 and comments that patrons “don’t go for the food,” but rather to “gawk” at the “hilarious” “cross-dressing” staff. The judge ultimately dismissed the case, affirming that even crowdsourced restaurant reviews do not constitute libel.
Zagat in the Digital Age: Challenges and Transformation
When Zagat transitioned to the internet, it placed its valuable survey results behind a paywall. In an era where online user-generated content was becoming increasingly free and accessible, particularly with the rise of platforms like Yelp, Zagat’s subscription model hindered its online growth. A 2010 New York Times article highlighted Zagat’s struggling online traffic, reporting 570,000 unique visitors in September of that year compared to Yelp’s 9.4 million. The paywall likely prevented Zagat’s content from ranking well in Google search results, further impacting its online visibility.
This landscape shifted dramatically when Google acquired Zagat in 2011. After initially seeking to sell the company as early as 2008, Tim and Nina Zagat sold to Google for $151 million, down from their initial $200 million valuation target. Google’s aim was to leverage Zagat’s content to compete with Yelp in the local review market. Marissa Mayer, then a Google VP, celebrated the acquisition on Twitter, proclaiming, “Delightful deal done; Zagat and Google now one; foodies have more fun!”
However, the anticipated “fun” for Zagat didn’t fully materialize under Google. While Zagat’s data was integrated into Google’s search and map services, the Zagat brand itself received less direct promotion. Zagat’s city coverage diminished, with a 2013 website redesign reducing the number of cities covered online from 30 to just nine. Currently, Zagat lists 38 “Zagat cities,” but the update frequency of this content remains unclear.
Google also altered Zagat’s long-standing rating system. For over 35 years, Zagat surveys used a 1-to-3 scale across four categories, which were then averaged and multiplied to produce a score out of 30. In 2016, Zagat transitioned to a simpler 1-to-5 star rating system, converting all previous ratings to this new format. Despite these changes, the print guidebooks, once published for 70 cities in 2003, suffered in the digital transition.
Zagat Returns to Print: A Nostalgic Revival
Now, The Infatuation is spearheading the revival of the New York City Zagat guidebook, staying true to Zagat’s roots by using a survey-based approach. The NYC Zagat Restaurant Survey is open to the public on Zagat.com until May 5, inviting everyone to contribute to the 2020 edition. In line with modern expectations, the revived Zagat guide will also have a website and app presence, complementing the print edition.
Update: April 2, 2019, 12:30 p.m.: This story was originally published on March 5, 2018. It has been updated throughout to reflect the latest information.
References:
- Zagat Guide Will Reappear in Print [NYT]
- Google to Sell Zagat to The Infatuation, an Upstart Review Site [NYT]
- The Infatuation and Zagat Join Forces in Unlikely Media Acquisition
