Acquiring Zagat: It’s All About Brand
Look down at your feet. I doubt that whatever you chose to put on them was a decision based purely on comfort or financial pragmatism. Nike and Converse wouldn’t exist if it were. You’re wearing what you’re wearing because it says something about you. Even if only to yourself. That’s the power of a brand.
We started The Infatuation in 2009 because we wanted to build a brand. We wanted to build something that people could connect with in a space we were passionate about — helping people discover restaurants. At the time, there wasn’t much of that available, especially for young people who had discovered a new passion for restaurants via the emergence of food television and social media. There was plenty of “content” being made for the internet. There just weren’t a lot of brands.
In many ways, we modeled ourselves after the most powerful brand example that has ever existed in the space: Zagat. The legendary dining guide started in 1979, and has been helping people become knowledgeable about restaurants ever since. Not only is it still a household name nearly 40 years after its founding, it can be identified by color alone. How many other brands can you come up with that have that kind of longevity and familiarity?
That’s why we were so excited to be in a position to acquire Zagat from Google. The world has changed a lot since 2009, but there is still a lack of great brands in the space. Probably even more so, as publishers have chased scale and pivoted themselves in circles, and UGC platforms have failed to build trust with the masses.
Since we announced the acquisition, I’ve been getting lots of questions. I’ve also been seeing plenty of commentary, which is welcomed and to be expected. One take in particular really made me smile:
This position is funny because it’s so familiar. Over the years, we’ve seen lots of very smart people set out to build tech-driven products aimed at tackling restaurant recommendations. The mistake they all make is underestimating or ignoring how much brand matters to the consumer in this space. Dining and restaurants are a real passion for people. Helping people navigate that passion is not a problem to be solved with the same methods you’d apply when building a ride-sharing app or something to disrupt the dry cleaning space.
What that means is that your product won’t work if people don’t relate to it. It won’t work without developing a real community around it. It won’t work without trust. Your algorithm is useless if you can’t make people believe they share values with it. And that’s exactly why the Zagat brand is not a “raisin turd.” It’s a fine bottle of wine with a lot of legs left in it.
With that in mind, we are excited to apply our experience, expertise, and incredibly talented staff to position Zagat for success in the future. And yes, that future includes building new technology. Our Head of Product Jesse Rose and CTO Buck Heroux have built an excellent team of engineers and product people around them who are already hard at work on building a new Zagat platform. But it also includes an understanding of all the other things that are critical to creating a great community-driven product — brand being chief among them.
Nothing will be changing with The Infatuation — it will still be an editorial-driven product with a strong brand of its own. But now with a new, community driven platform living alongside it, we feel incredibly well positioned to achieve our goal of creating the greatest restaurant discovery company that’s ever existed.
After that, we’re coming for your feet.
-CS
