Zagat
Zagat Survey (
/zəˈɡæt/)[1] was established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979 as a way to collect and correlate the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, covering New York City, the Zagats surveyed their friends. As of 2005, the Zagat Survey included 70 cities, with reviews based on the input of 250,000 individuals reporting over the years. In addition to restaurants, Zagat guides rate hotels, nightlife, shopping, zoos, music, movies, theaters, golf courses and airlines. The guides are sold in book form, as software for personal digital assistants and mobile phones, and by paid subscription on the Web.
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[edit] Rating system
The ratings are on a 30-point scale, made up of ratings for defined areas including food, decor, service, and cost. 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 typical pricing and other information.
[edit] Ownership
Private equity firm General Atlantic bought a third of parent company Zagat, LLC for $31 million in February 2000 and installed non-Zagat family member Amy B. McIntosh as CEO.[2]
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.[3]
On September 8, 2011 the company was acquired by Google for a reported $151 million. [4][5]
[edit] See also
- Consumer Reports
- Gault Millau
- Harden's, a similar London and UK guide
- Michelin Guide
- Restaurant rating
[edit] References
- ^ "Zagat Survey About page". Archived from the original on 2008-08-03. http://web.archive.org/web/20080803165119/http://www.zagat.com/About/. Retrieved 2010-03-06.
- ^ "Zagat Survey Taps Amy McIntosh as its First CEO". Business Wire. 2000-10-30. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2000_Oct_30/ai_66430882.
- ^ "Zagat Closes the Book on Sale Effort". The New York Times. 2008-06-05. http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/zagat-closes-the-book-on-sale-effort/.
- ^ "Google Acquires Zagat To Flesh Out Local Reviews". TechCrunch. 2011-09-08. http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/08/google-acquires-zagat-to-flesh-out-local-ratings/.
- ^ "Google Paid $151 Million for Zagat - Forbes.com". Forbes. 2011-10-27. http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisbarth/2011/10/27/google-paid-151-million-to-get-zagat-ditch-yelp/.
[edit] External links
- Zagat Survey Web site
- Zagat Survey Mobile Web site
- Zagat To Go for iPhone and iPod touch (iTunes link)
- Zagat To Go for Smartphones Web site
- Nina and Tim Zagat on the beginnings of the Zagat Surveys
- Zagat Dating & Dumping Guide
- Zagat on Facebook
- Zagat on Twitter
- Zagat Photo Contest
- Works by or about Zagat in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Zagat collected news and commentary at The New York Times
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