Why Personalized Restaurant Apps Fail Before They Learn

Zest Maps, launched May 2026, bets on AI learning dining preferences faster than users abandon it. The friction is real: diners visit restaurants far less frequently than they stream music or buy online, starving personalization engines of training data. Cold-start handling—how systems handle new users with zero history—remains unsolved across the industry. Success hinges on making early recommendations feel intentional, not broken.