Augusto Beato Sees Zagat Becoming More Relevant Under New Owners

Augusto Beato, CEO of Portland SEO, congratulated upstart restaurant review company The Infatuation for its looming acquisition of Zagat guides from Google.

To learn more about Portland SEO, click here.

Beato echoed the sentiments of Chris Stang, The Infatuation co-founder and CEO, who said that the acquisition was indeed a huge opportunity as seldom there is an iconic brand like Zagat to be available.

The digital marketing specialist noted that Zagat is poised further expanding digitally with The Infatuation due to the latter's harnessed smartphone apps, Instagram hashtag and a texting recommendation service.

The Infatuation popularized “#EEEEEATS” as a branded hashtag on Instagram, and runs a slew of food-related accounts on the social network. It also rolled out Text Rex, a texting recommendation service staffed by humans to recommend eateries for users’ particular situations.

The Infatuation did not disclose the amount of the impending purchase.

Zagat, founded by Tim and Nina Zagat as a survey of their friends’ opinions on New York City eateries was purchased by Google in 2011 for $151 million.

But Zagat content has since been de-emphasized in favor of Google’s collected recommendations.

Stang and his The Infatuation co-founder Andrew Steinthal are two former music industry executives founded the company as a way to recommend restaurants and bars to their friends.

The Infatuation's in-house team of reviewers covers restaurants in cities like New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and London.