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Zest
Techstars '22Techstars '22Chicago, US · Founded 2021 · 8 employees on LinkedIn · 3 known investors
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Zest is an app that helps home cooks unlock their culinary skills and find joy in cooking. The platform serves aspiring home cooks by providing guidance and resources to reduce barriers to cooking.
Also known as Zest Cooking
Founders & leadership
Investors · 3
How we know: Rosecliff Ventures's portfolio page · the VCSheet dataset · Not right? Tell us
How we know: the Techstars portfolio · open dataset · Top 3000 Accelerator Startups (no YC) 2026-08 · open dataset · 5k.vc investor directory · Not right? Tell us
How we know: the VCSheet dataset · Not right? Tell us
Company profile
researched Sep 2026Zest is a consumer cooking app that teaches home cooks both the techniques and the reasoning behind recipes, positioning itself as instruction rather than a recipe index. The product spans recipe selection, shopping, learning and guided cooking, and the company frames its recipes as calibrated so they are "never too easy, never too hard."
The app is distributed on iOS via the Apple App Store and on Android via Google Play, with an accompanying web app for existing account holders. User reviews reproduced on the company's site describe features including equipment checklists, generated shopping lists, step-by-step lessons with explanations of why ingredients are combined, and instructional video content, with several reviewers comparing the experience to an at-home cooking class. The company describes its aim as unlocking the joy of home cooking and removing barriers that keep people out of the kitchen.
Founding story
Per team bios on the company's site, CEO Jake Gutstein grew up in a household that cooked extensively but never learned to cook himself and struggled after moving out on his own. Creative Director Savannah Cooper describes coming to view cooking as an art form after grilling fish with her father and says she created Zest to bring that into everyday life. CMO Graham Kirstein cites monotonous, wasteful grocery hauls and slow skill development as the problems he helped build Zest to address. CTO Amrit Saini, Director of Culinary Julie Ottusch and Founding Engineer Alex Martinez joined subsequently.
Business model
Consumer subscription mobile application, per the Techstars company listing describing Zest as a consumer subscription app that teaches people how to cook.
Consumer subscription.
Traction
The company's website states that more than 1,000,000 people have joined Zest, and publishes a set of five-star user reviews of its app.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Seed-stage consumer app in the cooking, recipes and wellness category, listed with 1-10 employees.
Emphasis on teaching the underlying "hows and whys" of cooking and foundational technique rather than supplying recipes alone, delivered in an informal, humor-led style.
Technology
Mobile applications for iOS and Android plus a browser-based web app, delivering guided recipes, instructional content and video, shopping lists and equipment checklists.
Go-to-market
Direct-to-consumer distribution through the Apple App Store and Google Play, supported by a web app sign-in for existing users and a website that features user reviews and a download call to action.
Home cooks, including beginners and people who have never learned to cook for themselves, as reflected in the company's positioning and in user reviews published on its site.
Geography
Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, United States; the Techstars listing also associates the company with additional locations in Illinois, elsewhere in the United States, and Kottayam, Kerala, India.
Compiled by commissioned research from 9 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Related companies · 1
Companies working in the same space as Zest.
▸Research sources · 9
primary sources listed
- Zestzestapp.co · web
9 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Zest do?
- Zest is a Chicago-based consumer subscription mobile app that teaches people how to cook.
- Who are Zest's investors?
- Zest's investors include Rosecliff Ventures, Techstars, Brickyard.
- Where is Zest headquartered?
- Zest is headquartered in Chicago, US.