There was a time when having a Zagat rated sticker in your restaurant window was almost as necessary as displaying a health inspector grade. It was a mark of quality that you could trust. Now, the once great arbiter of food has fallen by the wayside.
Zagat, the original citizen review aggregator, was bought by Google for $151 million about seven years ago. The internet giant has now sold the company to The Infatuation, a restaurant review site that hopes to bring Zagat back to its glory days.
Corby Kummer, food writer and founding editor of the Zagat Boston guide, joined Boston Public Radio to talk about Zagat’s legacy and the state of restaurant reviews.
Kummer called Zagat the “original vox populi.” It was a company founded on the idea that “restaurant critics don’t matter” and people are more interested in what average people have to say, he added.
While Zagat paved the way for aggregator sites like Yelp and Rotten Tomatoes, the company still employed professional food writers and critics. Those days are over as patrons continue to look toward user reviews.
“Paid restaurant critics are dinosaurs,” Kummer said. “We are things of the past because media can’t afford to pay for the meals that it takes to be a responsible restaurant critic.”
To hear the entire interview, click the audio player above.
