Zest

Name

Zest

Legal name

Culi, Inc.

Website

https://www.zestapp.co/

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cooking Education Software

akta.pro primary industry

Core LMS Platforms (Academic & Corporate) (EDAFAAAA)

Keywords

• Cooking education app
• Recipe learning platform
• Culinary skills app
• Subscription cooking app
• Interactive cooking lessons

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Zest Unlimited Subscription: Core revenue stream from monthly and annual subscriptions to 'Zest Unlimited,' a fee-based program providing full access to all content within the Products. Monthly subscriptions are paid in installments; annual subscriptions are paid upfront with automatic renewal. Special Discount Pricing Options are available for Qualified Users verified through a third-party verification system. Gift Subscriptions are one-time prepaid memberships.
2. Community / B2B Subscriptions: Revenue from organizations (corporations, universities, governments, wellness brands) that purchase Community Subscriptions to make Zest available to their employees, members, customers, or residents. These may include supplementary terms and additional fees beyond standard consumer pricing.
3. Gift Subscriptions: Pre-paid one-time memberships ('Gift Subscriptions') purchased by a Giftor and redeemed by a Recipient. Paid upfront at time of purchase, non-refundable, valid for one-time use in the country purchased. Cannot be combined with other offers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Zest operates a mobile cooking education application (Zest Cooking) for iOS, Android, and web that teaches users the foundational principles and techniques of cooking through personalized recipes, step-by-step guidance, integrated shopping lists, equipment checklists, and structured learning modules. The product is monetized through a recurring subscription (Zest Unlimited) and supplemented by B2B Community Subscriptions offered to organizations such as employers, universities, and wellness brands.

Product overview

Zest (operated by Culi, Inc.) offers Zest Cooking, a mobile cooking education application available on iOS and Android. The core product is supported by a subscription model called Zest Unlimited, offering monthly and annual plans. Additional subscription tiers include the Zest Family Plan for household use and Community Subscriptions for B2B partnerships with organizations. Gift Subscriptions are available as pre-paid memberships. The ecosystem also includes an SMS Service for app discovery. The company has raised funding from Techstars and has over 1,000,000 users.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Zest Cooking (Mobile and Web App) A mobile cooking education application available on iOS and Android (with a web app) that teaches users how to cook through interactive recipes, step-by-step guidance, integrated shopping lists, equipment checklists, and structured learning modules. Targets individual home cooks ranging from complete beginners to intermediate cooks and emphasizes understanding the 'hows and whys' of cooking rather than just providing recipes.
• Community Subscriptions A B2B offering that makes Zest available through partnerships with corporations, governments, universities, and wellness brands. Partners purchase Community Subscriptions to provide Zest access to their employees, members, customers, or residents, and in return receive aggregated anonymized usage data and may negotiate supplementary terms and pricing.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1,000,000+ users have joined the platform
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Stripe, Inc.coreTechnology or IntegrationStripe serves as Zest's payment processor for purchases made through the Websites. Stripe collects Payment Card data on Zest's behalf and provides Zest with limited tokenized data (anonymous token, card type, expiration date, billing address, last four digits). Zest does not store Payment Card data on its own servers.
• ApplecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorApple distributes Zest through the iOS App Store and iTunes. Apple collects Payment Card data for in-app purchases. Apple App Store purchases are final and non-refundable per Apple's policy. Zest iOS users sign in via Apple Sign-In.
• GooglecoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorGoogle distributes Zest through the Google Play Store and serves as an advertising partner. Google collects Payment Card data for in-app purchases through Google Play. Google Play purchases are final and non-refundable. Zest Android users can sign in via Google Sign-In.
• Meta (Facebook)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerMeta serves as a key advertising platform for Zest, using cookies and the Facebook Pixel to deliver targeted/behavioral advertising to users based on their past visits to Zest's Products. Zest also uses Meta for serving retargeting ads across Facebook's platforms. Meta may receive limited user data through these tracking technologies.
• Community / Corporate Partners (unspecified)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCorporate, government, university, and wellness organizations ('Partners') that purchase Community Subscriptions to offer Zest to employees, members, customers, or residents. Partners may receive aggregated anonymized usage data. Zest refers to these as 'Communities' and these arrangements are sometimes governed by supplementary terms negotiated with each Partner.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• NYT Cooking: NYT Cooking is a paid cooking app/platform offering recipes, cooking guidance, and instructional content to consumers. It directly competes with Zest in the cooking education subscription category, though with stronger brand and broader recipe library.
• Sidechef: Sidechef is a mobile cooking app offering guided step-by-step recipes with shopping lists, timers, and instructional content. It is the closest direct competitor to Zest in product format (mobile-first, guided cooking education) and target user (home cook).
• Yummly: Yummly is a recipe and meal planning app offering personalized recipe recommendations, smart shopping lists, and cooking guidance. It directly overlaps Zest's recipe + shopping list + guided cooking combination.
• Mealime: Mealime is a meal planning app providing personalized weekly meal plans with recipes and auto-generated shopping lists. It competes with Zest in the personal-cook, recipe-plus-shopping category with a similar mobile-first experience.
• Kitchen Stories: Kitchen Stories is a cooking education app offering instructional recipes, technique videos, and curated cooking content. It is comparable to Zest's emphasis on teaching cooking fundamentals beyond just recipes.
• Cookpad: Cookpad is a global recipe sharing and cooking community platform with strong mobile app presence. It overlaps Zest in mobile recipe discovery and consumer cooking engagement, though more community-driven than pedagogically structured.
• Whisk (by Samsung Food): Whisk is a recipe saving, shopping list, and meal planning platform now part of Samsung's family of apps. It is comparable to Zest in its recipe-plus-shopping-list combination and consumer mobile experience.

Broad incumbents

• MasterClass: MasterClass is a broader subscription education platform featuring celebrity-taught courses across many subjects including cooking (e.g., Gordon Ramsay, Thomas Keller). It competes with Zest in the paid cooking instruction subscription space with deeper production budgets and broader category coverage.
• Tasty (BuzzFeed): Tasty is BuzzFeed's recipe and cooking content brand with a large free mobile app and social video presence. It competes with Zest for consumer cooking attention but offers content for free, pressuring paid conversion in the category.
• HelloFresh: HelloFresh is a meal kit subscription service that includes recipe cards with educational cooking content for subscribers. While not a pure cooking app, it competes with Zest for consumer cooking engagement and culinary education budget.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/zestapp.co
• Instagraminstagram.com/zestapp.co
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/zestapp

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors4 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Zest