We’re here to unlock the joy of home cooking.
Dinner should be a joy not be a chore. We’re committed to helping those who are tired of the dysfunction surrounding dinner so they can experience the empowering, sustainable, joyful life of home cooking.
Jake Gutstein, CEO
I grew up in a house that cheffed everything...
I grew up in a house that chefed everything from stuffed peppers to slow cooked brisket. Despite my culinary roots, I never learned how to cook myself and was helpless the first time I moved out on my own to start a new job. I helped start Zest to empower people in a time of the day that has unfairly been replaced by resignation or unnecessary effort.
Jake Gutstein, CEO
Sav Cooper, Creative Director
I remember the first time I grilled fish with my dad...
I remember the first time I grilled fish with my dad; wrapping it in tinfoil with juicy grape tomatoes, lemons, onions and capers. The mix of flavors produced something so delicious, and I took part in its creation? Woah. From that moment on, I viewed cooking as an art form. I created Zest to bring that art into people's every day lives.
Sav Cooper, CPO
Graham Kirstein, CMO
I developed a light obsession with new food media...
I developed a light obsession with new wave food media. When it finally came time for me to cook for myself, it was much harder than I ever anticipated. My grocery hauls became monotonous and wasteful, so as a result, my culinary skills never grew at the rate I was hoping for. I helped build Zest so we could eliminate all the barriers that hold people back in the kitchen, so they can focus on the expressive, creative and joyous moments.
Graham Kirstein, CMO
Amrit Saini, CTO
I joined Zest after months of painstaking market...
I joined Zest after months of painstaking market and product positioning research. Just kidding. I've been building digital products for nearly ten years, and after a single meeting with Jake, Sav, and Graham, I knew they had something special and wanted to be a part of it.
Amrit Saini, CTO
The People Cooking Up Zest
Chefs
Chef Austin Yancy
A culinary powerhouse with decades of experience, including time spent as a chef at Alinea and competitively cooking with Team USA. Austin has taught cooking at the highest level from Le Cordon Bleu to Escoffier Online. He currently manages teams of top-tier chef’s through his company Elite Personal Chefs.
Austin serves on Zest’s culinary team with the aim of creating an approachable way to bridge the gap of knowledge in the kitchen for Gen-Z and teach about the magic of food.
Chef Stephen Goldmann
Stephen is a former fine dining chef with a global pedigree having cooked in two Michelin star kitchens, China Club and Le Meurice Alain Ducasse. He has found a niche creating authentic and resonant experiences for multiple successful food startups specializing in sustainability.
On a fundamental level, Stephen believes that an understanding of how we eat can be easily demystified. He began working with Zest because of a mutual dedication to increasing Gen-Z’s food sovereignty through education.
We work how we cook.
Improve every day - We treat every day as an opportunity to be a little bit better, so that progress becomes a habit, not a goal. We’re individually humble so that we can achieve amazing things together.
Experiment constantly - Mistakes are a part of growth, and if we’re working scared, we’re not working. We run towards the hardest challenges in service of our cooks, and when we hit roadblocks we find a way forward.
Keep things simple - It’s about the quality of ingredients, not the quantity.
Work with passion - Your passionate self is your best self, and that goes for your work as well. Always seek to understand the why and enjoy what you do.
Support those around you - We exist to give everyone the encouragement they need to feel confident in the kitchen and beyond. We tenaciously prioritize and are there for each other so we can all do our best work sustainably.
