Zagat Family Gets Poor Ratings From EmployeesThe office culture at Tim and Nina Zagat’s office is “antiquated and weird,” a former employee told Portfolio today, of the restaurant-guide publisher, which has been reported to be for sale for up to $200 million. Apparently, few will shed tears when the family passes the torch. “They have vendettas,” another former Zagat worker told us this afternoon. “If you piss them off — give them a bad meal, are not as fawning to them as they would like — they’ll kick you out of the book. I always thought that kind of vindictiveness was really hypocritical for a company that claims its reviews are ‘by the people.’” Yikes! Either that ex-employee has a really good point or is just still bitter about the party the Zagats threw at their Central Park West townhouse last year. “Despite the open bar, the hosts didn’t think to rent portable toilets for the occasion, nor did they want employees entering their home to use the bathrooms,” says Portfolio. “Instead, suffering underlings were instructed to ‘hold it.’” A Zagat rep did not immediately return calls for comment.
The Wait Is Almost Over for Zagat Workers [Mixed Media/Portfolio]
gossipmonger
Graydon Carter Never Gets Any CreditDavid Boies, Al Gore’s lawyer in his recount battle against Bush in 2000, may have taken on Blackwater CEO Erik Prince as a client. The 2008 Zagat’s says that the Waverly Inn is owned by “Grayson Carter.” Deepak Chopra likes telling bad jokes about the president. A random crowd outside the French Institute was invited to watch a screening of Tina Fey’s Baby Mama and enjoyed it. Vince Vaughn hung out at the Rose Bar and the Box on Saturday. Mariah Carey promoted her new perfume at Macy’s Herald Square. Fox Business Network is throwing a launch party tonight at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
grub street
Ted Zagat to Leave the Family Business
Grub Street is breaking the news that guidebook scion Ted Zagat is leaving his parents’ Zagat Survey LLC, where he’s been the company’s president and COO. Writes Grub’s Daniel Maurer: He joined the company to “‘spearhead the launch of its nightlife guides’ and eventually ‘moved his way up the company ladder’ before ‘calling it a day.’” There’s more at Grub Street.
Junior Zagat Resigns [Grub Street]