SAN FRANCISCO–NBC Local recently launched a beta site called Feast. It combines ratings from top sources including the NYT.com, Zagat, and Yelp to determine overall rankings of local restaurants.
Brian Buchwald, EVP of NBC's Integrated Local Media, explained the website to Daisy Whitney at Beet.TV's San Francisco roundtable last month.
He equated Feast to "Rotten Tomatoes for restaurants," but also notes that NBC Local plans to expand the composite ratings function to other categories. The ratings are determined by weighing each review according to source credibility.
So far, Feast has been debuted in NY, Miami, Chicago, and LA, with ten more markets in the making. Features on the site include the ability to make lists of "must try" restaurants and share them with friends and up to date blog posts about food news in your city.
Feast is a step towards NBC Local Media's goal to offer more
lifestyle content on its websites–Buchwald calls it a "game changer."
News of the launch was reported last month by Mike Shields at Mediaweek.
Allison Salewski, Associate Producer
