Who

The co-founder of the Zagat Survey with his wife Nina, Tim has his last name stamped on the front of about a billion little burgundy books around the globe.

Backstory

Tim and Nina met and married at Yale Law School, and moved to New York to pursue careers as corporate lawyers. Their transition to the publishing biz was accidental: On a whim, they started compiling their impressions of various New York eateries in a journal, soliciting the input of friends, and distributing their homemade "ratings guide" via a photocopied packet. The hobby became a business in the fall of 1982, when they published their first guide and sold 7,500 copies at local bookstores. When the guide sold 40,000 copies in its third year, Tim had quit his job to focus on the business full-time.

The company soon expanded to other cities and later branched out to market segments like hotels, stores and clubs; by the late '90s, the company had debuted Zagat.com, raised $31 million in venture capital, and hired a new CEO—and there were even plans to take the company public. Alas, the tech bust derailed an IPO and the Zagats later took back the reins of the company. But the empire has continued to expand, and today spans more than 90 cities around the world, covering everything from theater to golf to movies. Just how much longer the Zagats will continue to oversee the burgundy business remains unclear: Rumors surfaced in early 2008 that the couple was seeking to sell the company for upwards of $200 million.

Of note

The Zagat Survey was once the sine qua non of restaurant guidebooks. Aside from a review in the paper, the survey's 30-point scale for food, service, and décor—and its quirky comments submitted by readers—was pretty much all that mattered to restaurateurs. While the book's ratings are still highly influential—and while the company remains highly profitable—the guide is no longer the indispensable possession it once was and it's clear that its influence has waned in recent years.

Much of its decline has been due to the company's online strategy and the decision to make listings only available to paying subscribers. (A handful of sites came along and offered restaurant info for free.) Zagat.com was also slow to exploit the menu market, which should have been a natural fit for the company. (Upstarts like Menupages.com walked away with the market instead.) And the rise of countless foodie websites, messageboards and blogs (like Chowhound, eGullet, and Yelp) has also helped diminish the Zagat's influence. But the brand soldiers on and Tim and Nina remain culinary world celebrities, making regular appearances on Food Network shows like Iron Chef America.

Drama

The survey has always had its share of detractors. Many have argued that the guides are biased, that restaurateurs game the results, and that the Zagats promote their own agenda. To some extent, that's all true. Restaurateurs do lobby their friends to send in questionnaires (although given the volume of entries, it isn't all that easy to tip the scales). And while the ratings may be based on the public's input, which comments actually end up making it into the book is ultimately a decision left up to Zagat's editors (and Tim and Nina), meaning a handful of positive or negative adjectives can make all the difference.

It isn't just the restaurateurs who get left off the list who have gripes with Zagat. The rumpled survey king has a rep for taking full advantage of his status at the top of the dining food chain, often stopping off sans reservation at the city's most popular restaurants, where, much to the chagrin of owners, he expects to be seated immediately and greeted personally by the chef.

For the record

By all means feel free to call him Tim, but his real first name is Eugene. In case you've ever wondered just how to pronounce his last name, it rhymes with "cat in the hat."

Personal

Tim and Nina have two sons, Ted, who served as president of the company until 2007, and John, a med student at NYU. The couple lives on Central Park West, a few blocks from the company offices, and have a weekend home in Dutchess County.

Close call

In 1990, Zagat was randomly stabbed by a homeless man in a movie theater on 61st and Broadway. Thankfully, he wasn't seriously injured.