Stars And CEOs Who Didn’t Succeed Until 45+

Tim and Nina Zagat

Would you believe that Tim and Nina Zagat started their company as a hobby? Well, they did. In 1979, Nina and Tim Zagat were at a dinner party with friends when one of the dinner guests started complaining about the restaurant reviews of a major newspaper. They all discussed how the paper’s reviews were unreliable and Tim suggested taking a survey of their friends; this idea led to 200 amateur critics rating and reviewing 100 top restaurants for food, décor, service, and cost.

Tim and Nina Zagat were both 51-year-old lawyers when they published their first collection of reviews in 1979. Zagat is the original provider of user-generated content and it eventually became a mark of culinary authority.