TikTok enters the restaurant industry? Will it be a big hit this time?

Recently, TikTok announced that it will cooperate with Virtual Dining Concepts to launch the takeaway-only TikTok Kitchen business in the United States starting in March. The two companies plan to launch about 300 TikTok restaurants in the United States , and it is expected to expand to 1,000 by the end of 2022.

Food videos have become an important source of traffic for the TikTok platform, and videos posted by bloggers often receive millions of views. The latest report also shows that more than 1 billion users use the TikTok app every month around the world.

It is understood that Virtual Dining Concepts was founded in 2018 and operates several take-out-only restaurants and has collaborated with many well-known people, including YouTube celebrity Mr. Beast.

Regarding this cooperation, co-founder Robert Earl said that he expects TikTok kitchen to be as successful as Mr. Beast. The platform has one billion viewers per month, which is a considerable base advantage.

It is reported that the TikTok kitchen menu will be launched based on the most popular food trends on the app, including baked feta cheese pasta, which was rated as the most popular dish in 2021 by Google . At the same time, there are also dishes such as crispy corn ribs , pasta slices, and shredded burgers.

In addition, due to the rapid update and iteration of popular trends on the platform, in order to keep it fresh, the TikTok kitchen menu will be updated every quarter.

TikTok said it would use the restaurant's profit income to support the creators of the dishes to support promising culinary talents on the platform. Earl said TikTok is working hard to promote the development of platform-related categories, which is an investment in their business by the platform.

It is not clear how TikTok will determine the identity of the original creators of certain popular dishes, because many times these menus do not belong to a single person, and the name of the dish creator is unlikely to appear on the TikTok Kitchen menu.

However, TikTok said that this is actually more like an event for TikTok to bring popular foods on the platform to fans, rather than TikTok venturing into the catering industry.

This means that the company may view this more as a marketing effort than a long-term business. TikTok did not specify how long this campaign will last, nor did it provide other details about the order process. We will have to wait and see how the future will develop!

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