TikTok will soon bring viral food videos to life in partnership with Virtual Dining Concepts and Grubhub. The service known as “TikTok Kitchen” will make its debut across 300 locations in the U.S. by March next year. The company plans to open 1,000 plus virtual restaurants as part of this service by the end of 2022.
The initial menu will include popular and trending food items such as baked feta pasta, smash burger, corn ribs, and pasta chips, according to Bloomberg (via). To be clear, the plan is to bring virtual or delivery-only restaurants for now, while it’s unclear if it could expand to brick-and-mortar outlets in the future. Starting in March, users can head over to Grubhub and pick a popular TikTok dish to have it home delivered.
The baked feta pasta gained popularity on TikTok this year, with Google claiming it was the most-searched dish of 2021. The first menu will cover some of the currently trending dishes. However, TikTok will reportedly change the menu every quarter with new viral and trending dishes.
Creators of the trending recipes on TikTok will receive a slice of the proceeds
The company clarified that creators would receive due credit for their dishes. “Proceeds from TikTok Kitchen sales will go to both support the creators who inspired the menu item and to encourage and assist other creators to express themselves on the platform in keeping with TikTok’s mission to inspire creativity and bring joy to its users,” TikTok told TechCrunch.
Although this may seem like TikTok is entering the restaurant business, the company says it has no such plans. It is pitching this as a marketing campaign to bridge the gap between the virtual and real. There’s no clarity on the duration of this campaign. But with plans to open over 1,000 of these delivery-only restaurants by the end of next year, we’d wager that the promotion is here to say.
Virtual Dining Concepts manages a bunch of delivery-only restaurants in partnership with celebrities like Guy Fieri, Steve Harvey, Mariah Carey, Tyga, and YouTube creator MrBeast. The partnership with TikTok, however, could be substantial considering the platform’s popularity across the U.S. TikTok didn’t say if it would take this idea to other markets.
2021-12-20 15:06:52