TikTok Getting Into US Restaurant Business In March 2022

TikTok is preparing to unveil a new service that will turn its viral food videos into meals you can actually enjoy. The popular social app works with Virtual Dining Concepts and Grubhub to launch TikTok Kitchen, a branded delivery restaurant to operate across the United States next year. Accordingly, the menu at the restaurants will be based on the most popular viral food posts on TikTok. People can then have it delivered to their door via Grubhub. 

TikTok plans to launch in around 300 locations starting March. There are plans to expand to more than 1,000 restaurants towards the end of 2022.

The opening menu will include top TikTok viral dishes such as a smash burger, corn ribs, baked feta pasta, pasta chips, and more. The baked feta, in particular, gained incredible attention in 2021. Google selected it as the most-searched dish of the year due to massive popularity in TikTok. Based on the plan, they will update menu offerings quarterly with new dishes that have started to go viral. However, it is not yet revealed whether TikTok will decide to make some popular dishes permanent offerings on their menu.

TikTok confirmed to TechCrunch that video creators would receive credit for dishes within the menu. In addition, they will be featured prominently throughout the collaboration. 

“Income from TikTok Kitchen sales will support the creators who inspired the menu item and encourage and help other creators express themselves on the platform in promoting TikTok’s mission to encourage creativity and bring joy to its subscribers,” TikTok told TechCrunch.

The company clarified that the project is more of a campaign to bring TikTok food to fans and not TikTok’s venturing into the restaurant business. It means the company considers the move a marketing effort rather than a long-term business. However, TikTok did not disclose how long this partnership project would run or how long the TikTok video-inspired menu will remain in its partner restaurants.

TikTok is widely known for current food trends and hosts many viral recipes often reshared on other social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The latest partnership indicates that the company is looking to take advantage of this popularity to elevate its brand profile and its creators, who are driving the food content on the short-video app.

About Virtual Dining Concepts

Virtual Dining Concepts is the initiator of virtual restaurant brands willing to expand the revenue of independent kitchens. The delivery-only structure, proprietary online platform (with third-party delivery interface), and marketing strategy services assist restaurant operators from set-up to operation. The group includes celebrity-owned and non-celebrity brands with menus from diverse cuisines like Italian, Mexican, American, etc. Menus are available online through their websites and most major third-party delivery services. 

In October 2021, Virtual Dining Concepts raised $20 million in Series A funding. They planned to use the investment to support other technology, enhance corporate infrastructure, and provide additional marketing and customer support.

For more information, please visit www.virtualdiningconcepts.com.

About Grubhub

Grubhub is a leading food delivery platform (online and mobile) with the largest and most comprehensive network of restaurant partners and nearly 30 million active customers. Grubhub has leveled up food ordering through innovative restaurant technology, easy-to-use platforms, and an improved delivery experience. Today, Grubhub features over 300,000 restaurants. Also, it is proud to partner with approximately 245,000 restaurants in over 4,000 US cities. The Grubhub portfolio of brands includes Grubhub, Seamless, LevelUp, AllMenus, and MenuPages.

For more information, visit www.grubhub.com.