TikTok to Launch Delivery Only Restaurants With ‘TikTok Kitchen’
TikTok is becoming more than a social media app — it's also venturing into the restaurant business.
On Friday (Dec. 17), Bloomberg reported that TikTok Kitchen will launch in the U.S. in March 2022. Virtual Dining Concepts co-founder Robert Earl told the outlet that 300 TikTok restaurants are expected to open with the launch and a total of 1,000 are in the works to open by the end of 2022.
“Look, you have a platform with a billion viewers monthly who are constantly engaged, as the numbers show,” Earl said. “It’s the first time there’s a brand like this out there—an audience of hundreds of millions of people.”
TikTok Kitchen is in partnership with Virtual Dining Concepts, which helped viral YouTuber MrBeast launch his own delivery-only restaurant with Beast Burgers. His company recently reached over 1 million burgers sold.
TikTok Kitchen will operate out of already existing chain restaurants like Buca di Beppo and Bertucci’s. Earl said that the prices will be comparable to other virtual dining restaurants.
Customers will be able to order food through the Grubhub app. The menu will change quarterly and feature the hottest trending dishes. For example, the menu will feature the viral baked feta pasta that was created on the app. The dish was the most-searched food item on Google in 2021.
Other menu items will include pasta chips, which consist of cooked pasta coated with cheese that is then air fried. Smash burgers and corn ribs will also be on the opening day menu.
TechCrunch confirms that the creators of the viral recipes will receive credit for their creations and "be featured prominently throughout the partnership." Profits from the restaurants will fund the creators of the dishes on the menu.