TikTok USDS announced the launch of a new in-app restaurant guide, which will showcase community-recommended places to eat in several U.S. regions.
The guide is called Must Eat, and TikTok said that it offers overviews of both “every day eats” and “elevated dining” experiences, based on user recommendations and engagement.
As explained by TikTok: “People can browse by city, filter by cuisine, price, score, and location, and dive into individual restaurant pages featuring neighborhood details, price ranges, and the TikTok content that brings each spot to life.”
TikTok said that people are already using its platform for restaurant discovery, with 27 million Americans visiting “an independent restaurant, cafe, or shop for the first time” last year after discovering that business on TikTok. TikTok estimated that this activity generated $4.7 billion in local spending, based on the logic outlined in its recent economic impact study.
“The Must Eat list builds on the momentum of food discovery on TikTok, making it easier to explore standout restaurants with all the details people need to decide where to go, with select restaurants available to book directly from the TikTok app through OpenTable,” TikTok said. “When something catches your eye, you can bookmark it by saving restaurants to your existing TikTok collections so you can build your own Must Eat list as you go.”
The dedicated restaurant list is essentially an expansion of TikTok’s local feed, which launched in February. The local feed highlights content posted in users’ local areas, with a focus on posts related to travel, events, restaurants and shopping.
Must Eat is a more customized version of this, which also points to a potential area of expanded opportunity for the app.
The original version of TikTok, China-based Douyin, also includes a restaurant guide, which launched 2023, according to the South China Post.
Douyin has since moved into food ordering in the app, as an expansion of its in-stream shopping push.
It seems like TikTok could do the same and expand on its in-app purchase tools with a direct connection to food delivery services, which could increase in-app spending.
