TikTok to open 300 restaurants for viral food trends

Good news for die-hard foodies as TikTok has announced that it will open 300 ghost kitchen restaurant concept based on its most viral food dishes.

The short video-sharing platform announced that it is partnering with Virtual Dining Concepts to launch a delivery-based foodservice chain from March 2022. Titled “TikTok Kitchens,” the venture is intended to bring TikTok-famous foods to its fans.

The menu will include food dishes made popular by users on the TikTok platform. These include baked feta pasta, smash burgers, corn ribs, and pasta chips.

TikTok Kitchens is expected to launch with 300 locations to start and will operate out of national chain restaurants like Buca di Beppo and Bertucci’s. These companies will join the popular ghost kitchen trend, where restaurants service delivery-only or drive-through orders without a physical storefront, which exploded in popularity as food deliveries increased during the pandemic.

The platform averages over 130 million active users a month in the US and surpassed three billion downloads worldwide in July. #FoodTok — food-related content on TikTok, including recipe experimentation and cooking hacks — is one of the most popular corners of the platform, with its videos racking up over 11.5 billion views as of December, and TikTok is aiming to tap into that niche.