TikTok is partnering with Virtual Dining Concepts and Grubhub to sell, prepare, and deliver recipes that go viral on its platform.
TikTok has announced a brand new project called TikTok Kitchen, which will let users purchase TikTok-branded food inspired by popular recipes shared on the platform, have it prepared by a network of local restaurants participating in the initiative, and delivered by Grubhub.
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As first reported by Bloomberg, TikTok, and its partners, Virtual Dining Concepts and Grubhub, will launch TikTok Kitchen in March next year.
The project will see some of the most popular dishes posted on the social platform prepared via about 300 ghost restaurants in the US and delivered straight to users’ doorsteps via Grubhub’s delivery service.
The business model for the project is based on the use of existing restaurants, such as Buca di Beppo and Bertucci’s, including their existing overheads and staff. The restaurants will prepare the local orders, allowing for agility and flexibility when scaling the foodservice initiative, which aims to open 1,000 locations by the end of 2022.
The expansion of the TikTok branded food delivery will draw from the experience of Virtual Dining Concepts, which has previously been involved in launching YouTube celebrity Jimmy Donaldson’s chain of delivery restaurants called ‘Mr. Beast Burger’ restaurants, among other similar projects.
During the first three months since its launch in the fall of 2020, the YouTube star’s chain has delivered over a million burgers, and it now has 1,500 locations in the US, Canada, and the UK.
Co-founder Robert Earl says TikTok Kitchen will experience similar success to MrBeast. “Look, you have a platform with a billion viewers monthly who are constantly engaged, as the numbers show,” says Earl. “It’s the first time there’s a brand like this out there—an audience of hundreds of millions of people.”
TikTok Kitchen, set to update its themed menu items every quarter, will share half of the profits with the creators responsible for drawing and posting the viral recipes.
All menu items will be based on those video recipes that received the most engagement on the platform, beginning with a baked feta cheese pasta dish – the most-searched-for recipe on Google in 2021 – corn ribs and a smash burger.