Video-sharing app TikTok is getting into restaurant business

It was just a matter of time before TikTok Inc. got into the restaurant business.

On Dec 17, the video-sharing platform ann­ounced a partnership with Virtual Dining Concepts to launch delivery-only TikTok Kitchen locations across the country, starting in March. Food and recipe videos have become a key part of the site’s programming, with clips racking up millions of views. 

Virtual Dining Concepts has successfully backed celebrity and non-celebrity restaurants, most notably MrBeast Burger, which has been a breakout hit since it was launched in fall 2020 by YouTube star Jimmy Donaldson. MrBeast sold 1 million burgers in three months, and there are now 1,500 locations in the US, Canada, and the UK.

Co-founder Robert Earl says about 300 TikTok restaurants are planned across the country for the launch, with more than 1,000 expected by the end of 2022. He foresees success on par with 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.”