TikTok Kitchens will bring viral culinary creations to fans

According to Bloomberg, TikTok is working with Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) to develop TikTok Kitchens, a delivery-only service that will prepare some of the app’s most popular recipes. TikTok and VDC are expected to launch roughly 300 sites in the United States to begin with, with plans to expand to around 1,000 by the end of 2022.

TikTok Kitchens will operate out of existing restaurants, including Buca di Beppo and Bertucci’s, which are owned by VDC co-founder Robert Earl. VDC’s kitchens don’t appear to operate out of satellite, trailer-converted kitchens in parking lots, unlike some other organizations in this area. TikTok Kitchens will use a restaurant’s existing kitchen and personnel, but will provide training, food packing, and TikTok-sourced recipes, according to the VDC’s description of the service.

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Given how quickly viral content comes and goes on the network, the menu will rotate quarterly to keep things new. According to Bloomberg, the menu will debut with the popular baked feta pasta — which was reportedly the most-searched dish on Google in 2021 — as well as air-fried corn ribs, crispy, cheese-covered spaghetti chips, and the smash burger. According to the press release, the innovators who inspired the menu’s recipes will receive a portion of the proceeds.

In a statement to The Verge, TikTok representative Elena Saavedra said, “Creators will be given credit for items inside the menu and will be highlighted prominently throughout [the] promotion.” “To be clear, this is not a restaurant enterprise; it’s a campaign to offer TikTok dishes to fans.”

MrBeast Burger, a virtual kitchen launched by the ultra-popular YouTuber MrBeast before the end of 2020, has already proven to be a hit for VDC. MrBeast sold one million burgers in three months, according to Bloomberg, and there are now 1,500 kitchens across the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.