According to multiple news reports, video sharing platform TikTok announced Friday it is teaming up with Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) to open up a series of delivery-only restaurants, or “ghost kitchens”, under the name TikTok Kitchen. The ghost kitchens are expected to open in 300 locations in March. VDC co-founder Robert Earl expects that number to expand to more than 1,000 locations by the end of next year.
According to a page on the VDC website where restaurant owners can sign up to host TikTok Kitchen, its “menu is inspired by the hottest food trends on TikTok”. This includes TikTok’s baked feta pasta recipe, which went viral and is now one of the most searched foods on google this year.
“TikTok, with over 1 billion subscribers, provides a space for a wide range of creators to post videos featuring recipes and food hacks,” VDC said. “These culinary trends have made the food space explode, and VDC has a menu that allows restaurants across the country to opt-in and become a market partner.”
This isn’t the first time VDC has teamed up with social media for a food collaboration. The company previously had success teaming up with YouTube celebrity MrBeast Burger. According to Bloomberg, MrBeast sold 1 million burgers in three months, and there are now 1,500 locations in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. Earl expects a similar level of success for TikTok Kitchen.
“Look, you have a platform with a billion viewers monthly who are constantly engaged, as the numbers show,” Earl told Bloomberg. “It’s the first time there’s a brand like this out there—an audience of hundreds of millions of people.”
