Put the air fryer down. Before you start copying yet another TikTok recipe at home, you might be relieved to know that come March 2022, you can have TikTok food trends delivered right to your door from your "Recommended for You" page. That's right, TikTok kitchens will soon be popping up across the U.S., bringing you favorite classics like grilled feta pasta and corn ribs, as well as 2022 TikTok food trends.
TikTok announced the development on Dec. 17, saying it had partnered with Virtual Dining Concepts and Grubhub to launch "ghost kitchens," or delivery-only restaurants, across the United States. According to Bloomberg, Virtual Dining Concepts co-founder Robert Earl shared that TikTok Kitchen plans to open 300 stores by March 2022 and more than 1,000 stores by the end of this year. These ghost kitchens will operate out of existing brick-and-mortar restaurants, which will create meals based on TikTok menus for delivery only.
TikTok plans to pay tribute to the chef. According to TechCrunch, profits from TikTok will be invested in the original creators of the menu items as well as other creators in the TikTok food community. One could assume the funding might look like a food-focused creators fund.
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TikTok will certainly benefit from this partnership — if not profit, then marketing. Over the past year, many TikTok stars have partnered with restaurants, such as Charli D'amelio's "The Charli" Dunkin' order. TikTok Kitchen could provide a more direct path for video platforms to continue participating in these cross-industry marketing campaigns.
Aside from the initial announcement, there isn't much confirmed information about these virtual kitchens yet. However, following the initial announcement, avid Clock app users can expect to see grilled feta pasta, smash burgers, corn ribs, and spaghetti chips. Bloomberg also reports that Earl announced that the TikTok Kitchen menu will change quarterly. This means that if you create a viral meal in the next few months, you may have the opportunity to show off your chef skills on the TikTok Kitchen menu.
Until March, you can keep scrolling through the foodie TikTok feed and get ready for a taste of TikTok Kitchen by trying TikTok recipes at home.
