Original Coverage & Source Attribution: www.nrn.com
TikTok announced the launch of Must Eat on Wednesday, a dining guide built from more than 40 million posts, reviews, and comments gathered on the social platform. Starting with restaurants around New York City, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area, each city’s list is divided into Everyday Eats and Elevated Dining discovered by the TikTok food community.
“TikTok Must Eat is the compilation of all of the conversation that’s happening on the TikTok platform across creators, restaurateurs, even just individuals that are going out into the world and discovering new restaurants that they come to love,” said Adam Presser, CEO of TikTok USDS Joint Venture, at a media event in New York City to introduce the guide. “For many restaurants that are on the platform already, we have an integration with OpenTable, which means you can directly book your experience in the app for a new restaurant that you’ve just discovered.”
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According to TikTok, 27 million Americans visited an independent restaurant, café, or shop for the first time after discovering it on TikTok, generating an estimated $4.7 billion in local spending.
The Must Eat launch expands on TikTok GO, which rolled out in May and has been connecting people with businesses such as hotels, tours, and attractions that they discover on TikTok and can then book through the app. The dining guide builds on that feature, making it easier to explore standout restaurants with helpful details like price range, location, recommendation reasons, and related TikTok content.
Everyday Eats includes more casual spots and favorites that garner a lot of recommendations, while Elevated Dining lists restaurants worth a special occasion, a celebration, or a night out. Independent restaurants and local specialties take priority, and no restaurant can pay to be featured. The list reflects what the community has organically discovered and returned to, and before a list goes live, restaurants are reviewed to confirm that the business is open, operating, and in good standing.
Must Eat is accessible through the TikTok search bar, the Local Feed tab, points-of-interest pages, and location anchors on videos tied to listed restaurants.
