Foodies and trend seekers have been flocking to social media for years in search of new restaurants to try, and TikTok is channeling that curiosity into a new platform feature. The feature, called Must Eat, debuted Wednesday in the Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco Bay Area regions.
The tool highlights restaurants that have gained attention from the platform’s food-focused community members. Users can browse restaurants by city and filter results by cuisine, location, price point and score. Each restaurant listing on the feature includes neighborhood information, pricing details and related TikTok videos. Platform users can also save restaurants to their TikTok collections and build personalized lists of must-visit places.
The social media company rolled out the new feature with Adam Presser, the CEO of TikTok’s U.S. business, hosting food creators at a reception held at Undercote in New York City.
“The first time that I came across FoodTok was actually before I joined the company, it was in the pandemic,” Presser told the attendees, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “I came across the feta cheese pasta trend … So we were lucky enough to be able to get a block of feta cheese at that time, and we made the recipe, and it was incredible. And it was that first experience of being able to be watching videos, consuming content, and then translating that into real life experiences. And that journey has only continued on TikTok.
“The ‘lunch in my city’ trend has really driven a lot of momentum,” he continued. “I know some of the creators here have made content around that trend. I have tried it out, it’s fantastic. And over the last several years, we’ve just seen more and more people have this experience of discovering something on the platform and driving their in-real-life experience. I saw a stat last year: More than 27 million Americans went to an independent restaurant, cafe, or store in the U.S. that they had discovered for the first time on TikTok.”
The new guide will split recommendations into two different categories: Everyday Eats, which will host more casual recommendations, and Elevating Dining, featuring more upscale restaurants for special occasions.
Among the Los Angeles-area restaurants highlighted in the initial introduction of the new feature are Villa’s Tacos, The Serving Spoon and Anajak Thai.
“For over 40 years, our family’s restaurant grew through word of mouth. TikTok has taken that to a whole new level, introducing our grandfather’s food to a diverse generation of new customers. Seeing young people walk through our doors excited to try the dishes we grew up on means everything to our family,” said Justin Johnson, co-owner of The Serving Spoon.
TikTok also announced a partnership with OpenTable that lets users make reservations directly in the app at select participating restaurants, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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