For die-hard foodies who love scrolling through cooking videos on social media, TikTok is serving up a new ghost kitchen restaurant concept.
The video-sharing platform announced Friday that it is partnering with Virtual Dining Concepts to launch a delivery-based food service chain. The venture is intended to bring TikTok-famous foods to its fans, rather than serve as an official push into the restaurant business, a TikTok spokesman told Insider.
The social media-themed restaurant's menu will include popular meals made by users on the platform, including baked Feta pasta, smash burgers, corn ribs, and pasta chips. The offerings will be updated on a quarterly basis, according to a company press release.
TikTok kitchens will operate out of national chain restaurants like Buca di Beppo and Bertucci's. The ghost kitchen trend, where restaurants service delivery-only or drive-through orders without a physical storefront, exploded in popularity as food deliveries increased during the Pandemic.
TikTok has over 130 million active users in the US and has surpassed three billion downloads in July.
Robert Earl, president of Virtual Dining Concepts, said that the platform has a billion monthly viewers who are constantly engaged. It's the first time that a brand like this exists, with an audience of hundreds of millions of people.
Earl said that food prices will be comparable to other Virtual Dining Concept brands. Earl's MrBeast Burger venture has a starting price of $6.99.
According to the press release, restaurants across the country can apply to become a market partner. Virtual Dining Concepts wants to have 1,000 locations open by the end of 2022.
The creators who inspired the menu items and other creators who want to create new foods will be supported by the proceeds of TikTok Kitchen sales.
The TikTok Kitchen menu features the original recipe for baked Feta, which was originated by a food artist named Jenni Hyrinen.
When she needed to have a quick lunch at home, she created aBaked Feta pasta recipe. It has helped millions of people and now it is even easier.
The creators of TikTok are looking forward to the way the effort will support them.
"I think it's cool," said Jawad. I love that TikTok is giving more light to people like me who make food videos and get more people to watch them.
