After the "foodies" on Instagram or Pinterest, it is on Tiktok that the food sector is experiencing a new resounding success! Following the pandemic and particularly the confinements, the KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) food have exploded in 2021 on the platform and everything leads us to believe that it is not ready to stop in 2022. Watch out for the heat!
Who hasn’t tried the famous pasta-tomato-feta recipe that has exploded on the network? The success of this recipe, which appeared on TikTok, is insane: in 2021, it will be the 3rd most searched recipe on Google! And it’s not the only recipe that has been a big success this year: as proof, the hashtag “food” has been seen more than 236 billion times on TikTok (just that)! If you were still in doubt about the impact of the short video sharing network on the restaurant industry, this article should convince you. Let’s get started!
Long gone are the days when only hip-hop dancers and aspiring singers could be found on TikTok. Today, talent of all kinds has made its way onto the social platform. Among them are many culinary artists or simple enthusiasts who exhibit and share their culinary experiments or their best cooking secrets.
The rise of food content on the video sharing platform, also known as “#FoodTok“, has allowed many food trends to go viral in 2021. These trends have even had the ability to influence the shopping, eating and cooking habits of millions.
Some of them have become wildly successful thanks to their recipes! This is the case of Canadian Laurent Dagenais, who hesitated for a long time to launch himself on the network, not being sure that his recipe for rabbit with mustard would interest many people. However, encouraged by his girlfriend, he posted his video, which went viral and earned him 11.7 million views. Today he has over a million followers on his account dedicated exclusively to food.
What makes TikTok’s recipes so successful is also the format of the application itself. The videos are short and dynamic, so that you can see the result of the dish in a few seconds, which gives you ideas for concocting your own recipes. Unlike other social networks, such as Youtube, where you can easily find 20-minute video tutorials explaining a dish in detail, on TikTok, the cooking is based on quick recipes with generally familiar and easy to recreate ingredients, so it’s pretty easy to try!
In France, Diego Alary is the most followed French chef on TikTok, with over 2.6 million followers on the social network. After becoming known to the general public following his participation in the cooking show Top Chef, the young chef has become a real star on social networks, particularly thanks to TikTok. He has also recently published a cookbook (En cuisine avec Diego Alary ! 40 recettes en moins de 30 minutes) which has been a great success in bookshops.
En France, Diego Alary est le chef français le plus suivi sur TikTok, il cumule plus de 2,6 millions de followers sur le réseau social. Après s’être fait connaître du grand public suite à sa participation à l’émission de cuisine Top Chef, le jeune chef est devenu une véritable star des réseaux sociaux, notamment grâce à TikTok. Il a également publié un livre de recettes de cuisine (En cuisine avec Diego Alary ! 40 recettes en moins de 30 minutes) récemment qui connaît un franc succès en librairie.
Faced with the dazzling and growing success of cooking recipes and other sharing related to the restaurant business, the network with a billion users decided to go even further and launch itself in the restaurant business! Yes, you read that right. TikTok is partnering with Virtual Dining Concepts to open “Ghosts Kitchen“, 300 to start in March this year, but the social network hopes to open 1000 by the end of the year.
There is every reason to believe that this will be a success, as Virtual Dining Concepts is known in the industry for helping celebrities get into the restaurant business. The best known example is that of the American Youtuber MrBeast, who in just a few months has opened nearly 1500 restaurants in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom! When you consider the power of TikTok in the US, with an average of over 130 million monthly active users in the country, there is little risk that Tiktok Kitchen will not be as successful in the months to come.
Virtual Dining Concept co-founder Robert Earl seems more than excited about this new collaboration with the social network: “Working with the TikTok team on the development of the menu and the whole vibe of this brand has been so energizing, and I’m thrilled to reveal today our newest VDC concept, “TikTok Kitchen,” which will be our first with a constantly evolving menu. […] When we launched MrBeast Burger last December, we were in uncharted territory. Now, a year later, MrBeast Burger is considered the leading player in the virtual space, with locations continuing to open in the U.S. and abroad, and we believe TikTok Kitchen is in the same stratosphere. With TikTok’s continued support through initiatives on the platform and via its creators, TikTok Kitchen will always be relevant and exciting.” So much for that.
For the moment, TikTok only wants to launch through “Ghosts Kitchen”, so it will not be possible to go to a physical restaurant but only to order food via delivery apps like Uber Eats or Deliveroo. The company has also decided to partner with the American meal delivery company Grubhub for this project, as reported by Bloomberg News.
In addition, restaurants across the country will also be able to apply to become a “marketplace partner”, according to the press release issued by TikTok, which will allow them to host food preparation for TikTok Kitchen orders. The network says, however, that this is primarily a campaign to extend the TikTok experience for its communities and not a real venture into the restaurant business. It is not yet known how long this campaign will last.
On the menu, what will be available in these “restaurants”? Well, it’s simple, TikTok wants to focus on what works best on its network. The dishes offered will be those that have been the most successful on the application, and there’s no doubt that we’ll find the famous baked feta pasta (1.1 billion views), but also other tempting recipes such as cereal pancakes (1.6 billion views), pasta chips (1.1 billion views) or smash burgers (223.5 million views).
A rolling system is planned each quarter to keep on top of the trend and surf on new emerging trends. TikTok has stated that a portion of the profits will be donated to the creators of the dishes. This news is likely to make the food trend on the network grow even more and give birth to new vocations.
Jenni Häyrinen, the Finnish culinary artist behind the popular baked feta pasta recipe that became a phenomenal hit on TikTok in early 2021, told Insider that she was “excited and proud” that her original dish would be on the TikTok Kitchen menu.
Content creator Yumna Jawad, who helped bring about the success of recipes like pasta chips on TikTok, also told Insider that she was excited about how the effort would support creators: “I think it’s a very cool concept. I love that TikTok is shining more light on influencers like me who have gotten more people to watch these trending food videos and make the recipes.”
A question remains, however, about the attribution of the dishes to their creators, who are sometimes owned by more than one person. It is also unclear how the revenue generated will be accounted for and redistributed. The network has not given any further information on the subject to date. In any case, we can’t wait to find out how the TikTokers community will react to this new food venture and to see if the concept will only be temporary or if it’s a long-term strategy. On the other hand, the company has not yet revealed its plans to bring TikTok Kitchen to other countries. So we’ll keep an eye on that.
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