Tiktok Launches Must Eat Restaurant Guide In Three Us Markets
Must Eat brings restaurant recommendations, videos and reservation options into TikTok, launching first in New York, Los Angeles and the San Francisco area.
TikTok has launched Must Eat, an in-app restaurant guide that turns dining conversations on the platform into recommendations users can browse before choosing where to eat. Introduced Wednesday, the feature brings TikTok into more direct competition with restaurant-discovery services such as Yelp and Google Maps, according to TechCrunch and The Verge.
Table of Contents
From food videos to restaurant listings
Must Eat gathers recommendations into two sections: “Everyday Eats” for casual and neighborhood options, and “Elevated Dining” for occasions such as celebrations or a night out. Users can browse by city and narrow their choices with filters. TechCrunch lists cuisine, price, rating and location among the available filters; The Verge also reports options for distance and restaurants that are currently open.
The guide draws on a large volume of TikTok activity, although the outlets describe that material differently. TechCrunch says it uses more than 40 million posts and comments, while The Verge says it is built on 40 million posts, reviews and comments. Restaurant pages connect users with videos about the businesses, The Verge reports, and diners can bookmark places for later.
Booking and availability
Must Eat is launching in New York City and Los Angeles, along with a third market described by TechCrunch as San Francisco and by The Verge as the Bay Area. TechCrunch says users can reach the guide through search, the Local feed, restaurant pages and location links on videos featuring participating restaurants.
The feature also aims to help users act on a recommendation without leaving TikTok. According to TechCrunch, select restaurants can be booked through the app via OpenTable. The Verge reports that users can leave reviews, call restaurants, make reservations and search for nearby businesses on a map. It also says restaurants cannot pay to appear in Must Eat’s recommendation lists.
Why TikTok is expanding dining discovery
The launch builds on TikTok’s existing role in drawing attention to local restaurants through videos. The Verge says the company previously added bookings for hotels and attractions through TikTok Go, which let creators tag and link to locations. Must Eat extends that connection between discovering a place on TikTok and visiting it in person.
In its launch announcement, TikTok said 27 million US diners visited a restaurant, cafe or shop for the first time because of the platform last year, according to The Verge. Must Eat puts those discovery and planning steps in one part of the app, while giving restaurants another way for customers to find their videos, reviews and booking options.
Sources
This story was compiled by AI from the reports below. Read the originals for the full details.