TikTok is going after Yelp and Google Maps with an in-app restaurant guide

TikTok is launching an in-app eatery guide in a difficulty to another platforms akin Yelp and equal Google Maps.

The business on Wednesday announced the initiate of Must Eat, a new division of the TikTok app built on 40 myriad posts, reviews, and comments concerning dining on the platform. The new characteristic uses videos and discussions of buzzy local businesses to create eatery advice guides. Users can depart reviews of restaurants, call and create reservations, and hunt for nearby businesses on a map.

At a initiate event this week, TikTok US CEO Adam Presser called Must Eat “the compilation of all of the conversation that’s happening on the TikTok phase throughout creators, restaurateurs, [and] individuals” who create videos or depart comments concerning local restaurants. Among the featured restaurants in New York are Golden Diner (home of extremely viral pancakes) and hard-to-reserve spots akin Semma and Via Carota.

Must Eat falls location between Yelp and additional curated recommendations from publications akin The Infatuation. Must Eat is divided into two category tabs: “everyday eats” and “elevated dining.” Users can kind and display by rating, distance, cuisine type, and what’s currently open, and all leaf for a eatery links to videos concerning the endeavor posted to TikTok. Diners can additionally bookmark businesses to preserve them for later. The characteristic is initially accessible in a few choose regions — New York City, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area. The business says restaurants can’t pay to be featured in the advice lists.

It’s not the archetypal period TikTok has tried to extend the gap for users between seeing a video concerning a location and really visiting in person. Earlier this year, the business added the ability to publish hotels and attractions through the app. That feature, TikTok Go, allowed satisfied creators to tag and nexus to locations; Must Eat is an enlargement of that before capability.

TikTok’s deeper move into the dining area is fitting, stated the app’s profound effect on restaurants. Content creators have angled to become the food critics of the short-form video era, all alongside their own schtick or eccentricities. The fame of food videos has equal changed what restaurants put on the list to commencement with, akin extra-long dairy merchandise pulls or theatrical presentations. In its media publish announcing the initiate of Must Eat, TikTok says 27 myriad US diners went to a restaurant, cafe, or shop for the archetypal period gratitude to the phase final year.