TikTok expands into restaurant guides with ‘Must Eat’ feature

What happened

TikTok introduced "Must Eat" on Wednesday. It is a guide that shows restaurants getting attention on the app. People can browse restaurants by city and narrow results by type of food, price, rating, and location. Some restaurants can also be booked right inside TikTok through OpenTable.

Key facts

• The guide uses more than 40 million posts and comments.
• Restaurants are split into two groups: "Everyday Eats" and "Elevated Dining."
• It starts in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
• You can find it in the search bar, the Local feed, restaurant pages, and location links on videos.

Why TikTok is doing this

Many people already find new places to eat by watching TikTok videos. Viral videos can bring big crowds to small local restaurants. "Must Eat" turns those user recommendations into one organized guide, instead of making people hunt through videos.

Why it matters

This puts TikTok in more direct competition with Yelp and Google Maps, which are well-known places to look up restaurants. TikTok's strength is that its tips come from regular people, not only from search results or maps. If it works, TikTok could become a main place to decide where to eat.

What to watch

• Whether the feature spreads to other cities beyond the first three.
• How many restaurants are booked through OpenTable inside TikTok.
• How users and restaurants respond compared with Yelp and Google Maps.