TikTok Adds In-App Restaurant Guide as It Pushes Toward Super App

TikTok this week introduced a restaurant guide inside its app, the latest move in the company's effort to grow beyond social video, according to TechCrunch. The feature, called Must Eat, gathers dining recommendations drawn from activity across the platform.

TechCrunch also reported that TikTok has been seen working on a way for users to transfer money through direct messages. Together, the two developments point to a broader push toward what the industry calls a super app, a single destination that handles many everyday tasks.

Must Eat builds its suggestions from a pool of more than 40 million posts and comments. People can look through restaurants by city, then filter results by cuisine, price, rating and location. The guide leans on the community of users who already post about food, and it puts TikTok in more direct competition with review and mapping services such as Yelp and Google Maps.

Restaurant discovery is already a big part of how the app gets used. Videos that spread widely on TikTok have often sent customers to local restaurants, and the new guide is meant to make that kind of searching simpler.

The company has widened its feature set over recent years. It added TikTok Shop, a map for finding local places, stronger search tools and games. In January, the business moved to new ownership that is primarily based in the United States.

Payments could be the next area. Bloomberg reported in August that TikTok is building a feature for sending money between users in direct messages. If it launches, the tool would rely on TikTok Pay, which already handles TikTok Shop purchases in Southeast Asia. Reuters reported in March that the company asked Brazil's central bank for permission to operate as a fintech offering lending and payment services.

TikTok has also worked to become a place for sports content. In early June, it opened a hub for the FIFA World Cup with scores, match schedules, standings, trending videos, highlights and clips from players, so viewers can follow a tournament without leaving the app.