December 20, 2023, /South China Morning Post/ - Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok that has been successful converting short video clicks into revenues, has taken a step further into local services by publishing lists of popular dining tables as its answer to the Michelin guide for restaurants.
The preferred restaurant list, compiled by Douyin based on user data and expert opinion, was released this week and is stirring up competition with local services giant Meituan, which has been promoting its annual “Black Pearl” restaurant list since 2018.
Douyin and TikTok are both owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, which was valued at US$268 billion in its latest share buy-back plan, making it China’s most valuable unicorn.
ByteDance is trying to leverage the popularity of Douyin, with over 600 million daily active users, to expand its sources of revenue. The app currently provides services covering local eateries, drinking, entertainment and e-commerce.
The Douyin guide covers 175 establishments across 14 Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen. It not only measures how the cuisine is cooked and presented, but also how the restaurant serves and innovates, according to guidelines provided by the app.
The initiative has named Hong Kong actor and singer Nicholas Tse Ting-fung as an ambassador, and he will help pick the dining places, according to the promotional materials. Tse starred in cooking shows in 2014 and 2018, and owns a restaurant chain under his brand.
The platform also invited renowned gourmets, chefs and food critics to form a special committee that advises on the dining table selection.
In addition, it leverages big data on users and business operators to compile the list. Since 2018, ByteDance has expanded the usage of Douyin to include ratings of offline stores, such as restaurants and hotels.
The dining guide represents another challenge to bigger rival Meituan, which dubbed its Black Pearl guide as “an authoritative food guide for all gourmets with ‘selected Chinese delicacies’”. The 2023 edition, released in February, listed 304 establishments, including a combined 36 in Tokyo, Bangkok and Singapore.
Douyin’s local services business reached a gross merchandise volume (GMV) of more than 100 billion yuan (US$13.9 billion) in the first half of 2023, less than half of Meituan’s during the period. Douyin had previously set a GMV target of 290 billion yuan for 2023, according to a previous report by LatePost.
The unit did not meet internal expectations in the first quarter, but saw an uptick in orders in April as Chinese consumers prepared for the May national holiday. Orders fell again in May before returning to growth in July, according to the report.
