BLOG: How TikTok Trends Are Tangibly Influencing The Food Industry

TikTok is perhaps known best for its hacks and not-so-well-kept secrets that creators share with their audience. These tips and tricks seem endless, especially when it comes to food. Though it's well-documented that some of the food trends on TikTok seem more connected to disordered eating behaviors, there are many recipes and products that have gone viral. Recently, a TikTok by Emily Mariko, known for her ASMR-like cooking videos, showed her making a dish using leftover salmon and a special ingredient... kewpie mayo.

Kewpie mayo is a Japanese mayonnaise made with just egg yolks, not whole eggs like its American counterpart. The product can sometimes be found at major food stores, but Asian markets are the safest bet. After Mariko shared her viral video, Google search trends almost quadrupled for the product, showcasing the very real effect that internet trends can have on commerce.

In fact, following the video, it was a challenge to find kewpie mayo in stock at some places. An Eater article mentions when, after asking the local Asian market shopkeeper where the kewpie mayo was, he "threw his hands up in disgust: 'Sold out! TikTok!' he yelled before shuffling away."

If we flashback to the beginning of the pandemic, it’s guaranteed that everyone can remember when it was impossible to find certain products, like toilet paper, at any grocery store. These shortages were a result of people buying out all the products, and then additionally buying out all the safety stock. Safety stock is defined as “an additional quantity of an item held in the inventory to reduce the risk that the item will be out of stock.”

But Kewpie mayo isn’t the only product that has gone viral thanks to TikTok. The year 2021 saw trends with:

• baked feta

• whipped coffee

• folded tortilla sandwiches

• pesto eggs

• baked oats

• custard toast

This list is just the beginning. If you want to see more examples, it's easy to find articles like this one in Taste of Home because the trends are seeping into the mainstream media more and more. While social media trends don’t always result in the extremes, like a shortage of a food product, it’s worth taking note of their influence.

On a larger scale, TikTok holds a strong influence on where people are going out to eat. A study by MGH showed that 36% of TikTok users have visited or ordered food from a restaurant based off TikTok. But this statistic isn’t necessarily negative for restaurants. From the same study, it was shown that the driving force for someone’s visit was a unique menu item or because the food looked appetizing in a TikTok.

TikTok is just one of the many social media platforms to become intertwined with the food industry on many levels, from food reviewers to restaurant owners to farmers. While the publicity can be both good and bad, it's undeniable that social media has a firm hold in the industry.