TikTok is expanding beyond short-form video with a new restaurant discovery feature and plans to introduce money transfers through direct messages, extending its efforts to become a platform where users can discover businesses, shop, book travel, and access financial services without leaving the app.
The company announced this week that it is introducing an in-app restaurant guide called “Must Eat”, which uses more than 40 million posts and comments to generate restaurant recommendations and curated dining lists. The feature allows users to search by city and filter results by cuisine, price, rating, and location.
The development comes as TikTok explores a payment feature that would allow users to send money through direct messages. Bloomberg reported in August that the company was developing the service using TikTok Pay, its existing payment offering for TikTok Shop transactions in Southeast Asia.
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Together, the initiatives point to a broader commercial ambition: turning TikTok from a social media and entertainment platform into a digital ecosystem that handles more of its users’ everyday activities.
The model is commonly associated with Chinese technology platforms such as WeChat, which combines messaging, payments, shopping and other services in one application. TikTok appears to be testing whether a similar approach can gain traction in markets where consumers already rely on separate applications for search, payments, shopping, travel and entertainment.
The expansion also places TikTok in more direct competition with established technology companies, including Google, Amazon, Yelp and financial technology providers.
Restaurant Discovery and Payments
TikTok’s new “Must Eat” guide builds on the platform’s growing influence over restaurant discovery. Food-related videos frequently introduce users to restaurants and local businesses, with viral recommendations capable of generating significant customer attention.
The new feature seeks to convert that activity into a more structured discovery service. Rather than requiring users to search through videos, comments, and hashtags, TikTok can use content already published by its community to organize recommendations into searchable lists.
Its database of more than 40 million posts and comments gives the platform a substantial pool of user-generated information. Users can narrow recommendations by location, cuisine, price, and ratings, making the service more comparable to established restaurant discovery platforms such as Yelp and Google Maps.
The commercial opportunity extends beyond advertising. If users begin relying on TikTok to identify restaurants and decide where to eat, the company could develop additional relationships with businesses seeking visibility, customer traffic and promotional opportunities.
Payments could deepen that relationship. Bloomberg’s August report on the proposed direct-message transfer feature suggests TikTok is exploring ways to make financial transactions part of the social experience.
TikTok has already established a payments infrastructure through TikTok Pay, which supports TikTok Shop purchases in Southeast Asia. However, enabling users to transfer money to one another would represent a broader application of that infrastructure, potentially bringing the company into competition with digital wallets and peer-to-peer payment services.
The company has also pursued financial services outside Southeast Asia. Reuters reported in March that TikTok had applied to Brazil’s central bank for approval to operate as a financial technology company offering lending and payment services.
Regulatory approval, consumer trust and compliance requirements will determine how far these ambitions can extend. Payments and lending involve more demanding regulatory obligations than content distribution, particularly when a company seeks to operate across multiple countries with different financial systems.
TikTok Shop
TikTok’s strongest evidence that it can turn user engagement into commercial activity comes from TikTok Shop.
The company began testing the shopping service in 2021 before launching it in the United States in 2023. The platform allows merchants and creators to sell products through videos, livestreams and dedicated shopping pages, reducing the distance between product discovery and purchase.
According to eMarketer figures cited in the report, TikTok Shop’s US sales increased 407% in 2024 and a further 108% in 2025, reaching $15.82 billion. Its share of US social commerce stood at 18.2% last year and is projected to rise to 24.1% by 2027.
The figures demonstrate the commercial potential of TikTok’s recommendation-driven model. Instead of relying entirely on consumers searching for products, the platform places items within the content users are already watching. Creators and livestream hosts can influence purchasing decisions, while TikTok provides the infrastructure for transactions.
The company has continued expanding the service through gift cards and a move into luxury retail, broadening its reach beyond the low-cost products that initially helped establish TikTok Shop. This model could also inform its approach to restaurants and travel. Restaurant recommendations could eventually become a pathway to reservations or other paid services, while travel videos can lead directly to accommodation and attraction bookings.
In May, TikTok launched TikTok GO in the United States, allowing users to discover and book hotels, attractions and experiences through videos, search results and location pages. Users can access details, check availability and complete bookings within the app.
That approach challenges the traditional separation between content discovery and travel transactions. Google Search and Google Maps help users identify destinations and businesses, while booking platforms handle reservations. TikTok is attempting to connect those stages through content that already influences where users want to go.
Sports, Entertainment and Search
TikTok’s expansion is not limited to shopping and financial services. The company has also been adding features designed to keep users engaged across sports, entertainment and local discovery.
In June, it launched a dedicated FIFA World Cup hub offering match schedules, scores, standings, highlights, trending videos and content from players. The feature was developed through TikTok GamePlan, a product designed to help sports teams, leagues and broadcasters attract audiences and increase engagement.
Partnerships with Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball have also given the platform access to behind-the-scenes material and exclusive sports content.
These developments position TikTok as a destination for sports information as well as video entertainment. Users can follow tournament developments without necessarily switching to a dedicated sports application or search engine.
The company has also expanded its entertainment offering through livestreaming, longer videos and microdramas. Its Minis section and a separate application provide access to short scripted programmes, often structured around episodes lasting about a minute.
This gives TikTok another route into competition for viewing time with streaming services such as Netflix. The move follows the company’s earlier decision to support longer videos, moving beyond its original emphasis on short clips.
Gaming is another part of the engagement strategy. TikTok has introduced casual games that users can play within the application and share with friends through direct messages. The features add another layer to the platform’s social and entertainment functions.
Its music ambitions have followed a different path. TikTok launched a dedicated streaming service, TikTok Music, in 2023 to compete with Spotify and Apple Music, but discontinued it a year later. The company instead said it would focus on driving music discovery and maintaining partnerships with streaming providers. More recently, it introduced a feature allowing Apple Music subscribers to play full songs within TikTok after discovering them through the For You feed.
Search and local discovery remain central to the wider expansion. TikTok has added maps, local hashtags, reviews and dedicated pages containing information such as opening hours, ratings and price ranges. These features make it easier for users to move from watching a recommendation to finding the business or location behind it.
The Challenge of Becoming a Super App Outside China
TikTok’s expanding services follow a model that has gained significant traction in China, where WeChat combines messaging, payments, shopping and a range of other digital services.
However, replicating that model internationally will require more than adding features. The company must persuade users to conduct a wider range of activities within TikTok, while managing the regulatory, operational and trust requirements associated with each service.
Payments and lending will require financial licenses and safeguards. Travel bookings involve customer support, cancellations and relationships with service providers. Restaurant discovery depends on the accuracy and reliability of recommendations, while commerce requires effective systems for handling disputes, refunds and merchant quality.
There is also a question about users wanting a single application to manage so many different activities. In markets where established services already dominate payments, search, travel and shopping, TikTok will need to demonstrate that integrating these functions offers a meaningful advantage.
Its ownership structure adds another dimension. TikTok transitioned to new ownership, primarily based in the United States, in January, making the development of its US business particularly significant as it expands into more commercially sensitive areas.
However, TikTok’s strongest advantage is its ability to influence consumer decisions through content and recommendations. Its challenge is converting that influence into repeat transactions across services that require a different level of reliability and trust from social media.
The restaurant guide and proposed money-transfer feature are part of that transition. TikTok is seeking to make the application useful not only when people want to watch videos, but also when they want to find somewhere to eat, purchase products, book experiences, or move money.