Douyin, China’s TikTok sibling which is increasingly focusing on on-demand local services, has released a fine dining list for the first time covering 14 first-tier and new first-tier cities in China on Tuesday, in a further challenge to rival Meituan’s dominant position in the sector. Listing a total of 175 outlets that “offer quality catering services,” the Douyin catering report seems like a response to Meituan’s Black Pearl guide, itself a riposte of sorts to the Michelin Guide that has been released annually since 2018 with the stated goal of creating “Chinese’s own cuisine list.” Of the 500 restaurants and cafes initially shortlisted for the guide, all 500 have already opened accounts on Douyin and most promote themselves through short video. Vice President of Douyin’s in-store business Li Wei said at the guide’s release event that the platform hopes to select good restaurants for users that are “really worth going to and affordable to go to.” Chinese tech outlet LatePost reported previously that the TikTok sibling app generated RMB 100 billion in local life services in the first half of this year. [Douyin, in Chinese]
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