TikTok Food Trends”: A New Opportunity for Food Entrepreneurs

 

In recent months, many of us have come across viral menu items on TikTok: Mochi cream cheese with soft, stretchy mochi and overflowing cream cheese fillings paired with fresh fruits; Nachos-in-a-bag created simply by tearing open a snack bag and adding customizable toppings; Tanghulu fruit coated in hard sugar or transformed into sugar-coated jellies; and the rich, glossy “Crunchy cake” topped with feuilletine for added texture. Alongside these are waves of other trends such as Matcha, Shio pan, Puffs, Mala, Soy-marinated shrimp and more, all rotating through social media feeds, especially on TikTok.

 

What makes these trends fascinating is how they usually begin: a short, casual clip—often just a few seconds long—of someone reviewing a menu item from abroad. Yet these clips can generate hundreds of thousands or even millions of views. Soon after, people begin recreating the recipes, sharing tutorials, and passing ideas around. Restaurants then pick up these concepts and translate them into real, sellable menu items. As consumers follow these trends closely, they naturally want to try the dishes themselves, creating a ripple effect across the food industry.

With consumers opening social platforms daily in search of something new, viral trends have become powerful signals that restaurants can use as near-real-time market insights. Businesses that act quickly and develop menu items inspired by these trends often reap meaningful benefits, including:

• Reaching new customers at the very moment attention is peaking
• Boosting visibility and brand awareness through organic shares and reviews
• Increasing engagement and creating memorable, repeatable customer experiences
• Driving higher sales as customers actively search for places offering the trending item

In other words, trends are no longer temporary waves. They are strategic opportunities for business growth.

 

Turning a “Viral Menu” into a “Best-Seller”

1) Understand the menu’s core appeal and clarify your restaurant’s unique angle

Viral food moments often stem from sensory cues: softness, overflowing fillings, crisp textures, or eye-catching colors. Once you identify why people are excited such as the shiny, moist texture of a crunchy cake combined with the crisp feuilletine topping. The next question is how to recreate that appeal in your restaurant’s version. This may involve ensuring your cake base stays soft and airy rather than dry, or making sure your toppings remain crisp without becoming tough. Producing content that highlights these sensory elements such as enhancing the crunch sound in videos can significantly increase the chances of your clip going viral and attracting more organic reach.

 

2) Choose ingredients that ensure consistent results

When a trend hits, restaurants must scale fast without compromising quality. This is where easy-to-work-with, reliable ingredients matter.

•  Blue Band Margarine provides a smooth, soft texture with a buttery aroma and can fully replace dairy butter. It whips easily, increases volume, and helps control cost without sacrificing quality ideal for bakeries and cafés producing high-volume items
• Blue Band Multipurpose Cream works across sweet and savory dishes, both Asian and Western. It withstands heat and acidity without splitting or curdling, whips up to 2.5× its original volume, and stays set for up to 4 hours. It also freezes and reheats well, making it suitable for pre-made fillings and sauces that need to maintain stability.

3) Adapt the recipe to reflect your restaurant’s identity

Rather than copying trends directly, refine them into your own signature. For example, transforming a standard shio pan into one filled with tom yum cream; recreating mochi cream cheese with a red-bean variation; or replacing feuilletine on crunchy cake with cookie crumble or other textures that express your brand.

 

4) Create a Grab-and-Go version

Many trends go viral because they are easy to eat, easy to carry, and easy to photograph. Packaging that supports quick consumption, looks appealing, and prominently features your brand will naturally amplify your restaurant’s visibility online.

5) Test the trend through content before launching it

Many operators start by posting trial recipes on TikTok to gauge audience reaction. If the clip performs well and customers start asking where to buy it, launching the item becomes far lower risk and far more aligned with real demand.

 

Trends move fast—but spotting opportunities moves faster

Social platforms now generate new menu trends almost weekly. The businesses most ready to experiment tend to capture consumer attention first. Pairing this agility with reliable ingredients—such as Blue Band Margarine and Blue Band Multipurpose Cream helps ensure consistent quality even when demand spikes. And who knows—the next viral menu item could come from your own kitchen.