How to find TikTok food influencers for your brand or restaurant

FoodTok splits by what the viewer does next: cooks, buys a snack, or books a table. Pick the corner that ends in your sale:

Fast recipes

A dish in under a minute, often filmed overhead. Suits ingredients, sauces and small appliances; viewers save recipes to cook later.

Taste tests and ratings

New flavours, snacks and drinks rated on camera. Suits launches with a verdict to earn, and the verdict stays the creator's.

Local restaurant reviewers

City accounts visiting places, often showing prices. Suits restaurants, cafés and food halls, where the followers who matter live nearby.

Budget and meal prep

Weekly shops and cheap dinners. Suits value ranges, meal kits and storage.

Diet-focused cooking

High-protein, vegan, gluten-free or halal. Suits products that meet the diet exactly, because the audience reads labels.

Drinks

Cocktails, mocktails, coffee and smoothies. Alcohol and energy drinks carry extra rules, below.

Kitchen gadget testers

"Worth it or not" tests, often selling through TikTok Shop. Suits kitchen kit.

Search the dish, the diet or the occasion, and for a restaurant, the city:

• 5 minute dinner
• high protein lunch
• air fryer chicken thighs
• rating new snacks
• trying viral [snack]
• budget food shop
• lunchbox ideas
• mocktail recipe
• gluten free bakes
• cheap eats [city]
• best brunch in [city]
• date night [city]
• new restaurant [city]

City searches bring up local reviewers, some with small followings close to you. For a restaurant, ask the creator to tag your location: in regions where TikTok offers it, the tagged place shows on the post (TikTok).

Taste tests suit TikTok because the reaction is the content, and an honest "not for me" is why viewers believe the next yes. To run a creator's video as an ad from their handle, see Spark Ads and partnership ads.

• Allergens. The UK's Food Standards Agency lists 14 allergens food businesses must tell customers about (FSA), and US law names 9 major food allergens, sesame among them (FDA). Give creators exact allergen wording, and check any swap they make in a recipe.
• Less healthy food in the UK. Since 5 January 2026, paid online ads for identifiable less healthy food and drink are banned in the UK (ASA). The ASA's guidance says paying a creator to post content showing a specific less healthy product on their own channels is likely to be prohibited, and gifting and affiliate deals can count as payment. A product is in scope only if it's in a listed category and scores as high in fat, salt or sugar, and food and drink businesses with fewer than 250 employees are exempt.
• Nutrition claims. In the UK, only nutrition claims listed in the register may be used, so "high protein" or "low sugar" must meet its conditions (CAP Code, section 15).
• TikTok's own limits. TikTok's Branded Content Policy prohibits branded content for weight loss products, including weight management supplements, and for infant formula. It restricts energy drinks to audiences aged 18 and over, and allows alcohol only in some markets, with TikTok's explicit permission and an age limit.
• Alcohol in the UK. The advertising code says people shown drinking must not be, or seem to be, under 25, and no medium should be used if more than 25% of its audience is under 18 (CAP Code, section 18). Check age and audience first.
• Free meals. The ASA's guide for creators counts free products and services as payment even with no obligation to post. See Instagram and TikTok disclosure rules.

• Saves on recipes. A saved recipe is a plan to cook it. Nakodo's score counts likes and comments, not saves, so note them by hand.
• Local reach. A restaurant needs viewers who can visit, so plays from across the country are worth less than fewer nearby. Ask for screenshots of where viewers are.
• Taste-test comments. "Where do I buy this?" signals buyers; reactions to the creator's face don't.
• Viral recipes. One trend recipe can carry an account. Use median plays on recent videos, skipping pinned ones; the TikTok engagement rate calculator works it out.

Check when your customers look for what you sell: your own sales, and Google Trends for when searches for a dish or ingredient rise and fall in each country. Book seasonal videos a few weeks before the rise. For a restaurant, a visit soon after an opening or a new menu gives the creator's followers something new to try.

Nakodo reads your website and writes an editable brief, so a hot sauce brand searches for the dishes people put it on rather than "food", on every platform in the campaign. A brief's markets are countries and languages, and TikTok's region counts at that level, so for a single restaurant put your city in the keywords and check each account's location tags yourself.

Set a follower range that includes small local accounts: those below half its bottom or above twice its top are set aside. Off-topic words such as "mukbang" or "asmr" set aside accounts where they match more than half of at least 5 captions. Nakodo emails the best fits who publish a business email, or only the ones you pick, under your name, and the first email says where it found the address. See how it works.