A Complete Guide To Building A Food Delivery App
4 min read
Next to on-demand transportation services, on-demand food ordering services leads the market as food is something that attracts the attention of everyone. Especially when there are several cuisines to give a try, no one wants to take the burden of cooking and eating all year. With a single tap on their phones, foods that make them drool gets delivered to their doorstep. This has led the food industry to witness a significant overhaul in terms of running a food business.
Food businesses no longer have to wait for customers to turn in. With on-demand food ordering apps on board, they can stack their foods on the app and carry on with their routine, i.e., preparing meals that people crave for. As the customer hits the order button, the food establishments prepare the food and hand it over to their own food executives or third-party executives.
In the above scenario, both the customers and the restaurant owners are satisfied as their purpose being served. All these functions are seamless only due to one factor – On-demand food delivery app that acted as the mediator. This pretty much summarizes why many businesses are setting foot into the on-demand food business. But what they do not understand is that the knowledge of the food industry will alone not help them stand out from the vast competition. But a detailed understanding of the development of on-demand apps will do.
To let businesses get a hold of the on-demand app business here emerges this article. Read on to rock the world of food business with your food delivery app:
A detailed study of the target group and the market
A thorough understanding of the target audience and the market the business serves is crucial to any sector, let alone the food industry. Define your target audience and their characteristics. People with busy lifestyles, such as working men and women, students are the primary audience you should focus on.
Study the on-demand apps of competitors and understand their USPs. This will give you enough motivation to come up with a unique selling point for your application. Remember, having a slight difference in the way your app functions is going to make a whole lot of difference in the way your customers interact with your app. The more the time you take to research, the less the changes in the later stages of app development.
A look into the technical aspects
When the topic of app development arises, there comes a need for an understanding of the technical requirements related to it. You don’t have to excel in it, yet a basic knowledge would be of some help in the development process.
Decide on
- Whether to go for a native app or hybrid app
- Whether to develop the app from scratch or opt for a clone app
- The platforms where you want to launch the app
- The programming languages to be used to build the app
When you have a clear idea of the points above, it becomes easy for you to develop an app within your budget and time. Also, focusing on UI/UX of the app is a must as it is where the user interacts. All these factors will ensure that the app provides smooth and flawless functioning.
Listing the functions and features
Features and the way it functions are the base of any on-demand app, and the food ordering app is no different. Before starting the app development, list the features your app should accommodate. The way the features are set should make the app easy to customize for the developers and simple to navigate for the users.
Let’s take a sneak peek into the essential features a food delivery app should include, irrespective of how the business model operates:
- Social media logins and integration
- An option to reorder the foods ordered in the past
- A geolocation feature that lets the users view the nearby restaurants and choose as per their convenience
- An inbuilt tracker to trace the food order
- Multiple payment gateway integrations
- SMS notifications and push notifications to share updates on the delivery and offers
- Custom search option for finding food establishments based on location, cuisines, etc.
- A choice to bookmark the favorite restaurants
- An option to review and rate the food entity
Along with these basic features, you can add features that set your app apart from the rest. It can be anything like an option to group order or delivery at a specified time.
Allocating the budget and time
The amount of time and money spent on the development of an on-demand app solely depends on the features you want your app to accommodate and the technical requirements you opt for.
- A food ordering app with basic UI/UX and minimal features costs around $10,000 for development.
- Food ordering apps with custom UI/UX and advanced lists of features and functionality ranges from $10,000 to $20,000.
- High-end food delivery apps with custom graphics, elaborate list of features, third-party API integrations costs more than $20,000.
The end
If you are new to the on-demand app business, it is vital to understand the industry before diving into it. Rather than spending a wholesome amount of time and money for developing an app from scratch, it’s better to choose the UberEats clone app that can be personalized as per your business needs. There are numerous app development companies out there that offer clone app services. Choose the one that fits your requirements.
I hope the article has stated a clear list of things to consider before stepping into the development of the on-demand app for your food business.
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