Ultimate Guide on How to Develop a Food Delivery App in 2023

One of the quickly growing businesses in the world is that of food delivery app development.

Such rise is mostly fueled by the ever-growing client base for delivered meals due to an ongoing pandemic.

According to Business of Apps, the number of food delivery app users in the United States has reached 111 million by 2020 and will continue to rise.

Revenue is forecast to rise at a 9.89 percent annual rate (CAGR 2021-2025), resulting in a predicted market volume of US$441,622 million by 2025.

Moreover, numbers suggest that individuals purchasing meals online has almost quadrupled in the previous three years, from 364.8 million in 2017 to 625.9 million in 2020.

Subsequently, there is a rise in food delivery app development companies due to such phenomenal growth.

Here are a Few Factors Influencing the Need for Food Ordering Apps in 2023

• Increased Market Value
• Time Savings for Consumers
• Simple Ordering System
• Optimized ROI
• Growth of the Business

Implementing modern technology enables you to increase your food delivery app development drastically.

There are multiple aspects that businesses need to consider when creating an application for food delivery.

The more features an app has, the more reliable and user-friendly it will be. It’s important to keep in mind that the simple order process increases the number of app users and the number of restaurants that partner with the app.

Before you start developing your food delivery application, look at what’s already out0 there in the competition.

What are The Types of Food Delivery Apps?

Globally, the food delivery app market is picking the pace, becoming a crucial part of everyday life. A mobile food delivery application may operate in three modes, each with its own set of characteristics:

Aggregators

It features a selection of menus from various restaurants. The consumer puts an order, which is then sent to the restaurant’s courier delivery service via the aggregator manager. Partner conditions provide revenue for the aggregator.

Advantages for the business include the elimination of the necessity to develop your app and increased audience reach.

Cons: Loyalty develops toward the aggregator, not the restaurant; the payments are substantial, reducing the profitability of the dish even as the total profit improves. The aggregator’s owner may not even have a business but still earn money with the food delivery service. Examples include Just Eat (UK), Grubhub (US).

Available services

Recently, new services that act as an aggregator and delivery service for restaurants have developed. The proprietor of such a business is responsible for organizing the logistics of food delivery from enterprises and for establishing his courier service. Examples include DoorDash, Postmates, etc.

Own services

It is feasible to invest in developing your food delivery mobile app, which is optimal for medium and big enterprises. Examples include the Domino’s Pizza app.

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How to Build a Food Delivery App Properly

Let’s start with the fundamentals. Creating a food delivery app will require leveraging the whole digital ecosystem to connect to all the solutions. There are many benefits of having mobile apps for your business if done in the right manner, especially when it comes to food delivery mobile applications.

As a result of our extensive research, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of characteristics that any future food delivery method or ordering platform should have. Let’s have a look at the most recent updates.

• Customer application: Users can place an order for delivery from neighbouring establishments.
• Restaurant application: Restaurants can view and handle user orders.
• Courier application: Couriers are notified of new orders. Additionally, they may see the order’s status and the delivery details.
• Control panel for administrators: An admin panel enables the product owner and their team to administer the whole platform. They may, for example, add or remove restaurants and users.

Customer Version

An online food order should be visually appealing and as simple to use as feasible for the users. The primary objective is to enable clients to place orders swiftly and pleasantly. Technically speaking, the customer-facing version of the application should provide the following features:

An individual profile

It contains data on the customer, their preferences, payment methods, and other pertinent information. You can make it useful by saving orders so they may be repeated, saving the address so you don’t have to input it each time, and so on.

Timeliness of delivery and real-time tracking

The real-time delivery tracking feature displays the estimated arrival time of the courier. A useful feature is the ability to follow the status of an order at any given time.

Payments

Fee functionality should be attractively designed to inspire a feeling of security and executed technically properly. Multiple payment methods, repeat payments, card verification, and other solutions all contribute to speeding up and securing the payment process.

Ratings and testimonials

Before ordering, customers need to familiarize themselves with meals, and the easiest way to do so is to read reviews and opinions on the business and the word.

Push Notifications

This tool enables you to get quick notifications when the status of order changes.

Other key features to include:

• Restaurant search location tracking
• Order placement
• Ratings and reviews

These are the features that one must include during the app development. The owner of the app may request the addition of any additional functionality.

Restaurant App

It’s all about receiving orders, keeping track of notifications, and maintaining menus. This application may appear as a web-based version or as a native application loaded on a kitchen tablet. Employees at restaurants will use this app to monitor incoming orders and notify the courier when an order is ready.

The app’s primary features are somewhat different in their objectives

Registration and authentication

This website allows workers to log in and see incoming orders.

Management of menus

Restaurants should update their menus so that users see the most up-to-date information when placing an order. Otherwise, it may have a detrimental effect on both your service and the reputation of the business.

Management of orders

Restaurant employees must be familiar with all incoming orders and operate efficiently with them. They may use this functionality to receive orders and modify their status.

Ratings and testimonials

Allow restaurant owners to see comments and reviews, and don’t forget the opportunity to react. Customer communication is critical.

Courier Version

The courier is the most critical link in the chain connecting a customer and a business in a food ordering app.

Since the restaurant’s efficiency is determined by its work, the courier edition of the food app should offer the following features:

• 1. Courier profile: For the courier, it provides a wealth of data such as the number of completed deliveries, customer ratings, comments on their job, and more.
• 2. Order Processing: The ability to accept or reject orders, check information, leave a remark, and other capabilities to facilitate quick order processing.
• 3. Delivery Status: A food delivery app startup can provide this feature to give courier people real-time visibility into the order’s quality, details, and other relevant information.
• 4. The Locations and the Routes: The courier must offer a detailed plan that shows all of the destinations and the best ways to get there. This will increase productivity, logistics, and delivery speed.

For Android and iPhone, the courier edition must not be cluttered. Instead, provide a food delivery app with a seamless user experience.

Admin Version

There will always be arguments and challenges in any work that involves human interaction. When working in the food delivery business, there are additional concerns and problems of this kind. The administrator resolves them.

Additionally, he is responsible for processing orders, receiving payments, and supervising the couriers’ performance. The administrator’s version of the application must have the following features:

• Personal information
• Managing content
• Order processing
• The act of receiving money

Key Steps to Consider When Creating a Food Delivery Mobile App

Before you begin the app development process, you need to consider a few aspects as mentioned below.

Stay Up-to-Date with Market Trends

Trends have a big role in the food delivery market since users are drawn to “hot” applications that provide popular features. You’ll lose out on clients if you don’t implement these new features.

It would be best if you first determined what your customers desire. When it comes to food delivery services, what features do customers want? Consider integrating social media, virtual assistants, and smartwatches.

Research Your Target Market

To create a food delivery app that satisfies the demands of your target market, you must first identify those needs. At the absolute least, compile a demographic profile of the audience, emphasizing factors such as age, gender, country, and wealth.

Identify Critical App Features

There are a few essential functions to include in a food delivery app which have registration and login.

Can users, for example, log in using their social network accounts?

Another important factor to keep in mind is search. Ordering, payment alerts, order monitoring, reviews, and ratings are other important aspects.

Select Technologies for the Development

You’ll need a variety of technologies to implement various functionalities. For example, if you want to list eateries, you’ll need the Grubhub or FourSquare APIs. Meanwhile, you may accept and process payments using popular payment gateways like Square API, Braintree, Stripe, and PayPal.

Additionally, you’ll need technology in your food delivery app that pinpoints the user’s position. Google Places API, Google Maps, and the Core Location Framework are all excellent possibilities.

Finally, other popular technologies for push alerts include Amazon SNS, Urban Airship, and Firebase Cloud Messaging.

How Much Does it Cost to Create a Food Delivery App?

At this point, it’s time to figure out the cost of app development for food delivery. It all depends on how many features and how difficult the project is to implement.

The ultimate cost will rise in direct proportion to the number of features included. Based on the elements listed above, we’ve come up with our own estimate.

The cost of a mobile app is influenced by a variety of factors, such as the number of platforms, features, and connectors.

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Mobile developers will only produce a thorough app estimate following the discovery phase. This is the first phase for you and your core team to lay the foundation for food delivery app development.

This stage consists of various components, including the following:

• Specification of functional requirements
• Design of the user interface and user experience.

The discovery phase of the product development process may assist you with the following:

• Establishing a work scope
• Creating a roadmap for the project
• Establishing a budget for the MVP that is both reasonable and achievable
• Resource planning
• Conducting a target audience test of the app’s MVP
• Creating an investment argument that is compelling.

The cost of food delivery app development

Getting the UI/UX design done would require 50+ hours. The coding for food delivery app development would in total take 66+ hours to construct the app’s back-end, and 120+ hours for the development stage for each platform.

App Type	Average Cost	Timeline
User app for iOS and Android	$60,000	1,206 hours
Courier app for iOS and Android	$45,000	914 hours
Web-based solution for restaurants	$9,000	182 hours
Web-based admin panel	$12,000	257 hours
Total	$126,000	2,559 hours

Keep an eye on current food delivery app trends and do not forget to provide your consumers additional value that your rivals don’t have.

If you are not sure of how to create a food delivery app, then you can gauge the budget to decide whether you want to create an Order-Only app or Order-and-Delivery Model food delivery app.

In the second stage of development, the app MVP may be used to collect user feedback and implement further features.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q.1 How Do Food Delivery Apps Work?

The whole food delivery app system operates as follows:

• The customer placed an order using a meal delivery application.
• The restaurant acknowledges receipt of an order.
• The courier closest to the restaurant receives the order and delivers it to the eatery.
• The courier delivers the customer’s order.

Q.2 How Can I Monetize a Restaurant Food Delivery Service App?

You have two options when it comes to food app monetization:

The cost of dining at a restaurant for each order that is delivered, your service charges can be fixed (or a variable price). Additionally, restaurants can pay to get listed on your app and get recommendations by charging a fee through an advertising model.

The charge for using the service for delivered orders is subject to an additional fee, which the customer bears. In addition, you may be able to benefit from certain times of the day when the delivery traffic is high. The surge fee can be added during peak lunchtime and dinner. If you want to generate extra money, you may charge a higher delivery price.Q.3 How Much Does it Cost to Build a Food Delivery App?

If we are to get to a ballpark, the estimated cost of developing a food delivery app ranges from $10,000 to $125,000.Q.4 How Do You Calculate Cost of Food Delivery App Development?

The cost of developing a food delivery application is determined by three primary factors:

• The number and complexity of the app’s features
• The time required to integrate the features
• Developer’s hourly rate

If the quantity and complexity of features increase, the cost of developing a food delivery app may increase. This computation may be simplified using a simple formula.

Let NZ SOftech Help You with Food Ordering App Development

You must be very clear about your expectations and needs. Discuss every aspect of the food delivery mobile application development project, including the cost of development, how to monetize free applications, and the development timetable.

If you want further information, connect with our application development team to outsource app development for your food delivery business.

Simply complete our contact form and one of our sales professionals will call you to address your inquiry. The consultation is completely free.

At NZ Softech, we have extensive expertise developing full-cycle iOS, Android, and web applications.

Our engineers work only with cutting-edge technologies like Kotlin for Android, Swift for iOS, and Angular for web development.

Additionally, we operate in a variety of areas, including sports, healthcare, travel, education, and social media.