On Demand Food Delivery App Development | Cost & Features

The is getting increasingly popular. Digital orders and deliveries have grown at a 300 percent faster rate than traditional dine-in sales since 2014. The ‘platform-to-consumer’ distribution market is predicted to reach US$96.8 million worldwide by 2024, according to Statista. Given the effects of COVID-19, this growth is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.

Due to social distancing measures and people’s fear of contagion, COVID-19 raised demand for food delivery services. In this light, 2020 appears to be the start of a golden era for food delivery, particularly for aggregators such as Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and DoorDash. Instacart, a grocery delivery business, announced that it had met its 2022 goals after only three weeks of the 2020 lockdown.

Although the competition is severe, newcomers to the food delivery sector should not be put off by it. If you have a unique idea and robust software with advanced features, you have a decent chance of succeeding. Analyzing competitors’ offerings and searching for flaws can assist you in developing a creative alternative.

Apptunix has built on-demand service apps for a variety of sectors, including food delivery, for over a decade. People all throughout the world utilize our goods, such as the Tayble app.

This article was written to assist you in getting started with on demand food delivery app development. But first, let’s take a look at how COVID-19 affected the industry and how the food supply process evolved as a result of the epidemic.

Food delivery market overview and challenges in 2022

The food delivery industry will continue to grow in 2022.”Food delivery app usage has not decreased even as consumers return to in-person dining on a more regular basis,” says Alisha Kapur, an industry expert at Similarweb (a service for analysing web traffic and app downloads). The future of food delivery apps is bright for the next several years, but there are two significant obstacles that both established businesses and small businesses must overcome:

Rivalry

Although it may appear like industry behemoths control the market, this isn’t entirely true. Food delivery companies flourished all around the world during the outbreak, and they’re still rising in popularity. Gousto, a UK meal-kit provider, for example, was able to raise $41 million while under lockdown. Gorillas, an on-demand grocery business that aspires to deliver products in ten minutes or less, has received $290 million, exceeding its initial $1 billion value.

There is still a lack of difference. People prefer to use services they are acquainted with, such as UberEats, because many apps appear to be the same. Your food delivery app should offer a unique service or feature to grab the attention of your target market. ConverseNow, for example, made a stir with their artificial intelligence-powered voice ordering assistants. Its cutting-edge system automates the taking and processing of orders across several channels, freeing up restaurant workers to focus on other responsibilities.

Restaurants will appreciate the convenience

Another clever way to attract customers and build a large restaurant base is to reduce costs. Third-party delivery services, such as Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Seamless, are excessively expensive, with fees ranging from 10% to 30% each order. These costs are a significant financial burden on venues having to cope with the pandemic’s issues.

What are the features people get in food delivery apps?

Regardless of your business plan, it’s obvious that you’ll need to offer straightforward pricing and high-quality service. Aside from fundamental functionality, your app should analyze current industry trends to satisfy the needs and expectations of your consumers. Let’s take a look at what should be included in your food delivery app development strategy, from the fundamentals to the most cutting-edge ideas.

Key features of food delivery apps

If you want to start a food delivery network like GrubHub or DoorDash that links diners with local restaurants and delivers food, you’ll need to create three distinct apps for customers, couriers, and restaurants. Each app must provide a set of fundamental functions to make the ordering and delivery process easy and convenient for all parties. Below, we’ve highlighted the most important features for each programme.

Customer app

Users should be able to easily view neighboring eateries and their menus within this app. Consider including the following characteristics in your design: 

Making a menu selection

There are numerous payment options available.

Tracking of deliveries in real time

Notifications through push

Orders in the past

Review and rate

App for courier (delivery)

It should have built-in GPS navigation for pick-ups and drop-offs, as well as easy access to available orders for delivery personnel. The following are some of the most important aspects of a delivery app:

Editing your profile and registering

Order management (such as checking order data, accepting/rejecting delivery requests, and so on)

(accepted/picked up/delivered) status update

Notifications through push

App for restaurants (merchants)

The main purpose of a restaurant app is to notify the platform’s partner restaurants of incoming orders. When an order is ready, restaurant management can use the app to assign it to an available courier.

Some platforms provide analytical tools that allow restaurants to compile data that aids in client retention. Aside from that, your restaurant mobile app development road map should have the following features:

• Management of content (adding photos and updating menus)
• Accounting for money
• Notifications through push
• Communication between different interfaces (with couriers and customers)

To create all of these features, you’ll require powerful software development kits (SDKs) and tools. We’ll go over the technology used in the development of food delivery apps later. But first, let’s look at some of the market trends that can help you win:

Food delivery app trends for 2022

A simple app isn’t enough to compete in the food delivery business. It’s a good idea to include advanced and fashionable features in your software. Here are a few examples of inventive meal delivery app solutions to get you started:

Orders from social media

People spend hours on social media, and delivery companies have recognised a lucrative opportunity in food orders sent through these platforms. ChowNow introduced a new ordering function for Instagram and connected its ordering system with social media networks. Over 13,000 partner restaurants may now accept orders via the “Order Food” button on their Instagram page or stickers in their Instagram stories. According to the corporation, this function will help eateries increase income and order volume.

Smartwatch

After our smartphones, smartwatches are probably our second-most-loved gadgets, so it’s no surprise that the smartwatch business is exploding right now. Some companies have responded to this trend by developing smartwatch apps.

Domino’s launched an Android smartwatch app, a simplified version of its online and mobile apps, to make ordering easier and reach a wider audience. Users can order pizza from their wrists with only a few clicks, and their smartwatch will display information about the order’s status, eliminating the need for phones.

Assistive technology

Alexa and Siri have quickly become our digital friends, supporting us with a variety of mundane activities, so why not use them in the online meal ordering process as well? Caviar just released a Siri shortcut that allows customers to check order statuses and reorder frequently used items with voice queries like “Hey Siri, get my regular pizza” or “Hey Siri, Caviar order status.”

Analyze important industry trends carefully for the highest possibility of success with your delivery application. Cutting-edge digital solutions are useful to businesses in the long run, but they need large investments, therefore they may not be the first priority for startups with limited funds.

The technology stack is being defined

The technologies you’ll require are determined by the essential functionalities of your app. Food delivery apps must be backed up by a dependable and scalable backend because they handle a lot of data. Users pay for orders via the app, therefore integrated payment mechanisms are important.

So, which SDKs and tools can be employed in the construction of on-demand food app delivery? Here’s the tech stack you’ll need to develop a food delivery app.

Payment system

There are a variety of online payment options available, each with its own set of features. It’s best to use an effective and dependable payment platform. Stripe and Braintree SDKs are straightforward and reliable, and they perform well in apps that require online payment.

In collaboration with Doshii, a cloud platform that merges several POS systems into a single API, we were able to connect eight point-of-sale (POS) systems at once in the Tayble project. The method minimized manual entry and operational costs, resulting in a final cost that was half that of a standard system with a tablet and an external printer.

GPS tracking

Any meal delivery app must have technology that can pinpoint the user’s location. Consider using Google’s Geolocation API for Android and the CoreLocation framework for iOS to determine the user’s location and track the progress of orders. Google Maps is compatible with both Android and iOS devices.

Cost of food delivery app development

Learn why restaurant owners may benefit more from a meal delivery service that is available on demand. The key benefit of a food delivery service that is available on demand. So, depending on the complexity of your project, the final cost can range from $US30,000 to $US500,000.

We employ sprint planning at MadAppGang because we know how crucial it is to stay on budget. Sprints are defined as brief, recurring intervals of software development during which a development team completes a specific amount of work. This technique allowed us better forecast the expense of several of our projects, such as Tayble, and have more control over the number of features for a minimal viable product.

Bottom line

Mobile food delivery was one of the fastest-growing trends in the previous decade, and it became an urgent necessity with the COVID-19 outbreak. The industry has a lot of investment prospects, but it also has a lot of competition. If you have a sound business plan and a rapid approach to product development, you have a good chance of succeeding.

When it comes to beginning a food delivery service, having a well-performing, attractively designed app is critical. Hiring an expert software development company like Apptunix is the most efficient way to design such software. When you work with us, you can anticipate a high-quality final product as well as a trustworthy partner who is willing to share their knowledge and experience.

Simply send us an email with a brief description of your project, and we’ll get back to you to finalise the specifics.