Food Delivery App Development Cost and Features

We live in an era where “there is an app for this” is no longer a surprise. The transformation from the most basic mobile phone to a simple means of communication is so exciting that it has become an integral part of our daily life. The main reason for the rapid growth of mobile devices such as smartphones is the availability of mobile App Development with great features. From hotel reservations and money transfers to ordering groceries and other products, mobile apps have transformed almost every industry imaginable.

Businesses also recognize the importance of mobile apps in their businesses. They have started developing the applications with a friendly UI/UX and easy-to-clean services. 70-80% of enterprises believe that mobile apps generate revenue for their business. That’s why we offer exclusive services for industry-specific mobile app development.

Ordering food was always boring, whether over the phone or in a low voice. But now the days of calling restaurants to order your favorite food are over. Thanks to the best online food delivery apps like GrubHub, DoorDash, Swiggy, and Zomato, we have made our lives so much easier by bringing our favorite foods and meals to our doorstep. The market for on-demand food delivery applications is huge and most businesses want to develop their own mobile food delivery application.

On-Demand Food Delivery App Market Statistics

According to data from the food delivery industry, UK food sales are expected to reach around $4.9 billion by 2025. Just Eat and Deliveroo is the largest food delivery company in the UK. Food delivery application use has grown exponentially in 2020, with millions of users trying them for the first time due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The platform-to-customer model will expand over the next few years with the new Just Eat delivery service. To compete with Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eat have launched their own third-party deliveries.

Compared to other internet-based markets, the food delivery industry has grown rapidly over the past five years. The industry is currently valued at $120 billion and the global food delivery application is expected to be valued at $300 billion by 2027.

How Did Food Delivery Applications work?

The first step in a food delivery application is working with bar and restaurant owners to allow users to choose from a variety of restaurants. The home screen page displays a list of available restaurants where customers can order their favorite dishes. After adding their favorite food to the shopping cart, the user can save the order and the order will be notified through the restaurant. Once the order is confirmed, a delivery person is assigned and the ETA user places the order.

Major Challenges with Food Delivery App Development

The major challenge that can cost food delivery application development is understanding the market scenario and then creating a marketing strategy to make your app win the market. Here are some major challenges that you may face while stepping into the on-demand food delivery industry.

Integrating Top-Class Features in your Application

If you want your app to be a successful product, then you have to integrate the best features in the application. Integrating top-class features will help you to have a better ROI and conversion rates for your business. We have mentioned some of the best features below that you can integrate into your application to make it more flexible and enhanced for your customers.

Scary Competitive Market

As there are already some famous food delivery apps in the market, it is quite tough to make the presence of your application known in the market. But with some amazing features, interactive UI/UX, and quick responses, you can be in a win-win situation.

Partnering with Restaurants

Most of the restaurants have already partnered with the food delivery brands and it is quite difficult to convince then for collaborating with you. Try to collaborate with new restaurants or offer better partnership profits to make them partner with your food application.

Choosing Business Model

Another factor that can create a major hurdle for food delivery app development is choosing the business model. There are several business models to choose from as per your requirements and budgets.

Development is Game Changer

While developing a food delivery mobile application, the very first challenge is to choose the development platform and hire the right technology partner. Communicate with various service providers and check for the client reviews and testimonials before partnering up with a development company.

So here are some of the major challenges that you may face and solutions that can help you to win the market like a pro.

Business Tips for Food Delivery App

To make your business grow with the food delivery app, you need to follow some tips and instructions. Here are some tips for you to make your business successful.

Market Research

Your food delivery application should be a Minimal Viable Product and for this, you have to conduct deep market research to understand and evaluate your food business.

Broad Services

TO generate more profit from your food delivery business, you can expand your business just like Postmates. You can offer on-demand grocery delivery, alcohol delivery, all at one place.

Offer Affordable Services

As compared to big food delivery giants, you can offer your services at affordable rates. Begin with partnering with local restaurants and become a food delivery operator in your area. Then slowly expand and grow your reach by partnering with big restaurants outside your area, state, or country for generating bigger profits.

Be Unique

Make sure that your food delivery application is not exactly a clone of other food delivery applications available in the market. Your app needs to be unique to make sure it stands out of the crowd. Use latest tools for integrating rich features, attractive UI/UX, and so on.

Rating and Reviews

It will be great for your application if you make the service rating and review section separate. Sometimes people love the food but not the delivery service. Keeping the section the same for both may result in a reduced overall rating.

How to Begin with Food Delivery App Development

Before beginning with the development process, there is a lot of effort and research that you need to do if you want to generate a huge return on investment with your business. Follow the points mentioned below if you want to make a profitable food delivery application for your business.

Market Research

Start with some market research and analysis. Check the current market status of the industry in which you are planning to invest and what the future holds for that industry. Surf through the internet or take feedback from the public. Moreover, clearly observe the targeted audience, key competitors, and local market.

Business Model

Before creating a food delivery mobile application, you need to create a proper plan from market research to post-deployment service and write it down in black and white. Note down all the features you will be including in your application, your services, and the marketing strategy.

Hire App Development Company

Now the next step is to search and hire a professional mobile app development company that can fulfill the needs and expectations of your business. Either you can hire a freelancer, individual developer, or you can hire a development company that can offer custom food app development services. Search for a partner that can cater to the needs of your budget and business.

Begin the Development Process

Now its time to convert your ideas into reality. You need to be aware of the efforts, money, and time that you will be spending at each step of development. BE aware of the budget of development and make sure to stay stick to t at all costs. Once the design is fixed, the app development company will begin the development process for creating the back-end and front-end of your application. Try to focus on creating a user-friendly and responsive UI/UX o make the app more flexible for users.

Choose an Attractive Design

Go with a design that is unique and attractive to win your customers from your competitors. Keep the design simple but interactive to make your first impression count.  

Test Your Application

After the application has been developed, make sure to test it rapidly to remove errors and flaws from it. By running tests repeatedly, you can ensure that the app works flawlessly. The main goal is to offer an application with zero errors and bugs.

Promote the Application

Choose multiple marketing platforms to promote your application in the market. The major goal is to expand the user base and reach the targeted audience. You can run marketing campaigns, social media marketing, or promote your application on other food apps.

Support for Future Maintenance

As technology is innovating day by day, you need to make sure your app is also updated with the latest features. Hire a mobile app development company that can offer post-development services to support your application.

Top Food Delivery Application in the Market

Now we are going to talk about the top food delivery giants that are running the industry. Started from scratch, these companies are now been offering services in every corner of the globe. So here is a list of the top food delivery applications in the market:

GrubHub

This application is currently offering services in the UK and the USA and is famous for its food quality and variety. They not only focus on delivering food but allows users to reserve tables. There is no extra fee charged for services although the restaurants may have a minimum order limit.

Deliveroo

This application has collaborated with premium restaurants that usually do not offer delivery services. Although it has a limited delivery radius, the order is delivered within half an hour.

Uber Eats

The on-demand taxi service application has also started food delivery services to engage customers and restaurants from every corner of the world. Uber Eats can be downloaded on both iOS and Android with attractive and nice-to-have features such as live order tracking, ETA, online transactions, ETA, and so on.

Factors Affecting Food Delivery App Development Cost

There are various factors that affect the app development cost such as features, a platform of development, and so on. The more features you add to make the app more complex, the more will be the development cost. Let’s have a look at some of the features:

Development Platform

iOS and Android are two application development platforms. To use the app, you have to pay for hosting. The platform you choose to develop for has a significant impact on your development costs. If you want to use your app on both operating systems, you can choose hybrid app development to save on application development costs.

Interface Design

From the customer’s point of view, the user interface and user experience are important features of the application. The application needs an intuitive interface to attract new customers and retain existing ones. A key factor is the user interface design that affects the production cost of a food delivery application.

App Marketing

Food delivery applications like Uber Eats and GrubHub already have a lot of customers on the market, making it difficult for start-ups to gain a foothold. Run campaigns according to your pre-marketing budget and increase brand awareness in the marketplace.

App Upgradation

It is important to release updates in a timely manner to keep your software running. The cost of app updates depends on the type of update you want to roll out.

Must-Have Features of On-Demand Food Delivery App

As there are three different levels of the food delivery application, there will be an application for each level respectively. The classification of these levels is mainly divided into three parts: the admin panel, the user panel, and the driver panel. Below are the features that can be included with each panel.

The User Panel

User panel or the customer app has the following features to make the application more flexible and easier to use:

Registration

A new user can register or create an account with a mobile number or they can directly log in with social media credentials.

Profile Update

Later the user can add address details, email, and delivery instructions in the profile section.

Search Restaurant

A search bar should be available on the top so that the users can easily search for their favorite restaurant and dishes. Moreover, the option for location-based results can offer a flexible user experience.

Place Order

After adding the food to cart, users can select the desired delivery location and place the order.

Payment

There are various payment options available such as pay on delivery, online payment, and payment from integrated wallets.

Order Receipt

An order receipt with all the details including order total and extra taxes is shared with the users through text message or on a registered email id.

Track Order

The in-built GPS feature allows the users to track the real-time status of the order with the estimated time of delivery.

Rate and Review

Users can rate the food quality and delivery service under the rating and review section for better improvement of the application.

Notifications

Users are continuously informed about the order status, new deals & offers, and ETA through push notifications.

Call Restaurant or Delivery Person

In order to provide special delivery instructions and delivery details, users can call the restaurant or the delivery executive.

Delivery Person Panel

Omake the delivery of orders easy and simple for the delivery executive panel can be integrated with the below-mentioned features:

1. Registration

The delivery person also has to register and authenticate their credentials for becoming a delivery executive.  

2. Manage Profile

The delivery executive can add further details here such as a verified address, license, and vehicle details.

3. Order Management

Under this feature, the delivery executive can update the status from “order on the way” to “successfully delivered”.

4. Availability Status

As per their convenience, the delivery executives can update their status as “online” or “offline”.

5. Navigation

To make the delivery process easier, the navigation system should be integrated into the application.

6. Call Restaurant or Customer

To ask about the current status of the order, or to know about the delivery location, the delivery executives can make a call to the restaurant or the customer.

7. Delivery History

The delivery executives can have a piece of detailed information about all the deliveries made in past.  

8. Earning

Total earning, scheduled payments are displayed under this section.

Admin Features

Admin is responsible for managing all the registered users, delivery executives, orders to make sure the delivery is on time and fast. You can include the below-mentioned features in the admin panel:

1. Registration

To access the admin app features, the admin has to register themselves on the application.

2. Manage Profile

Here the admin can easily manage, edit, and delete the registered user’s and delivery executive’s details.

3. Order Management

The admin can schedule, update the order status, or cancel the order as per their convenience.

4. Content Management

The item details, item menu, and the details about latest offers and discounts can be updated with this section.

5. Payments

Daily earning, remaining payments of the delivery executives, and the refund are managed by the admin.  

6. Admin Dashboard

The dashboard contains all the details and analytics of the registered users, restaurants, upcoming & past orders, and the delivery persons.  

Cost of Developing a Food Delivery Application

After analyzing all the features and factors of the food delivery mobile application, it is time to calculate a rough estimation of the food delivery app development cost. Although it is not possible to calculate the exact cost as we have already discussed that various factors affect the development cost.

It’s a simple food delivery application with some basic features like UI/UX, basic features, menu items, etc. It can be expanded up to $8,000 for development.

The cost of integrating some advanced features like reliable UI/UX, payment gateway integration, push notifications and social media integration ranges from $10,000 to $20,000.

Integration of complex functions such as real-time monitoring. Third-party API integrations for audio/video animation and custom images cost over $20,000.

Team Structure for Food Delivery App Development

The first thing the user sees is the clean user interface of the application. Therefore, it is important to hire a professional UI/UX designer who can create food delivery schedules with an attractive and fast user interface. And our iOS and Android developers and our team of inbound developers are enough to develop successful food delivery apps. For serious bugs, it is also important to have a team to check and verify the quality.

• Project Manager
• UX/UI Developers
• Android / IOS developers
• Backend Developers
• QA Teams
• Delivery Manager

The Key Conclusion

It’s a long story, of course, but it helps to take your business to new heights. It is very difficult to get into the market as some of the popular food delivery applications are already on the market. From all the information discussed, it is clear that preparing a food distribution application requires specialized resources, human resources and time. If you still don’t know how to start a food delivery application, get in touch with us now.