The COVID-19 pandemic showed the importance of online services in our lives. Due to new circumstances, food delivery apps like Bolt, Zomato, and UberEats become more popular with each other day! There are a few key reasons for such a tendency. Firstly, food delivery apps help people save their time and effort for more valuable and pleasant things. We shouldn’t forget that nowadays people have a lot of things to do during the day, especially in big cities. Consequently, if we can avoid doing such household chores like cooking, why not try it?

Secondly, we have spent more than a year with all these restrictions and isolations. Most of us missed the opportunity just to meet their friends and eat out. Due to this, people tried to create such a cozy atmosphere at home by ordering food and dishes online to enjoy their beloved food and communicate with the nearest and dearest.

Last, but not the least, nowadays such apps help us stay healthy and safe. Why should we queue for a long time or contact a number of people if we can avoid doing it? Moreover, food delivery applications provide clients with the opportunity to choose contactless delivery. Thanks to this fact, it is a good idea to take care of our elderly relatives and order food online for them.

Building a food delivery app

If you have decided to create your own application you are capable of building an app focusing on a particular restaurant or a chain of eating places. Despite the fact that nowadays there are a lot of food delivery apps available on PlayMarket you still can create a superb on-demand app. Although you should be creative and innovative to build a real masterpiece.

Moreover, recent research has shown that these apps are expected to become even more popular in the nearest future. Do you still have doubts? If yes, just consider the fact that each 6th US citizen orders food online via apps nowadays. If we compare the number of online orders made in 2014, we can see that in 2021 these figures have increased by 300%.

All in all, if you are serious about creating your own food delivery application keep reading this article till the end! Here you will find a lot of essential information which will make the app building process much easier!

Why is a food delivery app so beneficial ?

  Like all other apps, food delivery ones have a number of specific features. The most beneficial aspect of building this type of app is the ability to offer a wide range of dishes and food to clients, one good example is the restaurant software from Data Dreamers. Consequently, your targeted audience may be unlimited by age, gender or any other criteria. Due to this it would be more beneficial to make an app covering a lot of eating places. In such a way your application will be downloaded by people with completely different preferences in food. (Vegetarians, people suffering from allergies, lactose-intolerant clients, etc) Furthermore such apps may be popular in all areas starting with capitals and ending up with small cities.

Last, but not the least, these apps will not become unpopular till the drones will be able to deliver food. (And still the orders may be placed within food delivery apps). It means that if you build a good product it will be popular and beneficial for a long time.

If you are scared by the quantity of food delivery apps found in AppStore and PlyMarket, you may think about some unpopular sections. What about delivering food for pets? Have you heard about such services? If not, what about becoming the first?

Another great idea is to build a specific app which will be for a certain category of clients. It may be vegans, people suffering from diabetes, allergies, etc.

The working process

Before getting down to professional food delivery app development you should make contacts with restaurants, cafes, and other eating places you want to cooperate with. The more places you engage, the more options your clients will have, and the more popular your application will be. All in all, food services must be your main focus.

How does it work itself? A user searches for a particular type or food or an eating place to choose something he or she really wants. After the order is placed, a client is expected to opt for a payment model (playing in cash or with card). Then the order is transferred to a delivery section. A food delivery app automatically chooses a delivery man due to his location and ratings. Then he or she is expected to deliver food to the clients.

To build an on-demand delivery application you should take a lot of things into consideration. Unfortunately, even the smallest mistake can cost you a lot. The best you can do for your product is to hire a good team! Professional, experienced company is a determinant of your future success. What’s more,it would be a good idea to hire a separate team for developing an online app’s food delivery dispatch software.

Key sections

When creating such an app, remember that there are a few sections you should check. A typical food delivery app should include a client’s panel, a restaurant dashboard, and delivery man page.

The user panel must include all the functions customers may need. Among them are the login page, food menu, payment options, history of orders, tracking order status, contact information

Restaurant dashboard must also involve a login and signing up pages. Moreover, there should be tools for managing services, accepting and dropping orders and controlling money transactions.

Delivery man has to download a food delivery app and undergo a registration. Moreover, this person will be asked to specify some additional information like age, language, name, photo, etc. The delivery men’s panel itself includes communication functions (chats/ calls), order history and requests, push notifications, GPS Navigation, Wallet for payment, and COD.

As you can see, the driver’s dashboard seems to be the most sophisticated one. Remember, that the number of app functions is limitless and you are welcomed to show your imagination and creativity.

How much does it cost to make a food delivery app?

It is quite predictable that there are a lot of factors that influence the application cost. Although our team will help you become more aware of current prices.

The total cost of building an application like UberEats or GrubHub you will be required to pay between $30,000 and $40,000. Remember that this price is very approximate and can vary.

If we talk about an application built for a particular restaurant, the development of software will cost you up to $25,000. Remember that it is not the whole app! It is just its integral part.

Of course you can apply to freelance developers. The prices for their services are lower, although you should be ready to face a lot of organisational issues. The main advantage of working with a company is the fact that you do not have to search for programmers, designers, testers and other specialists on your own.

So, let’s turn back to prices! An average US freelancer takes from $50 to $250 per hour. An analogical online worker in Eastern Europe charges US$ 30 and US$ 150 per hour. The cheapest option for you is to hire a developer from India. Such freelancers cost from US$10 to US$80 per hour.

Apart from writing a code, do not forget about such pivotal aspects as UI/UX design, front and back end of the application building, documental work, MVP testing and bug fixing.

Drawing conclusions

Our team hopes that this article was an informative one for you. Now you know the benefits and the most beneficial aspects of food delivery mobile apps. Although it may seem like a cherished dream to create such an app, it is more than possible!

To bring your dreams to life you can apply to a professional company or find freelancers. In both cases you should be very attentive and sceptical! Do not hesitate to ask for cases and portfolios.

Freelance workers charge less, although it may be a great challenge to form a great team. In this case it will take much more time. By the way, don’t think that you will get a good delivery app in a few weeks! Indeed, it will take you from 6 to 12 months.

All in all the food delivery app building requires a lot of money, time and effort! Make sure you are motivated and inspired enough to go through all the development stages. If yes, the results will definitely satisfy you! Why? Because nowadays this type of application is the most popular one among people of all ages, nationalities and gender. So, Just do it!