Food Delivery business model has shown great potential in recent years and is still growing at a great pace. As per Statista, the current Revenue share is at 26.5 Billion Dollars in the USA which is expected to be at 32.3 Billion Dollars by 2024.
Moreover, as we have COVID 19 all over, home delivery is going to double.
All these stats are giving a strong reason for you to start a food delivery tech startup.
In this article, I have tried to cover almost everything that you may need to food delivery app development.
Top Leaders In Food Delivery App Business
Once you have decided on your App Idea, start with identifying your immediate and industry competitors. The first step is to look at the competitors. Creating a benchmark of all the features they are offering and then preparing what you would like to offer is a great strategy to beat the competition feature-wise.
We have listed a few names from across Globe who have been identified as Industry leaders in specific countries.
The overall valuation of these Startups has increased like crazy since their launch all because of their unique marketing concept. The basic structure of the application is similar, however, with some USP’s in features and unique marketing approach all are different from each other.
How It works
There are 2 business models here, one is for the Restaurant Owner, be it a single owner or a franchise owner. And second is for aggregators, here the App owner provides a platform for restaurant owners and connects the customers with restaurants and delivery executives.
- Restaurant App
- User App
- Delivery App
- Admin Panel
User browses the App for items, can filter and search, selects the item and places an order, adds address and makes the payment. The Restaurant Owner receives the Orders, prepares the order and once ready moves the order to delivery. The delivery team receives the order and picks it and delivers it.
Features Of Restaurant App
This App can be for an individual or restaurant owner or a franchise owner.
Registration & Setup
Here the restaurants will register themself. Simple signup with email ID, Phone number and password. Right After the sign up the on-boarding process will start. The restaurant owner will need to update the details like exact Address, can pick the address from the Map. Hours of operation. Images of the restaurant and other details for the listing. Will also need to upload the required Govt registration proof for authenticity, bank account details for payments and other required details.
Menu Management
Here the restaurant owner gets a panel where they can update their menu with title, description, quantity and price tag. There would be several filters which can be used to make the menu more interactive for end-users. This panel can be used by the restaurant owners to update the menu at any time they feel like.
Order Management
Here the restaurant owner can check all the orders received, can move them to preparation mode to give a live update to the end-users. Once the order is prepared they can move it to the delivery team and once the order is delivered they can close the orders. Restaurant owners can see their previous orders with a date picker.
Delivery Team Co-Ordination
Once the order is received and moved for preparation mode, the App starts to locate a delivery executive nearby.
Once the job is assigned to a delivery executive they reach the restaurant location and pick up the order once it is ready.
This update is also synced with user app and admin for live update. Once the order is delivered the restaurant App also gets updated.
Billings & Payments
Here the restaurant owners can get an update of all the orders and payments. They can check the reports with date pickers and monthly. All the data of settlements will be available. The settlements can be done Daily, weekly and monthly as per the Admin policies and will be available to the restaurant owners.
Feedbacks
Here restaurant owners can check all the feedback received with orders they have delivered. An average star rating will be added to the restaurant for end-users to review.
Features Of User App
Registration and Profile
Here users can register with Email, Social media and Phone number. Once the signup is done the user can log in to the App and create their profile by adding their delivery address, Profile image, and other relevant information.
They can also update their payment methods and add cards.
Extensive Search
End-Users can search for the cuisines, restaurants or cafes. With filters like Location, Veg/Non-Veg & Specialities the App can be made interactive and user friendly. Users can check the restaurant profiles, browse the menu and review the ratings and feedback.
Placing Orders
Once the items are reviewed Users can place orders, increase and decrease the quantity add on extras. Users can also schedule the orders for a particular time.
Carts And Deliveries
All the placed orders are moved to cart where users can review, edit or cancel the order. Apply Coupons and finalize the order.
Once the order is finalized Users can select the Address, add a new address and make payments with cards and wallets.
Payments
With easy and user-friendly payment options, Users can add credit and debit card, option to add multiple cards. Users can also add Wallets and country-specific payment options.
Track Orders
Live tracking is available, right from the order placed to final delivery this tracking section gives an update at every stage. With a screen similar to Uber-Like App where users can see the live movement of the delivery executives.
Users can also connect with the delivery executives through the app itself.
Order History
Users can view their order history and review payments, they can also raise disputes for a limited timeframe.
Features of Delivery App
Registration and Sign up
Delivery teams can sign up through emails and phone numbers, register their profile, with options to upload their ID proofs and vehicle information. This is on an approval basis from Admin.
Order Management
Here The App assigns the Orders to executives who are near to restaurants getting the order. They can accept or reject orders.
They can also review upcoming orders and completed orders.
Navigation
Executives once confirm the order and initiate the delivery with just a click they can start the navigation screen. The delivery location is fed by the App itself at the time of starting the navigation.
If required App can also keep a record of the total distance covered while delivering the orders.
Payments And Incentives
With a business model where delivery executives are paid on a trip basis or incentivized for the number of orders delivered, here executives can check their payments pending, received and balance.
Even with tips on delivery, if offered by the App, executives can see the same in this section.
Features of Admin for Food Delivery App
Restaurant Management
Admin can check the list of all the restaurants added to the network. Active, closed and pending restaurants. Admin can view and approve/decline the restaurants based on their profile and documents.
User Management
Admin can view a list of all the users. They can filter with users as frequent buyers, new users, users without order history and users with low orders for marketing analytics. Admin can also suspend any user for any violation of app policy.
Delivery Team Management
Admin can get a list of all the vendors and individual delivery executives. They can view each performance and profile. They can approve and decline the registration of the Delivery executive based on the documents.
Order Management
Admin will have a section to view all the orders placed, current, day-wise, week wise and with date pickers. Admin can view all the completed and pending orders.
They can also assign the orders to a dedicated delivery executive as a backup plan for any delivery issues.
CMS
Here Admin can add or edit contents on any page of the website. They can also add images to the application.
They can create and edit categories, subcategories and Item names. Admin can create images of the items.
They can also create Coupons based on the preferences with limitation to usage.
Push Notification
Admin can trigger push notification of all the updates be it related to orders or promotion. Admin can send notification on updates also.
Reporting
Admin can check reports like sales report as an all in all sales with date picker, restaurant wise sales, location-wise sales and item-wise sales.
Payment reports like order wise commission and payment settlement of restaurants.
Payment reports on Delivery teams, with reports on trips completed and Incentive settlement.
Revenue reports with date picker filter. Location wise revenue, restaurant wise revenue and Month wise revenue.
If there is an advertisement module, reports on ads placed and revenue from the ads can be viewed.
Additional Features To Offer
Advertisement Module
Admin can offer banners and display ads throughout the application, there are several Ideas to earn from the App. Advertisement can boost the sales of an advertiser and paying extra for the branding is already a part of the marketing activity of several restaurants.
Reward Points
In order to make the customers frequent buyers and incentivizing frequent buyers, additional benefits should be given in the form of cashback or points which they can use on their next purchase. This will increase the overall sale and will help in sustaining the customers for a longer period. This is also called a loyalty bonus.
In-App Chat and Calls
Offering chat and calls option to make the communication more effective for all the stakeholders. A WhatsApp like app feature for Users to connect with delivery executives and restaurant, delivery executives to connect with restaurant and end-users and Restaurants to connect with Admin. All in the App.
Revenue Models
With the rise in On-demand App, the overall revenue structure has reached $26+ Billion in 2020. And is increasing year on year with a minimum growth of 5%.
The basic understanding of the revenue model of the restaurant owner is to earn from the sales of the food items ordered.
For App Owners there are 3 major models which add to the revenue process of an On-Demand Food delivery app.
Revenue Sharing
All the orders that the restaurant gets, a small part of the total sales amount is kept by the app owner as a commission. This ranges from 10% to 40%, based on the market, the Brand value of the restaurant and sales target. This plays a major role in the revenue earning of a food delivery app.
Delivery Fees
App Owners charge an additional amount on every order from the customers as a delivery charge. It is calculated based on the distance and order value. This adds value to the total revenue.
Advertising
There are business models of Food delivery Apps where App owners are charging the restaurants for placing their listing on top. Banner Ads and making the restaurants item as deals of the day is also a great deal for restaurants and they are ready to pay extra for this service.
Marketing Plan for On-Demand App
This plays a vital role in the success of an App. With Right marketing strategy, you can take over any market and any industry giant.
Selection Of Location
This is the first step to your marketing plan. When launching the App, it is very vital to select the market. Areas which are heavily inclined towards giants would be difficult to penetrate. And electing the areas which are still unexplored will be great, however, it is difficult to find a location like that, the location where giants are not working is also because the scope is low.
Selecting a place where you have an averagely medium number of users and a medium level of competition is the best location to start with.
Research On Your Target Audience
This also plays a vital role, researching on the restaurant that will be on-boarding and their customer type is very essential in making a strategy. Doing a deep study on the location and the Audience present in the location is very essential. Based on this study the product marketing can be planned and the marketing efforts can be materialized at a maximum level.
Budget for Marketing
This is the most important factor in the success of a business. Deciding on how much to spend should not be on how much you have. Anything which is lower or higher than the required will not solve the purpose.
The first step should be deciding on a Goal to achieve in a specific time frame. Like a number of restaurants to Achieve, Number of end-users to download the App. And the number of orders to be received.
Based on this individual budget should be allocated to each part of the business, and a 360 approach on marketing through Online and Offline both are needed.
App Download Campaign
There are several options to increase App downloads. Digital marketing for Mobile apps is the most known and proven method to increase the downloads of Apps.
Social Media to increase App downloads and branding of the App, delivers the most desired results. There are paid campaigns and organic approach that App owners have and selecting the channels is also very crucial.
App Store optimization and SEO, This is a very effective method to increase the visibility of your brand and App on App stores. This will help when end-users and restaurant owners will search for food delivery apps the listing of your app will come on top.
Paid Campaign, there are paid promotions which you can set up on play stores to promote your App in a specific category. You can also set up Google display ads which can be placed on Google and their network sites.
Content & Influencer marketing, A campaign including a lot of stories which is also promoted by the influencer. This process can leave a great impact on consumers. Branding plays a major character here, and a strategic approach to getting your story published on branded magazines and business sites would give a boost to the App name.
Sales & Events team. Hiring a sales team to do a door to door campaign for acquiring restaurants and vendors will ease and increase the chances to acquire restaurants quickly. A lot of App companies have outsourced this to freelancers on a commission basis.
Cost To Food Delivery App Development
This can be very tricky to give an exact figure of the App cost without finalizing the App requirement. How much to invest on the App development can depend on several factors.
It totally depends on the effort that is required to develop the entire project.
So first we will calculate the efforts, for that we would first understand how many applications do we require.
There Would Be 4 Applications
- Customer App – IOS & Android
- Restaurant App – Android
- Delivery App – Android
- Web Admin – Web Frontend
Though all the Apps proposed can be made on Android and IOS both, however more the Apps the more the effort and more the budget required for the development.
Apart from the Number of applications the tech stack also plays a vital role. High end technology would require a high end developer which will end up higher rates of the developer. You can hire a Android developer or you can hire an IOS Developer for your application
We have mentioned a breakdown of the entire application module wise.
Tech Stacks and Dependability
There are several technologies that this Application can be built on, I have suggested a stack which serves as best reliable with most economic on development and hosting wise.
Mobile Apps Native
- Android – Kotlin
- IOS – Swift
- Backend – Laravel
- Frontend – Angularjs
- MAP API – Google Map
- SMS API – Twillo and Country Specific
- Payment Gateway – Stripe, Paypal, Braintree and Country Specific
- Restaurant Listing – Manual Entry, Foursquare API, Grubhub API, Yelp Fusion API
- Cloud Server – Azure, AWS, Linux
Final Words
On demand food delivery App Idea is one of the most emerging businesses in 2020 and is going to grow till next decade.
As per USfoods
The Demand is Huge
The Idea to App to success is a long journey, you need to work really hard. Apart from product development there are several things to take care. I suggest writing down step by step of each stages, break down the entire plan in modules and small Goals, and assign things to dedicated people. If you have co-founders or employees or vendors, align the work and give them the responsibility. Ensure you take a regular check on each step and have a close watch on the progress.
You can hire an In-house developer to develop this Food Delivery App else you can hire a Software Agency and give the responsibility to them. Hiring an Agency has several benefits including acquiring top talents for a specific time without wasting time to hunt them.
If you are planning to develop a Food Delivery App our experience is huge. We have deployed several On demand Apps.
