From the kind of food we eat to the places where we eat, ordering food has completely evolved. We live in an era when the world’s top tech giants are redirecting their investments in the restaurant business. Primarily, the quick-service restaurant sector has led to a sharp rise in the global food service market. The online food delivery market is expected to grow from US $1.22 trillion in 2024 to US $1.92 trillion by 2029.
Top food delivery apps such as Zomato, UberEats, Swiggy, Deliveroo, Doordash, etc., earn a large amount of revenue with their extraordinary food delivery services. This has led several startups to approach the top food delivery app development company that they can trust to make an efficient food delivery app. Some of the most common reasons for the rising demand for food delivery apps in India and worldwide are convenience and time-saving, changing lifestyles, technological advancements, more choices in front of customers, social media and digital transformation, personalized services, and evolving restaurant business models.
Hence, the food delivery service market has substantially evolved from its early days of calling a local pizza corner to just ordering the best pizza-serving restaurant online with zero hassles. The blog focuses on the key factors related to food delivery apps that are responsible for the phenomenal transformation of the restaurant industry.
Key Factors Responsible for the Evolution of the Restaurant Industry With the Influence of Food Delivery Apps
Reserve Your Table in Advance for a Dine-in Option
The table reservation app, which allows dine-in, is one of the smartphone apps revolutionizing the restaurant industry. The entire number of tables and the restaurant’s hours can be considered when creating personalized restaurant table reservation software. This could be a function in the food delivery app or a completely different restaurant table booking app. Some of the top features of the table reservation for dine-in option app can be browsing through restaurants, finding restaurant timings, reserving a table in advance, choosing dishes from the digital menu, and ordering food in advance to serve on the table.
On-demand Food Ordering
To make internal and external operations easier, most restaurants and cafés nowadays have a bespoke on-demand food delivery software solution. These smartphone apps for ordering meals assist establishments in expanding their clientele and offering them several services about their menu selections. Food lovers can use such features to browse their favorite dishes and restaurants, find images and prices, order online food, give cooking instructions, track food parcels, and review the entire order.
Give Feedback and Look For Online Reviews
Restaurant ordering mobile apps may also function as stand-alone applications for ratings and comments about eateries. Customers or foodies can post reviews and comments online using this app. The reviews may appear on a third-party platform or on a specific restaurant’s dedicated page. Users can avail of various features of online review apps, such as finding a particular restaurant, giving feedback and suggestions, reading others’ reviews and ratings, asking questions, and reading the owner’s replies.
Discounts on Food Dishes
Restaurant mobile app development services can be tailored to include the ability to provide different coupons and discounts on particular occasions. To put it another way, restaurant owners favor spending money on applications explicitly designed to offer food discounts. These applications are specifically designed with eye-catching visuals to display coupons or discounts during holidays and other noteworthy events. The features include coupon codes for discounts, different offers on different food dishes, an auto-discount calculator, and loyalty programs.
Track Your Food Parcel
Foodies can follow their meal packets using smartphone apps that display the local map, which is more akin to an online food ordering system function. Food order, preparation, and doorstep delivery information is available to patrons. When the ROI is compared with this solution that can produce higher revenue from the market as compared to the food delivery app development costs that it incurs, then, the latter can be avoided. Furthermore, the extra features are beneficial to food enterprises and their clients. The features include checking the status of the order and food preparation, tracking the delivery partner in real-time, online chat with the restaurant and delivery partner, and calling facility to the delivery partner.
Get the Cloud Kitchen App
Cloud kitchens are restaurants without dining areas, which is the opposite of physical eateries and food locations. To put it another way, cloud kitchens run independently and only deliver food that has been ordered online. This implies that a tailored on-demand meal delivery software solution is the only way cloud kitchens attract clients or guests. Cloud kitchens cut operating costs for small restaurant owners who cannot or do not want to pay for space and hire waiters. However, they will still be responsible for the costs of developing their own food delivery network or partnering with a food delivery business.
Online Payment
It is possible to modify a restaurant-ordering mobile app to accept online payments. In other words, there are several ways to create a mobile application specifically for online payments. However, like meal monitoring, online payment is more of a feature or essential component of any mobile food-ordering software than a stand-alone tool. Some of the facilities for online payment for restaurant ordering include secure payment through a wallet, third-party payment options, cash-on-delivery options, payment through loyalty points or bonuses, etc.
Digital Menu Card
A restaurant app focusing primarily on digital menu cards might be made, allowing restaurant owners to develop and construct their menus and upload them to the app. Digital menu cards can be tailored to a restaurant’s food and prices, more like a feature. Since the epidemic, creating contactless digital menus for eateries has become more crucial. Some apps also let you incorporate restaurant themes into the online menu card for a more polished appearance. Some of the top features of digital menu cards include uploading, editing, and deleting digital menus from restaurants, building your content for each dish, updating dish prices, editing or removing items from menu cards, and marking dishes as available and not available.
Top Features of Modern Food Delivery App
You must hire trustworthy mobile app development services to create the latest food delivery app for your restaurant business. These services will help you integrate the features below.
User-Friendly Interface
The straightforward design of modern meal delivery apps ensures customers can easily browse and place orders.
Real-time Tracking
With the help of these applications, users can follow their orders in real-time and see how their food is prepared and delivered.
Diverse Payment Options
These applications accept payment options, such as cash on delivery, digital wallets, and credit/debit cards.
Loyalty Programs and Discounts
These applications provide discounts, loyalty programs, and exclusive deals to reward loyal users.
Scheduling Orders
Users can evaluate and rate restaurants and dishes based on their shared experiences, assisting others in making well-informed decisions.
Customer Reviews and Ratings
Customers’ dining arrangements are made more flexible by quickly booking orders for a later time or day.
In-App Support
To solve problems quickly, these apps provide customer service via chat or phone calls within the app.
Benefits of Food Delivery App For Your Restaurant Business
You can consider the food delivery app development cost when deciding whether to create one for your restaurant business. However, we recommend you reconsider this thought after going through the tremendous benefits that this app can provide to your business.
More Brand Visibility
Restaurants can reach a larger audience outside their immediate area by collaborating with meal delivery apps. Local eateries trying to grow their clientele will particularly profit from this. Having a restaurant listed on well-known meal delivery services improves its online visibility and makes it simpler for prospective clients to find it.
Higher Sales and Revenue
Food delivery applications can significantly increase a restaurant’s order volume, boosting sales and profits. Many applications include features that recommend extras, such as sides, beverages, or desserts, to users while they place their orders. This can raise the average purchase value.
More Delivery Services
Restaurants can use food delivery apps’ infrastructure instead of managing their delivery fleet. This lowers the complexity and cost of operations. Food Delivery applications enable eateries to reach customers in previously unreachable places, growing their clientele.
Customer Data and Insights
Apps for food delivery offer helpful information about consumer preferences, ordering patterns, and comments. Restaurants can use this data to personalize their menus, advertising campaigns, and customer support. By examining consumer information, eateries can develop customized offers and promotions that appeal to their target market and encourage repeat business.
Virtual Kitchen Scalability
Since virtual kitchens don’t require a physical dine-in area, overhead expenses are decreased. To maximize efficiency, these kitchens only prepare food for delivery. Without requiring physical growth, restaurants can simply expand their operations by setting up numerous virtual kitchens in various places to reach a more extensive consumer base.
Impactful Marketing Approach
Food delivery apps frequently promote sales and discounts to attract users. These deals can increase sales but also act as marketing tools, boosting customer acquisition and brand awareness. Many applications include loyalty programs encouraging repeat business and customer loyalty by rewarding regular users with points, discounts, or special offers.
Conclusion
Restaurant businesses may now offer their customers a wide range of services because of the blooming mobile technology, which has completely changed the restaurant industry. The moment is now if you are a restauranteur or business owner. Develop an app to join the billion-dollar restaurant and food delivery market. You can rely on us for all your application development needs because we are a well-known mobile app development company. Partner with Whitelotus Corporation— the top food delivery app development company. Let us discuss your project, and we can help you launch your idea with a success.
