How to Architect a Food Delivery App like Uber Eats and GrubHub?

In the U.S. alone, the Online Food Delivery segment is expected to generate revenue to the tune of USD 26,527 Million in the year 2020. This report from Statista, a renowned online search portal for statistics, is a glimpse of how fast this industry is growing. These numbers are sure to multiply in the coming years as this domain has already grabbed the attention of several business enthusiasts, entrepreneurs, and investors.

Recently, food delivery apps are being used abundantly, especially by the younger generations due to the growing fondness for eating delicious food which is so easily available. Their busy lifestyle has made them use such on-demand solutions where they can get their favorite food delivered to their doorsteps within minutes. Consequently, in a very short time, there has been the emergence of countless such apps in the market. But hardly a few survive and make it to the top.

If you too are thinking of entering into this business area and develop an enticing food delivery app like Uber Eats or GrubHub, you have come to the right place. In this article, we will have a glance at several factors that are absolutely necessary to consider while developing a food delivery app. So, let’s get started.

Types of Food Delivery App Models existing in the Market

There are three basic types of on-demand apps for the food delivery segment. Let’ take a quick look at them.

Order-focussed Model

These apps act as an intermediate to connect the customers with local restaurants. The customers place orders which are notified to the owners of these restaurants and the restaurants are solely responsible for the order delivery. They either hire third-parties for the order delivery or they have their own staff for it. This kind of model was used by the first generation of apps like GrubHub, JustEat, etc. Today, Zomato is an example of this model.

Order and Logistics-Focussed Model/ Food Aggregator Model

This model is used to provide the food delivery services from those restaurants that do not have any delivery system of their own. These types of apps handle both, orders from customers and delivery to them. Uber Eats is the perfect example of this model.

Restaurant-Specific Model

The restaurants having their own delivery system fall under this model. It is for the ones who have their own restaurant. Customers order from these restaurants and the restaurant’s staff itself delivers the food to the customer’s doorsteps. Brands like Domino’s, Pizza Hut, etc. are the best-suited examples of this model.

In order to develop an efficient system for any of the above models, an on-demand app development company must build three apps as below:

1. Customer app: This will be installed by the customers for searching restaurants, favorite food items, ordering food, tracking orders, doing payments, etc.
2. Restaurant app: This app will be managed and controlled by the restaurant owners.
3. Delivery driver app: this is for the delivery personnel for managing pick-up and drop-off of the food orders.

Significant Points to Consider while Food Delivery App Development

This is an extremely lucrative market but only if the end product meets the expectations of the users. So, here are some vital tips to consider while you begin the on-demand app development of the food delivery app. Take a quick look at them.   

• Do thorough market research
• Do competitor analysis and also know the latest trends in this arena
• Recognize the target audience and know them well
• Choose the right model
• Use the right and up-to-date technology stack
• Think on what’s your USP, what’s your special offering that no one else offers
• Develop an MVP with essential features as the first app version
• Build a user-friendly interface that is simple and easily accessible
• Decide on the budgetary constraints
• Add the must-have features to the app
• Have a pre-launch marketing plan ready

Prominent Features of a Food Delivery App

Without the integration of the apt functionalities, your food delivery app is simply incomplete. For creating an outstanding app, you should consider the needs of all the parties involved in this chain: customers, restaurants and the delivery staff. So, here we have discussed the key features accordingly.

From the Customer’s Perspective:

• Easy registration and account setting options
• Flexible searching options
• In-app chat functionality
• Menu for every restaurant
• Live tracking through geo-location integration
• Push notifications
• Reviews and rating facility
• Secure and flexible payment options
• Address book
• Order history
• Repeat order option
• Offers and promo-codes
• Food customization options
• Rewarding system for building loyal customer base
• Contact details of restaurants/delivery agents
• Customer care facility

From the Restaurant Owner’s Perspective:

• Admin dashboard for tracking, monitoring and managing the orders
• Content updating and management of the menu and the latest deals
• Accept/reject orders functionality
• Cross-interface communication to update the end-users and delivery agents about the order status
• Receive payment

From the Delivery Agent’s Perspective:

• Easy registration and account setting options
• Manage orders section to show their availability
• Update order status to keep the customers and restaurant owners informed
• History of their earning
• Loyalty program similar to that for customers

Common Challenges Faced in this Business

The food delivery app business is a highly competitive and sensitive one. Several biggies are entering this segment introducing new apps in the market. However, every industry has some challenges, which must be worked upon to get the best results. 

• Price discrepancies- not keeping the prices predictable
• Maintaining a good quality of food consistently
• Logistics issues
• Unhappy customers
• Unreliability of the logistics and delivery staff
• Brands that are misunderstood
• Inefficiency to cope with high volumes of orders
• Neglecting user loyalty

Ready to Develop an On-demand Food Delivery App for You?

Now that you have got the basic idea and these vital tips about the food delivery app development, we hope you should be thinking of ‘how can I jump-starting my app development process.’ So, if you have any queries regarding this, contact Biz4Solutions, one of the prominent on-demand app development company. We are a company of 100+ tech nerds proficient in required new-age technologies and also have enormous experience of creating lucrative food delivery apps for global clients.

We can be a reliable technical partner in your journey to develop the food delivery app and also extend our support until the product gets monetized!

Contact us now for more information!