Food Ordering App Development: Types & Features

Coronavirus has brought a spike in food delivery and food ordering app development. Online food ordering has become one of the most successful business models with steady ROI and measurable outputs. The reason for that lies in cost-effectiveness and time savings.

In this article, we’ll talk about food ordering and food delivery app development, their types and key features.

Let’s start.

Introduction

Ecommerce businesses today choose smartphones as a target device to start a food delivery custom app development for. The world is becoming more mobile each day and the demand for on-demand apps that enable people to order food online has skyrocketed in recent years. According to Statista, the number of users is expected to amount to 965.8 million by 2024.

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The popular customized software solutions like Uber Eats, GrubHub or DoorDash allow you to easily order something delicious to eat without spending time in the supermarket after a hard-working day, for example. Not only are food delivery apps widely used but also are gaining close attention from custom software development companies and digital agencies, online store and restaurant owners.

As a custom web application development company, we have already provided a recap on the main tips for selling food and beverages online. Below is an overview of the main types and key features of food ordering and food delivery app development.

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Bon appetit!

What Are The Types Of Food Ordering & Food Delivery Apps?

Before investing in custom web application development services to get a new food ordering app ready, you need to decide which app type will be ideal for your goal.

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Three main types of food delivery apps are:

• Aggregator apps;
• New delivery apps;
• Full-stack food delivery services.

Aggregator apps

Aggregators, or the so-called “third-party delivery”, are apps that serve as mediators between a restaurant / a grocery and end consumers. Sort of a marketplace for foodservice organizations. This type of app appeared more than 15 years ago and provided consumers with an opportunity to place an order through a direct phone call to the grocery or restaurant to agree on the order delivery.

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Today, the interaction through the mobile app is minimized. Additionally, the process of order placement and delivery has become faster.

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On-demand mobile apps can be the way to benefit your business right now. How to start? Get the guidelines in our blog.

New delivery apps

This will make a perfect app type for a small grocery store or a restaurant that doesn’t really need to invest in the development of their own delivery system. New delivery apps contain offerings and menus from several stores and restaurants, just like aggregator apps. The difference however is that order delivery in this type of apps is executed by the new delivery app players all by themselves.

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Quite often, new delivery apps also provide food packaging services upon request. Custom app development of such an app makes a good way to collect product offerings and menus from local groceries and restaurants that don’t have or can’t afford to organize their own delivery service.

Full-stack food delivery services

This type of app is often referred to as a modern way of organizing food delivery services. The concept is to control the entire supply chain, which means the process from fresh food production to logistics organization to the delivery to end consumers.

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This process can be called “from the farm to the fork” and normally includes the following stages:

• Collecting fresh, local ingredients;
• Preparing a varied menu of chef-crafted dishes;
• Providing customers with an opportunity to order;
• Delivering of the dishes to the customers;
• Providing content: heating or serving instructions, etc.

Full-stack food delivery apps suggest a fresh look at food cooking and delivery. If you are currently running a grocery store and think over the organization of a delivery service, we offer you to study our article with useful tips for running a successful food delivery business.

Key Features of Food Ordering and Food Delivery Apps

Before opting for web app development services to start building a food ordering app or related software, you’ll need to consider the functionality as apps shouldn’t contain excessive stuff.

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The key features can be divided into three groups:

• Food delivery app features for users;
• Food delivery app features for stores / restaurants;
• Food delivery app features for delivery / couriers.

Below are the lists of basic features to include into a custom software development request for a software vendor.

Food delivery app features for users

The minimal list of features for seamless user experience include:

• Sign in. For registration in the application.
• Log in. For registered users to access their accounts.
• Geolocation. To find the location on the map by googling “restaurant near me” and track the location of the order in real-time.
• List of restaurants. To offer a choice, reviews, and ratings.
• Menu. To enable access to the food list. This feature is integrated with each store page separately.
• Shipping address. To set the address for order delivery.
• Cart. To add, remove, and view products before purchase.
• Payment mode. To select among payment options such as e-wallet, credit cards, and bonus points.
• Review and rating. To enable users to leave comments and rate the food, as well as provide feedback on the services.
• Order history. To see and check the previously placed orders and activity log.
• Reorder. To make it possible to place orders directly from the History section.
• Special offer. To highlight the current big deals.
• Multiple filters. To help users search by location, price, review number, and rating.

Food delivery app features for stores / restaurants

The panel for the store / restaurant in a custom food delivery application should have the following basic features:

• Dashboard. Shows order status like order preparation, completion, cancellation.
• Accept / Reject order. With this feature, food service manages accept and reject orders.
• Store / restaurant profile. To showcase the menu, update and delete dishes, manage the details in the description.
• Payment. To access, change, fix the payment options and gateways for accepting or sending payments online.

Food delivery app features for delivery / couriers

The delivery staff panel should consist of the following elements:

• Sign in / Log in. To allow the courier to access the system with their credentials.
• Order. To display order requests from nearby restaurants.
• Delivery. To enable the courier to track the delivery.
• Order history. This section shows the status of orders.
• Call or online chat. To provide an option to contact the customer if there are any issues regarding the delivery.
• Push notifications. To inform the delivery staff of the order update.
• Transaction history. To manage payments from customers.
• Online support. To be able to contact the app support team in case of any issue.

Conclusion

The market of on-demand food ordering and delivery apps is rather competitive today, we would say. However, the opportunity to attract a huge audience and gain profit makes this business model viable.

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Before selecting a software vendor for custom software development, we suggest you think over the requirements, budget, consider the functionality and future development paths for your app.

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Or, you can tell us about a food delivery app you would like to design. NEKLO will work out the development strategy taking into account your requirements and suggestions. We are ready to help you with the most knotty issues.Contact us through the form on our website or directly. NEKLO team will help to streamline your idea, existing online store, and will create a food delivery app from scratch.