A Comprehensive Guide to Success in Food Delivery App Development

In a world of evolving lifestyles and constant motion, how we dine is changing dramatically. We crave something quick and convenient to satisfy our culinary desires. And as our culinary cravings meet the digital age, food delivery applications emerge as a revolutionary solution, redefining how we enjoy the delights of gastronomy.

In today’s fast-paced and digital landscape, on-demand delivery apps have become an inseparable part of modern lifestyle, with their widespread popularity and penetration in our lives continuing to grow.

The proliferation of food delivery apps has contributed to a significant diversification of culinary choices available to consumers. According to industry reports, users now have access to an extensive array of restaurants and cuisines at their fingertips, fostering a culture of exploration and discovery within the realm of gastronomy.

So, what factors contribute to the immeasurable success of food delivery apps? Well, the primary driver is an online food delivery app development company that fuels the fire of building a cutting-edge solution that can efficiently satiate consumers’ desire for convenience and culinary cravings.

Appinventiv, a leading player in app development, plays a pivotal role in building next-generation restaurant applications. We have a proven track record of redefining the success of food delivery giants like KFC, Pizza Hut, and Domino’s.

Let’s get a sneak peek into the growing dominance of food delivery mobile app development, the statistical facts, cost, process, and case studies of food delivery businesses.

Understanding the Costs of Food Delivery App Development

The evolution of food delivery services has been marked by a surge in demand for digital applications. Changing consumer preferences, coupled with the need for speed and convenience, have driven the adoption of food delivery apps. Let’s throw light on some statistical facts about food delivery services:

Global Growth of Food Delivery Apps

According to a report by Grand View Research , the global food delivery market hit $505.50 billion in 2030 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 10.3% from 2023 to 2030. This underscores the sustained and robust growth of the food delivery industry.

Revenue Generation from the Food Delivery Market

The global revenue from the online food delivery market is projected to reach a value of $329.7 billion by 2027. This growth trajectory demonstrates the massive potential for businesses to capture a significant market share.

Mobile App Usage Trends

This statistic highlights the increasing reliance on mobile apps for food-related activities, from ordering meals to exploring new culinary experiences.

Impact of Global Pandemic – COVID-19

The pandemic accelerated the adoption of food delivery apps, with a surge in demand for contactless dining options. A McKinsey report noted a 78-93% increase in the use of food delivery apps during the early stages of the global health crisis.

Benefits of Food Delivery Mobile App Development

The food industry is growing exponentially, giving entrepreneurs countless reasons to invest in online food delivery app development and emerge as key players in this rewarding sector. Here are some of the reasons why leveraging the power of food delivery apps can be highly profitable for businesses:

Increased Reach and Higher Revenue

For the restaurant industry, using a mobile app translates into capturing a broader consumer segment worldwide, satisfying the needs of potential users who might otherwise miss their offerings. This extended reach can significantly boost sales and increase revenue, contributing to the overall growth and success of the restaurant.

DoorDash is a leading example of a global food delivery business, catering to customers’ culinary needs across Canada, Australia, and the US.

Eliminates the Entry Barriers

The food delivery sector is well-regarded for its minimal entry barriers, fostering an environment that readily embraces emerging startups and entrants. Unlike traditional businesses that require substantial initial investments and intricate infrastructures, the on-demand food delivery solutions empower aspiring entrepreneurs to start their food delivery ventures with comparatively modest investments.

Also Read: 3 Top Reasons to Invest in a Mobile App for Your Restaurant

Unmatched Convenience for Consumers

Mobile apps bring unparalleled convenience to food lovers, bringing a host of culinary items from different regions to their fingertips. With just a few taps on their smartphones, users can effortlessly browse through diverse menus, place orders, and track their deliveries in real-time. This streamlined process eliminates the need for traditional methods like phone calls or physical menus, offering a great level of convenience that aligns with today’s fast-paced lifestyle.

Personalized User Experience

Mobile apps enable a personalized user experience, allowing businesses to tailor their offerings based on user preferences and behaviors. With the emerging integration of data analytics and artificial intelligence in the restaurant industry, businesses can predict customer choices, suggest personalized menus, and even offer exclusive discounts or coupons. This level of personalization enhances the overall user experience and increases their loyalty to the brand.

Increased User Engagements

A feature-rich food delivery app enables restaurants to interact actively with their customers through push notifications, messages, emails, or even chatbots. This helps businesses inform users about their latest offers, loyalty programs, and lucrative deals and discounts, keeping them engaged in your offerings.

Also read: How Much Does it Cost to Build a Food App Like Grill’d in Australia 

Predictive Analytics

Mobile apps provide restaurant owners with valuable data analytics. From tracking order trends to comprehending peak hours, these insights empower businesses to make informed decisions. Additionally, mobile apps streamline the ordering and delivery management process, reducing the risk of errors and ensuring operational efficiency.

These are some of the most common benefits of food delivery app development. As technology advances, businesses that opt for mobile app solutions are poised to experience more transformational advantages and sustained success in the competitive landscape of the food delivery industry.

Related Article: A Comprehensive Guide on Using Predictive Analytics for Mobile Apps

Appinventiv: A Pioneer in Food Delivery App Development

We, as a leading IT company, have established ourselves as a frontrunner in app development, particularly in the food delivery sector. With a proven track record and a commitment to innovation, we have successfully crafted innovative solutions for global businesses that elevate user experiences and drive growth.

Our approach involves a meticulous understanding of client needs, leveraging cutting-edge technologies, using the best security measures, and delivering apps that stand out in the competitive market.

Let us elucidate the case studies of three business giants in the food industry and witness how we turned their distinctive vision into an enticing reality, through our intuitive and agile online food ordering app development process.

KFC Case Study

KFC, a leading fast-food company with a global presence in 150+ countries, operates under Americana Group in the Middle East and is the world’s second-largest restaurant chain.

Challenges Faced by KFC

• Nearly 90% of KFC’s total orders were coming through aggregator apps, raising concerns about the brand’s dependency on third-party platforms.
• With a significant portion of orders funneled through aggregator apps, KFC faced increased operational costs and the risk of potential damage to the brand’s digital image.
• The challenges escalated when KFC started receiving negative reviews on its own platform, primarily related to a poor user experience.

Appinventiv’s Strategic Solution

KFC, facing such challenges in the Middle East, turned to Appinventiv for a comprehensive solution with a vision to develop seven KFC mobile applications within a year. We took these challenges as an opportunity to prove our expertise by building a robust direct-to-consumer digital channel for KFC.

We developed seven custom food delivery apps in the Middle East across – the UAE, KSA, Kuwait, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman, ensuring a personalized user experience for specific regions and demographics.

Results and Impact

The development and launch of seven KFC mobile applications within the stipulated timeframe helped KFC witness a transformative shift in its digital delivery channel, leading to significant positive outcomes:

• 22% increase in conversion rate
• 4.5 average rating on the Google Play Store and App Store
• Over 50% of the total orders coming through the app
• Over 60% increase in repeat purchases across channels
• Highest customer lifetime value across all order modes
• Reduced resilience on aggregator apps from 90% to 50%
• 30,000+ orders filled through the app per day.

Pizza Hut Case Study

Pizza Hut, one of the largest multinational restaurant chains, operates 17,639 restaurants worldwide as of 2020.

Challenges Faced by Pizza Hut

• Pizza Hut faced challenges in maintaining a strong digital presence. Their existing app struggled to keep pace with modern standards, hindering its performance.
• The app lacked an extensible and scalable architecture, limiting its ability to adapt to the evolving needs of today’s digital age.
• Customers encountered difficulties navigating the app, placing orders, and enjoying a seamless interaction with Pizza Hut’s offerings, leading to poor user experience.

Appinventiv’s Strategic Solution

Our team of 1200+ tech evangelists recognized the need for a comprehensive overhaul of Pizza Hut’s app. Thus, we conducted thorough research to understand the unique needs of Pizza Hut’s target audience and created a user-friendly design that resonated with users, ensuring a more personalized and engaging experience.

To meet industry standards, we leveraged the latest tools and technologies to enhance the app’s functionality and keep it at the forefront of trends.

Results and Impact

The redesigned app provided Pizza Hut with a revitalized digital presence, aligning with industry standards, meeting users’ expectations, and elevating the brand’s image in the digital space, which resulted into:

• 50K app downloads
• 30% increase in conversion rates
• 7 seconds increase in screen transition time
• Improved customer engagement and business growth
• Increased user interactions and order placements

Domino’s Case Study

Domino’s is a well-recognized powerhouse of pizza delivery worldwide, operating over 14,000 pizza restaurants in 85+ countries and delivering more than 1.5 million pizzas every day.

Challenges Faced by Domino’s

• Domino’s experienced a rising bounce rate on their mobile app, indicating that users were navigating away without completing orders.
• The company faced challenges in retaining customers and received negative reviews in terms of poor app experience, difficulty in placing orders, and an in-app user journey.
• One of the major concerns the brand faced was subpar UI/UX design, which led to a decrease in customers’ attention and engagement on the brand’s app.

Appinventiv’s Strategic Solution

Domino’s collaborated with us to resolve its pressing challenges and redefine its business identity in the market. We started the journey with a deep analysis of the core issues hindering the performance of Domino’s pizza delivery app. We dove deep into customers’ reviews and pinpointed the problem area that was making users’ in-app journeys complex.

We developed strategic solutions to revamp the UI/UX design, streamlining the app’s functionality, making it more efficient, and enhancing the overall user experience, through our agile food ordering app development process.

Results and Impact

• The collaboration with Appinventiv facilitated the reinvention of Domino’s business image, reinforcing its position in the competitive food delivery market.
• Our refined UI/UX strategy reduced the bounce rate and increased the mobile app conversion rate by 23%.
• The UI/UX redesign contributed to a significant improvement in customer engagement. The users who were once leaving the app without placing the orders now spend time within the app to track their orders in real time.

Food Delivery App Development Cost

When planning to make a food delivery app like KFC, Pizza Hut, or Domino’s, people often contemplate the restaurant app development cost. While the cost to build the latest food delivery app is one of the most crucial considerations, it is challenging to quote an exact amount as the Pizza Hut, Domino’s, or KFC food delivery app development cost significantly varies depending on multiple factors.

Some of the most important factors that affect the custom food delivery application development cost are:

• The intricacy and sophistication of the app’s design, level, features, and functionalities.
• The number of third-party plugins available in the app to improve user engagement.
• The targeted platform (Android, iOS, or cross-platform) on which the app will run.
• Intensity and frequency of regular maintenance and updates required to ensure the apt app performance.
• The geographic location of the chosen mobile app development company. For instance, developers in regions like the US or the UK charge a whopping amount of $90-$110 per hour, while developers in India typically charge a more budget-friendly price, i.e., $20-$70 per hour.

On average, KFC, Pizza Hut, or Domino’s food delivery app development costs range between $30,000 to $300,000 or more, depending on the aforementioned cost-influencing factors.

Here is a visual presentation of the factors affecting food delivery mobile app development cost

How to Make a Food Delivery App?

There is no better way to tap into the flourishing food market than to make a feature-rich application for your business. However, making an app for food delivery is a complex and challenging process, requiring professional expertise and experience in building similar applications.

The food delivery app development process is quite similar to building any other mobile app. It passes through the same stages of project planning, design conceptualization, feature integration, coding and development, rigorous testing, and ultimate deployment.

In straight terms, developing a food delivery app like KFC, Pizza Hut, or Domino’s requires meticulous planning, visually appealing UI/UX design, the right tech stack, seamless feature integration, and continual maintenance.

Thus, you must consider outsourcing your project to a professional app development company to ensure a smooth and successful food delivery app development process. Collaborating with an experienced restaurant app development company with a proven history of developing similar solutions not only improves your chances of building a successful solution but also ensures its ongoing success in the competitive market.

For an in-depth understanding of the custom food delivery application development process, delve into our comprehensive guide on Mobile App Development for Businesses.

You may like to know: How to start your own food delivery business.

Leverage Appinvenitv’s Experience to Build a Food Delivery App

Appinventiv’s expertise in food delivery mobile app development has played a pivotal role in revamping the applications of industry giants – KFC, Pizza Hut, and Domino’s, redefining their brand image.

We are committed to shaping the future of food delivery apps through the effective utilization of cutting-edge technologies, innovative solutions, a deep understanding of market dynamics, and a commitment to staying ahead of industry trends.

These case studies serve as a testament to the transformative impact that our strategic food delivery application development services can have on the success of food delivery businesses.

So, if you also want to create a food delivery app like KFC, Pizza Hut, or Domino’s, don’t hesitate to partner with us. Our skilled team will stand by you throughout the food delivery app development process, helping you take your business to greater heights.

FAQs

Q. What features can be added to build a food delivery app?

A. Building a successful food delivery app requires incorporating multiple features to enhance user experience. Mentioned below are some of the most essential features to add to a food delivery app:

• User registration and profiles
• Real-time order tracking
• Secure payment gateway
• Search and filters
• Rating and reviews
• Promotions and discounts
• Multiple platform compatibility
• Referrals and rewards
• Push notifications
• Multi-language support
• Geolocation services
• Social media integration
• Customer support chatbot
• Offline accessibility
• Analytics and reporting

Q. How much time does it take to make a food delivery app?

A. The time required to develop a food delivery app can vary significantly based on several factors, including the app’s complexity, choice of platform (iOS, Android, or hybrid), feature list, tech stack, UI/UX design, and the location of the app development company.

On average, a simple app with basic features can take around 4 to 9 months to develop, while a more complex app with advanced features may take 9 months to a year or more.

You should define your clear project objectives and discuss your app idea with an experienced development team to know the exact timeline it will take to bring your vision to life.

Q. How much does it cost to develop a food delivery app?

A. Determining the cost of developing a food delivery app involves considering various factors such as the app’s features, complexity, platform choice, design intricacies, and the location of the development team.

On average, food delivery app development costs range between $30,000 to $300,000 or more.

Q. How to create a food delivery app?

A. To build a food delivery app, begin by outlining essential features such as user registration, menu viewing, order placement, and payment processing. Develop an intuitive interface and choose a reliable development framework. Integrate geolocation for precise delivery tracking and secure payment options. Conduct comprehensive testing to resolve any issues and ensure seamless performance. Once launched, promote the app and collect user feedback to refine and enhance its functionality.

Q. What are some of the major challenges in food delivery app development and solutions to overcome those?

A. Here are some of the common challenges in food delivery app development and solutions to tackle those:

User Experience and Interface Design: Creating an intuitive and engaging interface that enhances user experience comes with a lot of challenges.

Solution: Conduct user research and testing to design a straightforward, user-friendly interface that works well across all devices.

Integration with Payment Gateways: Implementing secure and efficient payment processing can be complex.

Solution: Integrate payment gateways and also ensure robust security measures to protect transactions.

Order Management System: Efficiently managing and coordinating orders between customers, restaurants, and delivery drivers is often difficult.

Solution: Develop a comprehensive order management system with real-time updates and automated notifications for all parties involved.

Data Privacy and Security: Protecting user data and ensuring compliance with privacy regulations can be challenging.

Solution: Use encryption for data transmission, adhere to best practices for data protection, and comply with relevant privacy laws.

THE AUTHOR

Prateek Saxena

DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER