The food delivery industry skyrocketed when the lockdowns first started and even though everything is settling down pretty well, the food delivery industry still continues to grow. This makes it a very lucrative business and startups are taking full advantage of it. But to get into this jam-packed industry, you need a food delivery app. Having a mobile app makes it easier for people to order their favorite food in a quick and efficient manner.
But the app has to be feature packed. Most startups are willing to invest a ton of money to have a ton of features and get their app just right, but it is also true that not every startup can afford that. So, most food delivery app development companies offer a very versatile development option where you get to choose what features you need for your business and what you don’t.
But how can you be sure which features are going to be perfect for your business? Well, you don’t. It’s a gamble where you have to make certain bets on what’s going to be a reward and what could be a potential risk. But there’s nothing to stress about. Most food delivery app development companies offer expert consultancy to figure out everything before the development project begins, including the features, user interface, and much more.
Today, we will talk about things that you should keep in mind during the food delivery app development phase, challenges that developers face during the development phase and what the end result should look like.
Table of Contents
Food Delivery App Development Phase
You are starting a food delivery business and you need an app. But to develop such an app, you must have some ideas regarding how the app is going to be and how it should look like. Such ideas are critical to the development of the app. Whether it is just going to be a food delivery app or should also have a table booking facility for when customers want to visit the restaurant, sit down, and enjoy the food. Let’s take a detailed look at some of these features.
Food Delivery Menu
This is the part where customers will be spending most of their time and so the user experience has to be top-notch. Everything from the number of dishes they can order to how they can rate the food has to be very fluid.
Table Booking
The table booking facility comes in handy when customers simply want to sit down at their favorite restaurant and enjoy their meal. This allows them to pre-book ahead of time to avoid dealing with houseful situations at the last minute. Not to mention, a table booking facility with food delivery will lead to higher app usage, which will then lead to even more popularity. This is one of the most requested features that many on-demand food delivery app development companies receive these days.
Order Management
When the orders begin to pile up, managing them could be troublesome for the restaurant. Having a dedicated order management system will take the load off the management and help them better utilize their time.
Billing Solutions
Keeping the bills manually is not only cumbersome but leads to a lot of paper waste. Having an online billing solution right inside the app would definitely go a long way toward simplifying their jobs.
Restaurant ERP Software
Having restaurant ERP software inside the same app will be like a cherry on top. It will help them manage everything from one app.
Challenge Faced By Food Delivery App Development Companies
Developing a mobile-first app is definitely the right approach but developing cross-platform apps for both iOS and Android platforms can be time-consuming and expensive. Then there’s the challenge of optimization, which can be very difficult for Android, as there vast number of devices running Android compared to only a handful of iPhones. On top of that, there’s a whole new challenge when it comes to protecting your customer’s privacy. These challenges often hinder the development phase and are expensive to deal with and time-consuming.
End Results
At the end of the development phase, what you should get is a world-class food delivery app that is available on both platforms and has all the features that you wanted in it. It should be a complete app and must perform flawlessly.