How Do Food Ordering Apps Work – Everything You Need to Know

Ever wondered what happens behind the scenes of your favorite food delivery apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash? From the moment you place your order to the delivery at your doorstep, there’s a complex process in play that ensures your meal arrives hot and fresh.

With the global online food delivery market expected to reach US$1.85 trillion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 9.04%, it’s clear that this industry is growing.

But what exactly drives the success of these apps? What technologies and strategies do they use to provide better ordering experiences? 

In this blog, we’ll explore the inner workings of food-ordering apps, essential features, business models, and the costs involved in building your platform.

How Do Food Ordering Apps Work?

Below are some steps that show how food ordering apps work.

Below are some steps that show how food delivery apps work. 

Sign-up and Browsing: First, the customer signs up with the food delivery app by providing some basic information. After signing up, the customer starts scrolling the restaurant menus.   

Placing an Order: The customer adds the food items to their cart. 

Apply Coupon Codes: Customers can apply coupons and discount offers, before making the payment. 

Making Payment: Customers select the preferred payment options from multiple methods.  

Order Confirmation: When the customer places the order, the restaurant receives the notification. Once the restaurant accepts the order, the customer gets notified about their order acceptance.  

Food Preparation and Pickup: The restaurant owner contacts the nearest rider and informs them about the food pick-up and delivery. The rider picks up the food from the restaurant and proceeds with the delivery.

Delivery and Notifications: The customer is notified that the rider is on the way.    

Feedback and Reviews: When the food is delivered, the customer can provide their feedback about the food, taste, quality, and rider.

What Are The Models of Online Food Delivery Systems?

In developing the food delivery app, you need to know what business model you should use for your delivery system. Choose the top food delivery business model for your business. Check their pros and cons and then select the business model. 

Two models are used for the online food delivery system.

1. Aggregator Model

This model acts as an intermediary between customers and restaurants. Customers place orders from the platform and the platform forwards the order to the restaurant. 

Pros

• Data security
• Lower costs
• Improve customer experience 

Cons

• No control over the food quality
• Provide a few food selections

2. Order and Delivery Model

In this model, the food delivery platform operates its delivery service. The online food delivery system receives orders from customers, prepares the order, and delivers to the customer.  

Pros

• Easily maintain the food quality 

Cons

• Hire additional persons to deliver orders
• More rely on the delivery partner than restaurants 

What Are the Functional Requirements of the Food Ordering App?

Every restaurant app should have top-notch features that make it successful and a great way to attract customers.   

Let’s explore the essential features of a successful restaurant app for customers, restaurant owners, riders, and admin.

For Customers

Features	Description
Push Notifications	This feature notifies customers of new deals, offers, discounts, or special items. With this feature, the customers get engaged and use your food app more.
Multiple Payment Methods	Online food ordering is more comfortable if the customers get a lot of payment choices. The more easy payment options will enhance sales and allow customers to order from anywhere in the world.
Deals and Discounts	Offering deals and discounts is a great way to keep customers returning. With this feature, the customers save money and get rewards.
Integration with Social Media	This is one of the top food ordering app features. It allows customers to post food photos and comments on social media platforms. It can increase organic marketing and is an excellent way to reach your customer base.
Order Tracking	Customers can track their orders on the online food ordering and delivery platform. This feature can keep them updated on their orders from food preparation to delivery.  Providing clients with real-time order status information is a great way to build trust.
Feedback	This feature lets customers give feedback about the product or service.  Customer ratings and reviews may help you improve your services and increase reliability.
Order History	Customers can look into their past orders or previous order deliveries.
Customization	Allow customers to customize their orders according to their preferences. For example, if you’re allergic to any ingredient you can write them in the instruction box so the restaurant does not add them to your food order.
In-App Chat	Customers can chat with riders and restaurants via the in-app chat feature.

For Restaurants 

Features	Description
Order Tracking	Restaurants can track orders and keep track of all the orders that are delivered and pending.
Change Status	Restaurants can change their status online and offline according to their availability.
Push Notifications	Restaurants send notifications to customers for any new deals, changes in their orders, special discounts, and more.
Order Details	Restaurants can view the complete customer details on the restaurant delivery management software.
Print Invoice	It is an important feature that lets restaurants print invoices. Restaurants can keep all the invoices digitally and save them from any fraud.

For Riders 

Features	Description
Order History	From the food rider app, the riders can check their order history and know which orders they deliver and which are pending.
Notifications	The riders also receive notifications from the restaurant for the new order.
In-App Chat	Allow riders to communicate with the customers if they don’t find the location. Customers can also add special instructions to the rider; if they want a contactless delivery, they can add the specific place where they place their order.
Change the Status	Riders have the option to change the status online/offline.

For Admin

Features	Description
Customer Management	From the admin dashboard, the admin can access customer feedback, customer information, emails, deals, reviews, etc. They have the visibility of all the profiles.
Reports and Analytics	The app can help admins view the entire database of the restaurant’s business including sales, taxes, payments, commissions, costs, wastage, etc.
Website Control	Allow to access the data on a website and customize the logo, name, add or remove the content, etc.
Delivery System Management	Admin has the visibility of all the deliveries and they can monitor them in real-time without any hassle.

How to Build a Food Delivery App? 

Want to build your own food delivery app? Below are some steps to help you build a great app. 

1. Market Research

The first step is to conduct thorough market research. Analyzing competitors to understand their strengths and weaknesses, as well as identifying user preferences and trends. Knowing your target audience is vital; understanding their needs helps you design an app that fulfills your client’s needs and any gaps in the current market.

2. Define Features

Next, you should define the essential features of your app. Make sure to add the relevant and unique features in your app that make it successful. 

3. Choose a Business Model

Determining your business model is another main step. You can opt for a commission-based model, where restaurants pay a percentage of each order, a subscription-based model for users or restaurants, or a delivery fee model that charges customers a flat rate for delivery. The choice of model will affect your pricing strategy and overall profitability.

4. Design UI/UX

Once you have a clear idea of the features and business model, the next step is to design the user interface (UI) and user experience (UX). Creating wireframes and prototypes helps visualize the app’s layout and flow. An intuitive design increases user engagement and makes it easier for users to use the app and place orders.

5. Select Technology Stack

Choosing the right technology stack makes the foundation of the app. You’ll need to select programming languages for both front-end and back-end development, such as Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android. Additionally, back-end technologies like Node.js or Ruby on Rails should be considered for server-side operations. This selection will impact the app’s reliability and speed.

6. Develop the App

With your design and technology stack in place, you can begin developing the app. This involves building both the front-end interface that users interact with and the back-end infrastructure that supports data management and processing. Implementing APIs for payment processing, mapping services, and push notifications is essential for a better user experience.

7. Test the App

After development, thorough testing is important. Conducting various testing techniques ensures that the app functions correctly and performs well under various conditions. This stage helps identify and resolve any bugs or usability issues before launching the app to the public.

8. Launch and Market

Once testing is complete, it’s time to launch and market your app. Deploy it on popular app stores, and use effective marketing strategies such as social media campaigns, online advertisements, and partnerships with local restaurants to attract users. 

What Common Challenges Face When Building a Food Delivery App?

While there are some benefits to creating the food delivery app, there are also some challenges associated with it.  

Let’s discuss the challenges that you face when building the food delivery app. 

Managing Logistics

It is one of the biggest challenges faced by many food delivery business startups. This usually happens in the beginning when you cannot manage big orders. Also, you can face problems like selecting the specific areas for food delivery, allocating the right number of vehicles, and prioritizing order requests.

Furthermore, you can resolve this issue using the food delivery management system with features like location tracking, order scheduler, geofencing, etc.     

Inconsistent Food Quality

It is another big challenge for the delivery partners to deliver meals to customers located far from the kitchen. The longer the travel time and distance between the kitchen and the customer, the greater the likelihood of food quality being affected. Certain types of food, such as fried items or dishes that need to be served hot, may lose their freshness, crispness, or temperature during transportation.

To address the challenge of inconsistent food quality for deliveries to distant customers, businesses can take several measures. These include optimizing delivery routes to minimize travel time. 

Building a Strong Customer Base

Nowadays, online ordering platforms are constantly rising. Therefore, the customers are overwhelmed by the choices. In that case, engaging new users and making them stick to them is not an easy task. 

To solve this issue, you can offer better deals, incentives, and loyalty programs to engage and retain customers. Focus on creating an app that is user-friendly with advanced features such as food tracking, search functionality, etc, can also help to make the user engaged.      

Partner with the Right Expert

Partnering with the right restaurant partner requires a lot of effort and careful consideration. You can start by clearly defining your goals and objectives for the partnership. Determine what you hope to achieve by partnering with a restaurant, whether it’s expanding your reach, offering new services, or enhancing customer experience.

Menu Management

Managing menus, including item availability, pricing, customization options, and dynamic updates, can be challenging. Ensuring that the menu information is synchronized in real time and accurately reflects the restaurant’s offerings requires careful implementation and data management.

Payment Integration

Integrating secure and convenient payment systems within the app is crucial. This involves working with payment gateways, ensuring PCI compliance, and handling different payment methods such as credit cards, digital wallets, or cash on delivery. Security and privacy concerns need to be addressed to protect sensitive user information.

Platform Compatibility

Ensuring the app works seamlessly across different platforms, such as iOS and Android, can be a challenge. Each platform has its own set of design guidelines, user interface components, and performance considerations that need to be taken into account.

How Much Does It Cost to Build The Food Delivery App?

The cost of developing the food delivery app can depend on these factors:

• Number of features
• Number of platforms
• Technology stack

However, the food app usually costs about $25,000-$50,000. Here is a breakdown of the estimated costs associated with developing a food delivery app.

Component	Estimated Cost	Description
Basic App Development	$10,000 – $20,000	Core functionalities and user interface.
Additional Features	$5,000 – $15,000	Extra functionalities (e.g., chat, reviews).
Design and UI/UX	$3,000 – $7,000	Professional design for user experience.
Backend Development	$5,000 – $10,000	Server-side logic, database management.
Testing and Quality Assurance	$2,000 – $5,000	Ensuring the app is bug-free and functional.
Deployment and Launch	$1,000 – $3,000	Getting the app live on app stores.
Maintenance and Updates	$2,000 – $5,000 annually	Ongoing support and feature updates.
Total Estimated Cost: $25,000 – $50,000

FAQs

1. Do food delivery apps make a profit?

Food delivery apps make a profit by charging the restaurant a commission for each order placed through the app. Also, the app charges a small fee from the customers. 

2. What are the steps in the ordering process?

Below are some steps that are involved in the ordering process.

• Order placement
• Order preparation
• Order picking
• Order delivery

3. Do food delivery apps make money?

Yes, food delivery apps make money in these ways:

• Delivery fees
• Commissions from restaurants
• Subscription services
• Advertising 

4. How does DoorDash order food work?

The below steps show how the DoorDash food ordering process works.

• Download the app
• Create an account
• Browse restaurants
• Select items
• Review order
• Choose payment method
• Place order
• Track delivery
• Receive your food

5. What is the cheapest food delivery app?

The cheapest food delivery app can vary by location and promotions, but popular options often include DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. 

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