How to Build Food Delivery App like Doordash and Uber Eats

Modern society is selective in the choice of establishments in which it eats. A mobile food delivery application helps to save a client a lot of time because a person can get acquainted with the menu, choose the right dishes at a convenient time and place an order. To the restaurant - profit and a satisfied customer. A food delivery app is an essential and essential tool for any catering establishment.

The presence of successful startups in this area like the food delivery app Doordash or Uber Eats are of interest to potential investors.

Let’s talk more about food delivery statistics.

1. In 2019 the worldwide online food delivery market revenue reached $107.4 billion.

This market keeps growing. Statista research shows an expectation that its worldwide revenue will reach $182.3 billion by 2024.

2. In 2019 US consumers spent $11 billion on pizza delivery based on Statista research.

American citizens are spending more and more on pizza delivery (as online food delivery statistics in the US show). Between 2018 and 2019 the amount of money spent increased by approximately $1.2 billion. In 2018 Domino’s Pizza was the company with the most pizza deliveries in the US, representing a 31.1% share of consumer spending in this segment.

3. In October 2020 49% of food orders in the USA were made via DoorDash.

DoorDash is the most popular food delivery app in the United States, ahead of Uber Eats and GrubHub, according to the Second Measure report. Miami is the one city where this app covers only a 16% share of sales. Uber Eats is the most popular app there, with a 62% sales share.

4. In 2020, China will be a leader in generating the most food delivery revenue.

This year food delivery revenue in the US is expected to reach $26.527 billion. With an estimated compound annual growth rate of 5.1%, revenue should reach $32.325 billion by 2024. Comparatively, food ordering 2020 statistics show that China will generate revenue of $51.514 billion just this year.

5. In 2018 the main reason why people ordered food was that they didn’t feel like cooking.

Apart from the lack of desire to cook some meal(43%), the second most common reason for food ordering was satisfying a food craving (30%). Next most common reason was saving time that interviewed also spent on cooking and cleaning (28%). Another two reasons were game or movie nights at-home (25%) or family night dinners (24%).

6. In 2018 59% of Grubhub’s users were men who ordered delivery at least once a week.

When it comes to statistics related to gender, men ordered much more food than women did, but the choices of both of them were rather similar. The food delivery statistics show that only 36% of female Grubhub consumers used this service weekly, and their top food choices were Chinese (32%), Mexican (27%), and burgers (25%). Men mostly ordered burgers (31%), BBQ (27%), and Chinese (23%).

7. In 2018 the main reason why people ordered food was that they didn’t feel like cooking.

The current coronavirus situation is changing all spheres of life rapidly. As evidence, in March this year, families with children increased their use of delivery apps to 20%, according to the latest food delivery usage statistics. Non-child families have also increased their use of such kinds of apps, though in a less dramatic manner—they went from 27% to 28%.

8. In 2018 59% of Grubhub’s users were men who ordered delivery at least once a week.

According to US food delivery statistics, men and women also had slightly different opinions on food delivery for date night. While most women preferred ordering pizza for the occasion, only 29% of men felt the same. Women were also more in favor of sushi (20%) compared to men (12%). When it comes to BBQ, 25% of men preferred it, as opposed to only 11% of women.

Nowadays, the popularity of mobile ordering and delivery services is growing, more and more people are using their smartphones to order food. An application with the functions of a bonus system is the best mechanism for attracting and retaining a client today. Here are some reasons why do you need to build a food delivery app like UberEats:

• Growing market value. The development of the company is impossible without attracting new customers and making a profit. The introduction of new technologies will allow not only to acquire new customers but also to increase their loyalty to your brand, thanks to which the average check also increases. The consequence of this for the company is a growing market value. Developing a food delivery application is an investment in a company that will certainly pay off if the business is properly organized.
• Deeper customer understanding. The expression "who owns the information - he owns the world" in the modern era of digital and tough competition for customers takes on a completely new meaning. The company that knows the needs of the customers best wins. Every user action in the food delivery apps like Doordash Uber Eats or Glovo, be it order frequency, order composition, time is recorded in history. These user stories can be a great foundation for your next business and marketing strategy.
• Saving customers' time. Many clients are ready to pay a lot of money for visiting an establishment but are not ready to pay with time. Going to a restaurant with disgusting service, food and a poor menu is half the problem. The client most often feels sorry for the time spent. The food delivery mobile application reduces the likelihood of hitting such establishments. The user can study different restaurant options, menu, prices, and place an order at a convenient time. The credit of trust immediately increases.
• A quick and easy way to order food. The easier it is to order, the better for the client. The person does not want to waste time choosing. At any time, the user should be able to order food, and not go to the institution, wait until everything is cooked. Therefore, a mobile app for food delivery is a great opportunity to order quickly and easily.
• ROI. This is an indicator of the return on investment, or, more simply, the payback ratio. Developing a food delivery application is an investment that will increase your ROI. After all, a person will not go to an institution on the other side of the city but will be able to order food home if a courier brings him. Expanding the audience, increasing the receipt, properly optimizing the operation of the enterprise (delivery of several orders, workpieces, and so on) - all this has a beneficial effect on ROI and increases profits.

Top Features of food delivery software.

In most cases, if you are interested in how to build food delivery business, you need to create the following elements:

1. Project website.

2. Administrative section for moderators/administrators.

3. App for restaurant-partner.

4. Mobile application for couriers.

5. Custom food delivery app for a client.

How to create a food delivery app that would be no less successful than Glovo, Uber Eats or DoorDash? Let's go through all the elements in order.

• 01

  Project website.

  The website has the following functions:

  • Attracting users and new partners. The website attracts new interested visitors through search engine promotion and other types of advertising.
  • Ordering food from laptops and computers. In the office or at home, it is much more convenient to choose food on the big screen.
  • Posting news and useful information. Notification of users about changes in work, useful tips, legally relevant information are posted on the website.
• 02

  Administrative section for moderators/administrators.

  Every day, users have problems and questions, sometimes there are conflicts or technical difficulties. All notifications, help and communication with users are carried out through the admin panel.

  Usually the following groups of users are distinguished with different rights:

  • Administrator. Full access to all features.
  • Content manager. Access to website pages (adding, editing, deleting records and pages), access to the information section of the application (adding news and mass alerts).
  • Project Manager. Access to financial statistics, all orders, reviews and ratings from users, working reports.
  • Department manager (regional representative). Access to information for the manager, but with restrictions - region or structural unit of the company.
  • Operator. Working with current orders in a specific region, access to user messages, the ability to approve an order manually, communication (text and voice) with couriers and customers, operational reporting.

  Other distributions of roles are also possible, for example, the allocation of moderators and technical support operators into separate services and roles in the admin panel.

• 03

  App for restaurant-partner.

  Technically speaking, it is a kind of custom role in the administrative section. But it can have a separate design and a website entrance.

  The partner gets opportunities:

  • Add dishes with photos and descriptions to the menu.
  • Change the price, make other adjustments.
  • "Suspend" access to a dish if you run out of products to prepare it.
  • Add, remove, change restaurant promotions.
  • Receive order notifications in real-time.
  • Confirm or reject the order.
  • View statistics and reports on your own orders.

  This section contains information for integrating restaurant software and food delivery service to automate menu updates. There may also be other confidential data intended for partners.

• 04

  Mobile application for couriers.

  It is necessary to organize the delivery. Includes the following features:

  • View active orders in the selected region
  • Possibility to select and confirm orders.
  • Communication (text, voice) with a restaurant and a client on an active order, as well as with a service operator at any time.
  • Map with GPS navigation and routing.
  • Work reporting.
• 05

  Custom food delivery app for clients.

  The food delivery application installed in a mobile device significantly increases user loyalty because it is more convenient to place an order from a service that opens by clicking on an icon than to search the Internet for something new and unfamiliar.

  The application should be attractive, as simple and convenient as possible. During development, special attention is paid to the following:

  • Ease of navigation and food selection. The restaurant catalog and selection of food categories should be intuitive and comfortable.
  • Informativeness. When choosing a restaurant and a dish, the user should see the rating, the number of reviews (+/-), the description and photos from the restaurant, the price, payment features, auction offers, etc. It is necessary to place as much information as possible on one screen.
  • The convenience of ordering. The order is made without prior registration with a minimum of actions. Using GPS, the user's location is determined, which allows you not to enter the address manually.
  • Benefits of voluntary registration. Registered users do not need to re-enter their data (phone, card number), delivery addresses, order history are remembered, bonuses for discounts and food purchases “for points” are accumulated.
  • Attractiveness. The app should be stylish, recognizable and evoke positive emotions in users and the desire to order even more food.

The development of a mobile food delivery application is a laborious and responsible process that takes quite a lot of time. It is important to think over every detail, take care of the design and unique opportunities in order to stay ahead of the competition and offer customers the best conditions. The development consists of several stages.

• 01

  Research

  Before technical development, it is necessary to study in detail the market, target audience, partnership conditions and other data. Detailed information makes it easier to form a general concept of the application and to think through a marketing plan. It is not enough just to create an application; it must be actively developed and maintained.

  The most important step will be to study the target audience, their needs, "pains" that should be addressed using the application. Only then is a work plan drawn up and other specialists can begin to implement it.

• 02

  Design

  The design of an application must comply with several important conditions: ease of use, attractiveness and accessibility. The user will not think about how to add order and pay if he does not find an answer to the task, he will simply close the application and delete it.

  Therefore, the task of the designer is to develop not just a pretty look that will look good on an iPhone or on an Android system. The main goal is to create a clear interface that will help reduce the time to order. The designer thinks over not only the user part but also the courier and the administrative part. Different tasks are set for each group.

• 03

  Programming

  The designer provides a prototype for the programmers to work on, and then they transfer all the ideas to the code that is understandable for Android or iOS. It takes a lot of time to create an app for food delivery, as each function needs to be tested and made convenient and working correctly. More details about how to code a food delivery app you can get in our “Tamam On-demand Case Study”.

• 04

  Search and menu

  An important task of a mobile food delivery application is to organize a convenient search and menu. The search must be done in such a way that the system “understands” what is wanted from it. Users may not know what the dish is called, so a detailed study of the search functionality is a necessary development stage.

  The menu should also be convenient and multifunctional. You can make a division into categories, establishments, types and types of dishes. It is better if you have implemented as many ways as possible to find and choose the right dish.

• 05

  Download on App Store and Google Play

  After the end of development and testing, the application is unloaded into services. At this stage, the active implementation of the marketing plan for promotion begins. Prior to this stage, marketing activities are also carried out, allowing you to connect establishments, if it is an aggregator, and promote the application among their customers.

• 06

  Updating and processing feedback

  After the release of the project, the specialists continue to set up a food delivery app and provide support for the application, fix technical problems, and process customer reviews. For a food delivery application, customer feedback is the most important, because the task is to create a convenient and practical service based on the opinion of users.

The food delivery app development pricing depends on many factors. You can make an application only for Android or iPhone. Also you can create online food delivery app as a cross-platform application, or for several popular operating systems at once.

The functionality directly affects the cost to start a food delivery app and development time. There are minimum requirements that must be met in order for the service to be popular. But there are also additional features that, when implemented, can get ahead of the competition. However, the cost rises.

There is also MVP development. This is an opportunity to make a simple application as quickly as possible in order to understand how efficiently it works. The cost of such development is much lower than the main food delivery application. It significantly limits the functionality, simplifies the design. But its presence will help you understand whether your institution needs an individual application, or check the effectiveness of the aggregator. In case of failure, the business saves a significant part of the money, but in case of success, 2 tasks are immediately completed: the prospect of digitalization is shown and the announcement for clients. In addition, the MVP application continues to work and generate income while the main version is being created.

Our team has experience in how to develop an app for food delivery like Doordash. Our project calles the Tamam Delivery application. Our clients came to us with the thought “I want to create my own food delivery app”. The app had to be intuitive and responsive while processing a high load of data. More intuitive design is very important for a more enjoyable customer journey, and for contributing to higher conversion.

That's why our process started with the initial brainstorming discovery phase, where we defined the product boundaries, defined the work scope, created the work breakdown structure, wrote the user story, drew architectural diagrams. Next during the UX / UI phase, we made web frames, tested prototypes of mobile web for admin, courier application, and client app.

While creating an on-demand delivery app front-end, we were focusing on improving each step of the user journey - from browsing through the products and places where you can make an order to customizing the order and adding products to the basket, to transaction completion using secure payment methods.

We chose React.js, Node.js, ReactNative for on-demand delivery app development because these tools are modern, advanced and easy to maintain. In addition, these frameworks are based on the same JavaScript language. Our experience with this stack of technologies shows that it allows fast implementation of new features.

Making a food delivery app is a great investment for most food outlets. You can also make an application without the presence of an institution, and use it as an aggregator. The main task is to satisfy the needs of the client and make the order quick and easy. Then the business gets an expansion of the audience, an increase in loyalty, and competitiveness, therefore, income increases and the company grows. If you are looking for food delivery app development company - just fill out the Contact Us Form.