The days of packing your own lunch or enduring boring, uninspired cafeteria cuisine in the office are long gone. Life has gotten a lot easier with the advent of food delivery apps.
You too may develop a successful app similar to UberEats by connecting with a leading food delivery app development company that successfully meets the demands of your target market. even the entire world… But let’s not get ahead of ourselves too quickly. Despite this, it is not “impossible”.
Let’s examine the market potential before moving on to the price of developing a meal delivery app or the pricing structure for food delivery.
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Table Of Contents
Food Delivery App Market Share
Nowadays, thousands of the best food delivery apps are available in the mainstream markets. Users are downloading and using more online meal delivery applications thanks to how convenient it is to get food with only a few taps on their smartphones.
The fact that the market for online food delivery is anticipated to reach USD 10,196 Mn by the end of this year is evidence of this. In addition, a CAGR of 9.5% is predicted for the market share, which is expected to be worth USD 14,679 Mn by 2024.
USA Today estimates that the market for online food delivery generated $17 billion in revenue in 2018 and $19.472 billion in 2019. According to the same estimate, the online meal delivery market in the United States is anticipated to reach $22.332 billion in 2021 and have more than 116.1 million consumers.
With more than 124.4 million customers, the entire online meal delivery market in the US is anticipated to reach $24.461 billion in 2023.
How Does UberEats Work?
According to studies, more than 60% of US citizens order meals online at least once each week, and many of them do so even when dining out with their families. More over 30% of these spend at least $50 on their purchases.
Additionally, studies reveal that more than 60% of restaurant orders come from internet platforms. Since online orders have actually climbed by 300 since 2014 and are expected to continue to rise over time, services like UberEats will only become more profitable.
As we all know, UberEats is an American company that specializes in food delivery all over the world, keeping consumers satisfied by taking care of their meals. After starting off as a cab company, the company has since expanded to provide its services to clients seeking for a bite to eat after work as well.
Being a comprehensive food delivery app, UberEats uses a three-tiered transactional strategy, or business to business, business to partner, and business to customer, to interact with customers, delivery partners, and restaurant partners in various cities around the world.
Therefore, restaurants offer a menu, customers choose from that menu, and UberEats arranges for one of its delivery partners to fulfill your order. Contrary to popular belief, these drivers are not UberEats’ employees but rather partners in the business.
Therefore, thanks to services like UberEats, you can receive everything you’re desiring, waiting on your desk, with only a few taps on your phone.
However, UberEats operates according to a four-step methodology, which we will quickly review below.
1. Finding the Restaurant
In the UberEats business model, the location of the restaurant from where the order has been placed is the first stage.
2. Placing the Order
Now that a user has placed an order on UberEats, Uber Eats will next place an order at the restaurant where the customer can pick up his order.
3. Picking the Order
After placing an order, picking up the order is obviously the next step, which is what its delivery partners will do.
4. Delivering the Order
Finally, the delivery partner shows up at the customer’s specified address to deliver the food and collect money.
These are the four steps that make up the Uber business model.
In a nutshell, if you want to escalate your food delivery business, create an app like Uber today and expand your business operations now.
Factors Affecting The Food Delivery App Development Cost
Any app’s development cost is primarily influenced by its features. But the final features and the estimated cost are determined after thorough analysis by business analysts and developers of a variety of criteria. The same is true for the creation of apps for meal delivery. Here are the top 7 criteria:
Platform(s)
Which mobile operating system do you prefer? And who is your intended audience? The worst error you can make is to believe that iOS or Android is what most of your users will be using. Analyze your target audience and the platforms they favor before making any platform-related commitments. You might be surprised by your findings.
By skipping this stage and making an incorrect assumption, you run the risk of backing the wrong team. or spending your money on a platform’s development that won’t bring you the necessary number of users. That being said, we’re sure the next question which pops in your head is why not just develop an app for both platforms?
Well, if your target audience is equally split across the two platforms, it is also an option. For businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs, cross-platform app development and flutter Mobile app development choices are far more affordable and practical.
Important: Rather than jumping in guns blazing, take the time to develop a well thought out strategy that is backed by concrete data because it will help you save time and money, both which are crucial factors in the success of your business.
No. of Development Hours
More development time equals more functionality. The industry of app development operates around this maxim. That’s understandable given that each app feature has a distinct set of technical requirements and a specified amount of time for designing, developing, testing, and deployment.
As was previously noted, the development time for food delivery apps typically ranges from 550 to 800 hours. So, to get a quick preliminary estimate, multiply your projected development hours by the developer’s hourly fee.
Our highly skilled app developers at Trango Tech can recommend certain APIs to shorten the time and cost of your development. APIs are simple mechanisms that facilitate data communication between various applications. Deploying APIs rather than building a native functionality might thus sometimes result in time and money savings.
Development Tools And Technologies
A strong back-end, admin panel, and analytics dashboard are essential for a food delivery app. These require sophisticated tools.
You might require a conversion platform, for instance, if one of the unique selling points of your software is taking bitcoin payments. You would have to pay for conversion, deployment, and integration as a result.
Simply said, you might have to stretch your development budget if a meal delivery service makes use of cutting-edge technology. For example, being an early adopter of a technology in your industry, in this case food delivery, can really provide you an advantage over your rivals both now and in the future.
Keep in mind that your app uses a variety of tools, including chatbots, third-party databases, cloud services, location and map tools, cost estimators, and other tools, and that your developer will often provide a cost accounting for all of them as well.
Complexity Of Design
You should also be aware that the complexity of any level of development can affect the cost after a brief breakdown of the many stages of development and their prices. For instance, choosing a design with minimal branding will have a good effect on your budget.
App Security
Because the meal delivery app processes users’ private information, including delivery addresses and financial information for bill payment, it requires high-end app security. These are both really serious issues. Your app must be as secure as possible to never compromise on the retention of this data in order to provide a satisfying user experience.
To secure the security of their apps, developers employ many tactics. First, they use end-to-end encryption to prevent communications and data shared within the app from leaving it. Second, they make sure the development toolkits are virus-free and that the back-end development use tools that are error-free.
Each and every data security precaution has a price. Budget constraints may be desirable, but protecting the privacy and data security of your users and preventing hackers from accessing your app’s back end may not be.
Make sure your developers and QA team battle-test your application during the development and testing phases to prevent similar accidents. Make sure to conduct several instrumentation, functional, and scale tests to verify the security of your program.
Quality Assurance & Testing
A crucial step in the development process is quality control. QA engineers test the app and all of its features in various settings throughout this phase. In order to deploy an app that won’t turn consumers away due to issues with the user interface, functionality, performance, or poor cross-platform compatibility, it is necessary to find every potential defect.firm.
Factor
Description
Cost of Services in US Dollars
Infrastructure
Domain cost, hosting cost, and server cost are included in Infrastructure cost.
3000-5000
Patent
To prohibit unauthorized usage or stealage of your intellectual property and/or invention by registering it with the appropriate authority or governing body.
12,000-20,0000
Marketing
No matter how powerful your app is or the features and functionalities it has, if you users don’t know about it, how will they download it?
30,000-70,000
Maintenance
The app will require regular updates, security patches, bug fixes, and maintenance to ensure optimal performance at all times.
40,000-90,000+
How Long Does It Take To Develop A Food Delivery App?
Based on the features, scope, and technical architecture of the app, the creation of a food delivery app takes between 550 and 800 development hours. This application development project will take between 6 and 12 months to complete if you hire a dedicated team. Utilizing pre-made software development kits and database and feature APIs, such as Google Places, can cut down development time and effort by a month or two.
Or you can by-pass the entire process by getting in touch with Trango Tech to get a quick estimate and rough developmental timeline for your Food Delivery App.
Must-Have Features For Any UberEats Like App
When you create an on-demand food delivery mobile app, whether it’s using a restaurant to user business model or you’re figuring out how to create a delivery app similar to UberEats, you really create four separate apps that are then combined into one. The list of functionality would range from screen to screen because the app you are developing deals with three different stakeholder groups: restaurants, customers, delivery people, and administrators.
Let’s examine the characteristics from the perspectives of the four stakeholders.
Customer Side:
Login
Search Menu
Cart
Payment Integration
Order Tracking
Rating and review
Customer Support
Restaurant Side:
Login
Menu Management
Push Notification
Checking Rating and Review
Delivery Side:
Registration
Order Management
Updating the Order Status
Admin Side:
Admin Login
Restaurant Management
Application Management
Payment Management
Discount Offers and Coupons
Technical Assistance
After examining the functions that should be included in your app, it is time to examine the technologies that will enable these features. After all, the tech stack you select also helps in determining a pertinent cost for developing an app similar to UberEats or Swiggy.
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Technology Stack of Food Delivery App Development
You should now get familiar with some of the difficulties you might encounter on your path, from developing a food delivery app to taking advantage of the spotlight, as you are now somewhat prepared to enter the incredibly lucrative mobile app business.
Common Challenges When Building A Food Delivery App
You don’t want to duplicate GrubHub or UberEats. The fact that huge companies currently rule the market has an impact on how you should create the app.
First, while adhering to the food delivery paradigm, the app must satisfy the wants and needs of the population you are targeting.
Second, it must be reliable and work properly; otherwise, you run the danger of ruining the reputation of your company from the start.
It’s critical to recognize that UberEats as we know it now is the culmination of several iterations. Therefore, expecting a fully equipped app from the start is unrealistic and impractical. You are free to make a wish list, but you will need to choose what qualifies as a launch-ready minimum viable product.
You should speak with an experienced software development company about these issues, especially if they have expertise creating comparable food delivery apps. The development team’s experience can assist you avoid the technological issues that come with such a business strategy.
Steps To Follow In Food Delivery App Development
Here is how different food delivery app developers complete the development process:
Choose The Type Of Food Delivery App You Want To Develop.
There are two common forms of food delivery applications, while all delivery apps fall under the broader genre of on-demand services:
Restaurant to consumer: This is a standard restaurant or food service app like Subway or McDonalds.
On-demand food delivery app: This marketplace links various eateries and the food industry to customers.
The first app on the list is more affordable but has a limited feature set, as was already indicated. The second kind of application for food delivery needs investment, has a large scope, but it does it by generating revenue.
Create A Development Strategy.
It’s time to finish the project scope in writing once you’ve chosen the type of food delivery application you’ll create and the business model you want to support. This occurs when a development strategy includes:
Platforms that you want to create an app for: Platform-specific/cross-platform applications, Android, iOS, online applications, desktop applications, etc.
The magnitude of the food delivery app: feature complexity, MVP
Problems the app will solve and the unique selling proposition
App architecture, technology stack, SDKs, frameworks, database and APIs
Business model, monetization strategy, and recombinant innovation
App development milestones, total services included, timelines for completion
You can make your own copy of this development strategy document if you have a little technological experience. In the absence of such a document, an app development business like Trango Tech will undoubtedly produce it together with a Level of Effort, Proposal, and Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA).
Decide Food Delivery App Features You Want To Add.
The time and cost of development are directly impacted by features. The list of features you desire in your application will be included in your app development proposal.
Features of a Food Delivery Application:
Restaurant, sub-menu and product listing pages
Search filters
Order booking system and order history
In-app messaging
Chatbot for customer attendance and support
Seamless sign up
Multiple payment methods
Geo-location
Push notifications
Ratings, reviews and favorites
You’ll need a combination of partner-, restaurant-, and consumer-focused functionality in your app, taking the intended audience into account.
Consumer-centric features include order place, online payment and push notifications.
Restaurant-centric features include admin panel, analytics dashboard, order viewing and update management etc.
Partner-centric features include rider registration, order management, updating order status,
Complete Technical Specifications.
The primary step in creating an app is technical development. It consists of API integration, cloud deployment, front-end development, and back-end development.
Test The App And Deploy.
The end-user experience is a major focus for the testing team and quality assurance personnel. This is so that users who will utilize the client side of the application to make orders in real time rather than corporate business users are the ideal target audience for the majority of food delivery services.
The following 5 main elements are what you should test while developing a meal delivery app:
Loading speed and performance of restaurant and product listings
Security and privacy for personal, organizational and financial data
Qualitative UI and UX elements: Easy navigation and user acceptance
Viruses and bugs in the code
App security testing and response to ethical hacking attempts
Monetization Models For Your App Like UberEats
Any company that develops an app like UberEats does it primarily to increase revenue. And you’ll need to put in place a monetization strategy if you want your app, like UberEats, to make income. UberEats employs;
Commission On Orders
The restaurant partners who work with UberEats pay a 30% fee on the price of each item that customers order.
Promotions
For the purpose of running exclusive promotions on the application and gaining more momentum and sales, numerous restaurants and food chains, including McDonald’s, sign specific contracts with the business. These brands enter into exclusive agreements and pay exclusive commissions in accordance with such agreements. The collaboration includes unique promo coupons, elements, or even UberEats commercials.
Delivery Charges
Customers of UberEats are charged for the food that is delivered via their services. The delivery fees are broken down into three groups:
A variable delivery fee which depends on the customer’s location and the availability of the couriers.
A service fee which amounts to 15% of an order’s total.
A small order fee of $2 which is charged when the order amounts to less than $10
Surge Pricing
For peak hours, UberEats also uses a dynamic pricing algorithm. The amount of orders in the area and the availability of the delivery partners are taken into account when calculating the surge cost, also known as the “Busy Fee.” Depending on demand and rider availability, it might be as little as 1.13x or as much as 3x the delivery charge.
Now that you know which monetization models are used by UberEats, you too can use or take inspiration from them and generate more revenue for your app like UberEats.
Future Of Uber Eats
In the USA, almost no delivery business is expanding as quickly or enjoying as much client popularity as Uber Eats. It has experienced tremendous growth in recent years and seeks an even more promising future.
Within three years, the Uber Eats restaurant food delivery service grew from an experiment to serving the majority of the United States and key cities across the world. UberEats has already demonstrated its ability to scale up.
If UberEats can either uphold or raise the standards it now possesses, it will have a great future. The main thing to pay attention to is making sure the clients, as well as the delivery and food partners, are happy.
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Conclusion
And…Voila! There you have it!
Now that you are aware of all you need to accomplish, good luck developing and releasing your food delivery application with the information we hope we have provided. Initially, it might not be simple. There will be obstacles to overcome along the way. Keep in mind that there will be competition and that you might not be able to partner with restaurants. One strategy is to collaborate with up-and-coming restaurants in your community that require promotion, and then work your way up as you gain the recognition you require.
FAQs
Q: What is the cost to make an app like Uber Eats?
A: The cost to make an app like Uber Eats can vary depending on several factors such as the complexity of the app, the features and functionalities, the platform you want to develop the app on, and the development team’s hourly rate.
Q: How long does it take to develop an app like Uber Eats?
A: The development time for an app like Uber Eats can vary depending on several factors such as the complexity of the app, the features and functionalities, and the development team’s availability. On average, it can take between 4 to 9 months or more to develop an app like Uber Eats.
Q: What are the essential features to include in an app like Uber Eats?
A: Some essential features to include in an app like Uber Eats are user registration and login, restaurant listing and menu, order tracking and status, payment gateway integration, delivery tracking, rating and review system, and push notifications.
Q: Can I use ready-made solutions to build an app like Uber Eats?
A: Yes, there are several ready-made solutions available in the market that can help you build an app like Uber Eats quickly and cost-effectively. However, these solutions may not be customizable and may not meet all your business requirements.
Q: How can I monetize my app like Uber Eats?
A: You can monetize your app like Uber Eats by charging a commission on each transaction, offering paid premium features, displaying ads, or partnering with restaurants for sponsored listings.
Q: What are some challenges in developing an app like Uber Eats?
A: Some challenges in developing an app like Uber Eats include designing a user-friendly interface, integrating with multiple payment gateways, ensuring seamless integration with third-party APIs, optimizing for different platforms, and complying with various regulations and laws.
Sharjeel Ahmed is a passionate tech enthusiast and an expert in SEO and content strategies who thrives on exploring cutting-edge innovations in the app development world. With a rich background in software development and mobile app technology, he brings a fresh and insightful perspective to how technology intersects with everyday life. Sharjeel has dedicated his career to sharing his knowledge and experiences through engaging, informative articles that resonate with both tech novices and experts alike. His professional journey is marked by significant contributions to several high-profile app development projects, showcasing his expertise and commitment to excellence. Sharjeel's deep involvement with various app development companies further highlights his industry knowledge and leadership.