How to Develop a Restaurant Mobile App?
It was not very long ago when we used to say that we won’t be impressed by mobile apps until it doesn’t get us food. Well, here we are – we can have our favourite meals and scrumptious dishes at a tap. Thanks to the ongoing trend of restaurant mobile app development, almost 40% of the people are visiting the restaurant over a mobile phone.
Since every industry is undergoing digitisation these days, the restaurant apps have a lot to bring to the table. Owing to the mobile restaurant apps, you can get enhanced customer engagement and provide them with better dining experiences. Moreover, the restaurant apps help restaurant owners expand their client base and boost revenues.
As per QSR research, the digital food ordering and delivery segment alone is set to reach $365 billion by 2023. Additionally, there was a growth of 105% in the average orders per customer per month from the restaurant mobile app compared to the walk-in customers.
By looking at all these stats, it will be needless to say that the restaurant app market is currently booming.
The boom is not only in the restaurant mobile apps for food delivery but also in the web-based ordering platforms. Of course, the range of restaurant apps development and availability is massive. It brings profits to the restaurant owners by catering to the demands for a better, digitised dining experience.
If the stats and facts cannot convince you to have your restaurant app developed, here is your following answer to the most obvious question.
Why Do You Need a Restaurant App?
The food industry is worth nearly a trillion USD and is highly competitive. To stay afloat, the food-related business should focus on marketing itself and interact with its customers. For a restaurant business looking forward to going mobile, many smartphone users should be their customer base. This is nearly 65% of all people on the planet!
Thus, it’s important to get to the mobile phones of all these customers and connect with them through mobile apps.
Here are some of the reasons how the restaurant mobile app can help you in growing.
1. It Helps in Boosting Your Brand
Creating an app for your restaurant allows you the freedom to boost your brand by incorporating your brand values, themes, the idea behind the restaurant that represents your brand. As the customers get in touch with your brand through mobile or web, it increases brand recognition among the customers.
2. Let Your Offer Customised Experience
You can get the essential information about your customers when they register on your app, which will help you deliver a personalised experience to your customers. This allows you to reach out to the registered clients with promotional offers and bonds the customers with your brand.
3. It Helps you Improve Your Services
Through a mobile app, you can easily cater to the needs and orders of a significant number of customers in an organised manner. Catering to the needs of a massive customer base improves the overall services of your restaurant, getting you good reviews.
4. Increase Customer Retention and Visits
When your customers receive a great user experience, they will likely love coming back to your restaurant, allowing you to have a highly engaged audience. With features like push notifications and offers, you can give your customers multiple reasons to come back.
5. Boosts the Sales
Your restaurant app can offer you additional revenue by adding a food delivery option. With the food delivery option, you can make sure that you reach even those customers who prefer eating at home. This means you get to serve more customers than in the restaurant.
Types of Restaurant Apps
Do you know that the food delivery app or the table booking apps are not the only types of apps available while developing the restaurant mobile app? Here are a few types of restaurant apps that you can own for your restaurant business.
1. Restaurant Locator App
Customer can use the restaurant locator app to find and locate restaurants in a particular location.
2. Food Delivery App
Assign, track, and ease the delivery of orders of your customers with the help of Food Delivery app development.
3. Food Ordering or Table Booking App
Customers can book tables and pay bills using the table booking app for an easy and excellent dining experience.
4. Delivery Tracking App
Keep track of your delivery orders and driver to ensure they reach the customers safely and are always on duty with the delivery tracking app
5. Promotional and Loyalty Program App
Let’s you manage the customer loyalty and referral programs through customised rewards and timely notify the users.
6. Review App
An app lets the customer search, review and checks the review for a specific cuisine or restaurant.
7. Franchise Apps
Franchise apps are made of restaurants with multiple chains that helps manage multiple branches.
Now that you know the benefits of a restaurant mobile app development and the types of mobile apps, it’s time to know about the core features of a restaurant mobile app.
Key Features to Include in a Restaurant App
The success of any app depends upon the features and its functionalities. However, every app will have a different set of features and functions depending on the restaurant app you make.
Here are some of the key features of a restaurant app that will help you grow your business and make it profitable.
1. Ordering
Orders via a restaurants’ mobile app are distributed in three parts.
Firstly, the customer interacts with the app UI and places the order. Secondly, the delivery app that connects to the restaurant and receives the order. Lastly, the final part of the order is sent to the delivery agent through the app via a separate delivery the only app.
The delivery agents can choose to accept or reject the order depending upon their availability. However, if the restaurant prefers to have its delivery agents, there is no need to transfer the order to the delivery agents.
2. Food Delivery
The food delivery feature is the most crucial feature of an app where the customers can order the food via their restaurant food delivery app. The food is then delivered by a third party, which is connected to the primary app.
3. Driver Tracking
The driver tracking feature of the application utilises a similar framework as the ordering functionality. It helps pinpoint the delivery agent’s location and shows both the restaurant and the user.
You can even integrate the feature of notifying the user about the exact location of the delivery guy and the status of the order.
4. Restaurant Finder
The restaurant finder feature works by telling the user about the restaurant’s location based on user preferences. It also correlates the restaurant addresses stored in their databases to offer personalised choices.
5. Table Booking
This feature is helpful for large restaurants or overcrowded places. It allows the user to request a table reservation through the app to confirm their booking and reserve a table of their choice.
6. Dine-in
Improve user experience by letting them read the menu, choose an ingredient, book a table, call the waiter, place in-app orders and make mobile payments etc., with the dine-in feature. It can also be helpful for restaurant owners as it lets them manage inventory, tables, and customers through the app.
7. In-app Purchase
Make the most of your restaurant’s mobile app and boost your brand’s potential with your mobile app. Let customers make payments, buy additional discounts, choose the add-ons and book tables well in advance, which will help them avoid long queues for a better experience.
8. Push Notifications
Interestingly, push notifications can significantly help you grow your app when used wisely and in a controlled manner. You can even let the customer decide when they want to receive the notifications.
9. Coupons and Loyalty Card
Engage the customers through coupons and loyalty cards specifically created for your business. Ensure that you update offers and set conditions for user rewards on the backend and keep the customers hooked for more offers.
10. Rating and Reviews
It is highly likely for the customers to look for feedback from other clients. A good rating will help you gain more customers based on the previous ratings and help you provide an improved user experience.
Steps to Build a Robust Restaurant App
Like any other software development, developing mobile apps for restaurants requires strong tech expertise, a meticulously designed roadmap, and a professional app development company.
It is vital to keep a note of a few key factors before beginning the development process. A well chalked out plan will help save time and energy while the development cycle hassle-free and effective.
To give you a head start, here are some of the key points on how to develop a restaurant mobile app that will provide an overview of the process for the development of a robust application.
1. Keep the Development Goal in Mind
If you have the idea of a restaurant app in mind, you must be clear on the business model and the work processes you need to have the app for. More than half of the design and development will depend on the purpose of the app.
For instance, the app that only supports the loyalty program app will not need any tracking orders or delivery integration features.
Having a clear goal of features can help you in well-managed investment and an efficient outcome.
2. Do a Thorough Market Research
Having thorough market research before starting with app development will help you develop a sound app. An in-depth understanding of the market will keep you ahead of your competitors and allow room for you to meet the demands of your customers.
Try to gather the information regarding the competitors offering through the apps, the number of expected users, the type of data to be recorded, network and server support etc. All the crucial information will help you design the architecture and infrastructure of the app accordingly.
Recommended Read – How To Hire An Android App Development Company?
3. Select the Functionalities of the App
Once you have finalised the features and are through with the market research, you should define the app’s functionalities. You should clearly define the extent of coding, third-party app integration, Server specifications, type and size of the database, connecting sources etc.
You can then start with the restaurant app development with a professional team of app developers that will help you in creating a powerful interface for the restaurant business to operate on.
4. Include APIs in the Development Process
The smooth functioning of the app also depends on the APIs integrated within the app. The developers can choose from several available APIs based on the type of app, which also speeds up app development.
You can choose from numerous APIs like Location Services, Reservations and POS System, Payment Gateways, Delivery tracking, APIs for Reviews and Feedback etc.
5. Define the UI/UX of the App
The front-end of any app that involves users is extremely important for the success of the app. Thus, the online restaurant business depends on the kind of user experience the customers get, and it’s imperative to craft a flawless UI/UX.
Ensure that you integrate smart and easy to read catalogues, search button, proper filters, a streamlined ordering and payment system, smooth delivery track and feedback option. Additionally, the push notifications integrated will further enhance a restaurant app appeal and allow customers to interact more with the app.
6. Run Testing and Quality Assurance Checks
Running rigorous quality checks and automated & manual testing is extremely important before rolling out the app to the stores. Quality engineers should test the backend, front-end, and APIs before the actual user gets on it to order their food.
The application is to be tested for the expected user load, unwanted bugs, commands, usability, regression, responsiveness, and various status reports before launching the app.
With all testing done and the bugs fixed, the application is ready for deployment on the servers and platforms of choice.
Technology Stack Used for the Restaurant App Development Process
Apart from the excellent features and well-planned development steps, it would be best to have a robust technology stack for your application to work well. Thus, it is important to choose the tech stack that will work the best for your restaurant app needs and delivers flawless performance. Here is what the restaurant app development companies use to come up with the best-in-class mobile apps.
Language and Programming
- Swift
- Kotlin
Cloud and Server Requirements
- AWS
- Azure
Analytics
- Google Firebase
Databases and Utilities
- MySQL
- SQLite
Location Tracking
- Google maps
- API
Payment Gateways
- Braintree
- Stripe
- PayPal
Ready to Own a Restaurant Delivery App? Talk to Matellio.
The process of restaurant app development involves a lot more than just development skills. It is essential to understand the audience, the business and the stakeholders directly interacting and benefiting from the app.
A well chalked out plan of the requirements, features, and integration between the development team and the app owner can bring out an exceptional restaurant mobile application that will gain popularity in the long run.
Matellio understands app development needs and puts forward a proficient team that can easily handle restaurant mobile app development needs. The team at Matellio has delivered applications across various business verticals with all the needed features for a good and fully functional restaurant application.
However precise your app requirements are, Matellio will cater to all your custom app development needs efficiently.
Talk to our developers today and get a cost-efficient quote for your restaurant mobile application.
