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Welcome to our in-depth exploration of mobile app development for restaurants and the burning question on every business owner’s mind: How much does it truly cost? In today’s fast-paced digital era, having a mobile app has become an essential tool for restaurants to stay competitive, attract customers, enhance their services, and ultimately boost their overall success. However, determining the cost of developing a mobile app is a complex task, influenced by various factors such as features, design, platforms, and more. Join us on this informative journey as we delve into the intricacies of mobile app development for restaurants, uncover the key factors that impact costs, and gain valuable insights into this exciting realm of technology.
The food industry, along with its subsidiary services such as delivery, promotion, and retail, is experiencing significant growth. Can this growth be attributed to mobile apps? Let’s examine the current statistics of the food industry to explore this further.
These staggering figures illustrate the growth and opportunities presented by digital restaurant transformation solutions, such as mobile apps for restaurants. As a result, businesses have started investing in restaurant online ordering apps, which have made real-time food ordering, restaurant discovery, table booking, and online reviews more convenient than ever before.
An indication of this contribution can be seen in the statistics that reveal the restaurant-to-consumer delivery segment alone accounted for $115.30 billion in 2022. Given the significant impact of these numbers, you might be interested in knowing how to create a restaurant app and the associated costs of developing a reliable app for your business.
The restaurant app development cost ranges from Rs. 1,50,000 to ₹5,90,000 for comprehending basic features such as geolocation, food delivery, etc. whereas a multinational food chain app development cost would be around $20,000-40,000 for comprehending advanced and complex features.
However, the accurate figure depends on various factors like restaurant app features, the cost of your restaurant app development company, the type of restaurant app, etc.
In this article, we are going to look into the different facets of restaurant mobile ordering app development. You will discover reasons why entrepreneurs should enter the mobile app space and build a custom restaurant app, the different app categories, feature-set, factors that affect the cost of restaurant app development, etc. Let’s start with the basics:
There are several compelling reasons why restaurants strive to have a well-designed mobile app. Before delving into the details of restaurant mobile app solutions, let’s explore these reasons. Here are the top four reasons why your business needs a restaurant mobile app:
A restaurant mobile ordering app has tremendous potential to increase your restaurant’s visibility, market it to users, and ultimately drive more customers to your establishment. Mobile apps offer various ways to boost brand awareness, such as push notifications for retargeting, gamifying wait times to increase engagement, and geo-location tagging to establish popularity in specific regions.
In the era of on-demand services, mobile applications for restaurants provide the advantage of securing more bookings and reservations. By enabling customers to easily locate your restaurant and make table reservations directly through the app, you can significantly boost your bookings.
Providing an exceptional experience and delicious food alone may not be sufficient to build customer loyalty. In the restaurant business, implementing a reward system that offers discounts on future orders or incentivizes referrals can significantly impact sales and revenue, thus cultivating greater loyalty among customers.
Modern-day customers are vocal about their experiences, often sharing their opinions online. While they may hesitate to provide direct feedback on your food or restaurant atmosphere unless there is a significant issue, they are more likely to express their thoughts through online reviews. The review/feedback section of your restaurant app can serve as a valuable space for you to understand customer preferences and expectations.
In the app industry, it is widely acknowledged that the more convenient the features, the higher the potential for revenue generation. This principle holds true in the restaurant domain as well. Thus, let’s explore the essential features that your restaurant app should possess.
The selection of essential features for your restaurant app depends on the specific nature of your business. For example, if your focus is primarily on on-demand online delivery services, crucial features would include GPS functionality, a catalog panel, and a comprehensive menu. On the other hand, if your establishment is part of a restaurant food chain, you would require features such as a “restaurant finder,” “table booking,” and “price comparison.”
Additionally, a restaurant app should include a set of common features that are mandatory for any food-related application. Here are some of them:
This serves as the initial screen that customers see when they launch your application. It provides information about your unique offerings or brand story, and location details, and offers a glimpse into the cuisine you offer. Testimonials from previous diners can also be included.
The menu section is a vital component of a restaurant app. While it is a standard feature, you can make your app stand out by incorporating innovative elements. For instance, implementing an extensive search feature that enables customers to find specific dishes based on taste, course, ratings, and other criteria. Including photos and brief descriptions that highlight the ingredients or unique selling points of each dish can also enhance the user experience.
Online ordering is a common feature found in most restaurant apps. It is essential to incorporate geolocation capabilities that allow customers to easily enter their addresses and track the progress of their orders.
Although not as prevalent, the table booking feature is gaining popularity. You can provide customers with the option to choose between standard or specific tables using an interactive floor map, leveraging technologies like virtual reality (VR) to enhance the experience.
Collecting customer information can be approached in two stages: the initial app launch or when placing an order or booking a table. While the latter stage is recommended due to timeliness, regardless of the chosen stage, ensure that users have the option to log in using their email or social media accounts.
Simplifying and securing the payment process is crucial for optimizing your restaurant app’s performance. Provide users with multiple payment options, such as debit card, credit card, pay-on-delivery, and the ability to apply coupons. Ensure that your partnered restaurant app development agency adheres to payment integration compliance to safeguard customer data.
Implementing an effective push notification strategy is key. Timed notifications during peak meal hours like breakfast, lunch, and dinner can aid in retargeting. Additionally, notifications can be sent when the order is accepted or when it’s in transit.
Ratings and reviews play a significant role in customers’ decision-making process, with 80% of food orders being influenced by them. Encourage users to leave reviews and provide them with the option to edit or delete their reviews once their concerns are addressed. Integrating chatbots and support systems can enhance the customer experience and make your restaurant app more valuable.
The success of these features and your restaurant app as a whole relies on real-time and informative functionality. Integrating top-quality APIs is a reliable way to achieve this. Here are the APIs that our restaurant app developers trust:
Now that we have discussed the technical aspects of the restaurant application, let’s delve into the cost involved in developing an app for online food-ordering restaurants.
Restaurant apps can be categorized into two types:
A simple restaurant app encompasses core features such as menus, orders, payments, push notifications, and location services. The development cost for a basic restaurant app with these features typically ranges from Rs. 6,00,000 to Rs. 11,25,000.
An advanced complex restaurant app includes additional features like pre-order meals, 3D restaurant view, 3D menu, and order tracking status. The development cost for such an app starts at a minimum of Rs. 20,00,000.
Apart from the app’s features, other factors that contribute to the cost of building a restaurant app include:
To provide you with a general estimate of the time and cost involved, here’s a table showcasing the restaurant app development time and cost for both Android and iOS platforms.
When we talk about the development of restaurant online ordering apps, it is advisable for businesses to build an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) first. It is always wise to test the waters with a working model of your app idea rather than jumping into full-fledged restaurant app development services. This way, you can see how people are reacting to your app, the changes they want to see, and the features they desire more of.
However, if you are convinced with your product idea, developing a full-fledged app for your restaurant won’t be a bad idea either. Either way, our restaurant app development services can help you make your restaurant app smarter.
Cyfuture is a pioneering provider of mobile app development services. Our team of domain experts guides brands throughout the entire process, from ideation to deployment, for custom iOS and Android apps specifically tailored for the restaurant industry. Our solutions have proven to significantly increase conversion rates and in-restaurant footfall for our clients.
We offer a range of solutions for stakeholders in the restaurant industry, including:
The next step is to begin by building a mobile app for your restaurant. Contact our domain experts today to get started and take your restaurant business to new heights.
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