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Keen to build a food delivery app like Uber Eats? Are you looking for ways to begin your on-demand food delivery app business the right way? You’ve landed at the right place. This blog will take you through everything you want to know about building a food delivery app similar to Uber Eats. From the business model of such apps to revenue schemes to steps for developing a robust, successful application, we’ll cover all the crucial details. So, let’s dive straight in!
With the advancements in technology, more and more people now prefer on-demand services due to increased convenience and comfort. Similar to how the on-demand taxi services had taken the world by storm not so long ago, on-demand food delivery service seems to be topping the charts of late. Not just for the consumers but also the entrepreneurs. Add to that the prolonged pandemic. And the demand for food delivery has only experienced a boom across the globe due to lockdowns, movement restrictions, and changes in preferences.
As a result, both the established businesses and newbie entrepreneurs are keen to have their piece of this on-demand food delivery business. The one that needs app development for food delivery like Uber Eats.
Uber Eats, as we know, is one of the leading platforms that allows users to order food online and receive doorstep delivery of the same in a stipulated time. Owned by Uber, it was started in the year 2014.
Not so surprisingly, many businesses have replicated the functions. And we now have plenty of apps in the market catering to users with their order-in requirements.
So should you join the bandwagon?
What would be the business model and prime revenue sources if you decide to take the plunge?
Let’s decode it thoroughly.
» Why Should You Make a Food Delivery App Like Uber Eats?
With the food delivery business anticipated to hit a market volume of a whopping $466,472 by 2026, it makes complete sense to get started with your food delivery venture now. The stats clearly indicate the drastic boom in user behavior as well as the order-in culture.
An increasing number of people are now ditching the age-old dine-in and take-away phenomena for something more convenient and comfortable at the same time. By 2026, the online food delivery market is projected to cross 2,655.9 million users approximately, as per a Statista study.
After all, a user only has to open the food delivery mobile app and order their choice of food from the restaurant they like. Whether it is breakfast, lunch, snack, or dinner, users can pay online, too, for their orders with merely a few clicks. And the food arrives at their door as promptly as the app promises.
As industry experts believe, this trend is only going to rise with innovations in technology and growing market demands in the coming years.
» What is the Business Model of a Food Delivery App Like Uber Eats?
The very first step in the quest for food delivery app development is to understand its business model. And identify the one which would best suit your goals, capabilities, requirements and resources. Fortunately, there are not one but two business models to choose from: an “order-only” model and an “order and delivery” platform.
› Order-only food delivery model: As the name suggests, this type of platform would enable your target users to browse restaurants and place their orders. The responsibility of delivering the food to users falls on the respective restaurants. Due to limited resources and capital, it makes for an ideal food delivery app for small businesses.
› Order and delivery business model: With this type of service platform, you would provide the users with food ordering, as well as doorstep delivery services. In other words, the partner restaurants in this type of business model would only prepare food to keep them ready for timely deliveries. The ordering, payment and delivery aspects, including the entire logistics, are handled by the platform.
One of the best examples of an “order and delivery” platform is Uber Eats. The platform acts as a delivery agent for end-users while being an aggregator for partner restaurants. Smaller kitchens and restaurants that have limited resources and funds benefit from such kind of service model. It helps them provide the best services without increasing their cost of operations. That’s one of the prime reasons why we’re seeing many food delivery applications like Uber Eats cropping up in the sector in recent times.
Great. But how do we make money through the app?
To understand this, let’s decode the monetization part.
Monetization Strategies For Food Delivery Apps like Uber Eats
Every business, small or large, needs money to sustain itself. And in a competitive market like food delivery, the pressure is all the more towering. Luckily, there are multiple monetization plans you can implement to not just survive but thrive in your sector. Uber Eats, too, has these plans put in place to keep the cash flowing in.
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Delivery Fees
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The food delivery app system design enables you to incorporate distinct delivery fees for every customer per order, ensuring a constant source of income. Delivery charges are considered based on the distance between the food outlet & customer’s location and the time taken to fulfill the order. Some platforms also take into account their delivery partner’s availability and current location while factoring in the fee.
To make it more transparent, you can set a base rate as a delivery fee for the nearest delivery areas. And keep adding to that as the distance increases.
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Commission Fees
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When you sign up restaurants and eateries on your food delivery app like Uber Eats, you can charge them for adding to their online visibility and bringing in more business. It is called a commission fee, a consistent channel of revenue for your business.
For every order the restaurant receives through your app, you can cut anywhere between 10 percent to 40 percent of the aggregate order amount. The more popular the restaurant, the more can be your commission.
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Advertising Fees
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You can run paid ads within your food delivery app to promote partner restaurants. That way, the restaurants top the search results page of your app for their chosen, relevant category, receiving more visibility, traffic and orders. And you generate added income through such promotions. A win-win for both the involved parties.
Other than these three plans, you can also incorporate listing/subscription fees to partner and list the restaurants on your platform. This can be a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription. Providing, let’s say, a three-month free listing to an eatery and then converting them to paid partners also makes for a good revenue source.
Got the basics of the app’s business model & monetization policies?
Now let’s explore the workings of the app in detail.
» How Does Such an App Function?
As we know, an app like Uber Eats is built around three primary players: consumers (end-users), restaurants and delivery partners. What’s more interesting is that each of them tends to have a dedicated interface of the food delivery app to fulfill their unique purpose.
For customers, the app is about browsing restaurants, placing food orders, and making payments. Thus, the interface they have on the app is of restaurant listing, along with curated menus. And all of it is accessible through their dedicated profile having all the relevant customer data, including their name, address, and payment preferences. What’s more? Consumers can order food in real-time and schedule orders for a special day.
When it comes to restaurants, they have a dedicated app interface they can use to accept/reject orders. They can manage their listing from here and make edits to details, such as their menus, prices, operating hours and special offers, whenever they feel apt.
For the delivery partners, the app interface acts as a means to manage their deliveries. Delivery agents are assigned orders based on their proximity to customers and restaurants. And they can accept and reject orders based on their availability, plan for multiple deliveries and keep a tab on their performance through the app.
The Functionality of a Food Delivery Mobile App Like Uber Eats
The workings of the app can be explained in the following steps:
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- The customer places an order from a restaurant of their choice with or without personalization; it is followed by choosing their preferred payment method
- The restaurant receives the order, confirms the same, and starts preparing food
- While the food is being prepared, the app looks up and assigns the nearest delivery partner
- Once the food is ready, the restaurant updates the status in the app
- The delivery partner arrives, picks up the food and delivers it to the customers’ doorstep
» Steps to Build a Food Delivery Application Like Uber Eats?
While this is not an out-and-out food delivery app development tutorial, the following steps may help you stead the ground as you venture into the on-demand food delivery marketplace.
1. Research the Market
Who are your target customers?
What are their requirements and demands when it comes to food delivery?
Who are your competitors, and what are their current offerings?
What kind of marketing strategies do they employ?
Is the current market fulfilling consumer demands?
You have to find answers to these questions in order to stand out in this competitive market with your food delivery mobile app. Thus, conduct detailed research, stay updated about the latest market trends, identify the gaps and create a roadmap accordingly instead of rushing things.
2. Finalize the Business Model
Once the food delivery app requirements and market position are clear, it’s time to lock in the business model. We explored the two models in the earlier section of this article, namely order only and order & delivery. Choose the food delivery model that best aligns with consumer requirements and your business goals. Since the functionality, features and revenue plans of your food delivery app would depend upon the model you select, it’s critical to make a wise decision.
3. Choose the Right Features
To make your own noise in a crowded marketplace like food delivery, your Uber Eats like food delivery app must pack in a rich feature set for each user segment-consumers, restaurants and food delivery partners. From easy registrations to the menu, delivery and order management to real-time tracking to push notifications to multi-payment and multilingual options, there is a plethora of features to offer. Just make sure that the app remains easy to use even as you keep adding/subtracting app attributes.
4. Select the Best-Fit Technology Bundle
How your food delivery mobile app performs depends on its underlying technology stack. The more robust the technologies, the smoother and seamless your app would be. The app may require a combination of multiple technology bundles for different operations, for instance, Google Maps for navigation or Stripe for payments.
Moreover, you may need diverse technologies for Android and iOS versions of the app for its user interface and back-end processes. If you’re not from a tech background, this can be overwhelming. In such a case, it is best to hire a top app development company or an experienced, independent app developer to get things right the first time.
5. Make a Practical Development Plan
Whether you’re going to build the app yourself or hire a professional app development team, try to define clear schedules and timelines. Break down bigger targets into smaller segments to create a detailed plan of action. From strategizing & brainstorming the initial plan to finalizing the design to overlooking the development and testing phase, make a feasible plan for every stage of the development cycle. Conduct regular reviews. That will help you stay on track and reduce the time to market.
Even if you’re building your app through a ready solution, you still need such a plan to ensure the timely completion and launch of the product.
» How Much Would It Cost to Build a Food Delivery App Like Uber Eats?
Food delivery app development cost is highly variable. The price depends on a lot of factors, for instance, the size of the app, its design, the platform it would be built on, the duration of development, and the development team. While established app development companies may charge more for the job, startups and independent app developers may complete the project at a lesser cost.
To give you a rough idea, the cost of developing a food delivery mobile app like Uber Eats can fall anywhere in the range of $25,000 to $80,000. It all comes down to the features your app packs in and how powerful its functions are.
Final Thoughts
Starting a food delivery app like Uber Eats makes for a profitable business idea, given the promising scope of demands and needs in the future. Though the market is densely populated, it is possible to establish yourself by finding your niche.
What we discussed here are some of the most basic steps for you to get started on the path. Identify your requirements, study your local market, finalize your offerings and strategize your revenue models carefully before launching your app. It would only help you cater to the needs of your user segments better and achieve your goals.
