How Much Does It Cost To Develop A Food Delivery App like UberEats?

Overview

Most restaurants and food businesses now use an online food delivery system as a standard practice. You may create a restaurant website that concentrates on a single restaurant or a chain of restaurants that specialize in one type of restaurant. It’s also possible to design a meal delivery app that serves many restaurants.

The simple explanation is that on-demand meal delivery applications combine two important features into one platform: nice cuisine in the comfort of your own home and wonderful food without the fuss of preparing. Customers may now order meals from a variety of cuisines thanks to the creation of an online food delivery system. As a result, when you design a meal delivery service like UberEats, you’re creating something that will appeal to mobile app users of all demographics.

Despite the presence of market leaders such as UberEats, there are still unexplored prospects in the area. The market is poised for new alternatives to the main meal delivery applications as more customers turn to mobile apps for different commerce activities, including food.

Food Delivery App Market Share

Users have been attracted to download and utilize more online meal delivery applications due to the convenience of ordering food with just only a few clicks on their devices. The rapid growth of the food delivery app sector is a sign of how quickly the boundary between physical and online is decreasing, and how online demand will soon overtake physical demand in a couple of years.

The online meal delivery size is expected to grow USD 10,196 Mn by the end of this year, as evidence. Furthermore, the market share is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 9.5 percent to USD 14,679 Mn by 2024.

As per USA Today, the online meal delivery sector generated $17 billion in sales in 2018 and $19.472 billion in 2019. The research also predicted that the US online meal delivery business is estimated to reach $22.332 billion in 2021, with over 116.1 million customers. 

What Is the Cost of Developing a Food Delivery App?

When it comes to evaluating the Android or iOS app development cost to construct an online food delivery app for your business in 2021, you must consider several factors. The entire cost of developing a food delivery app like UberEats is determined by the number of new additions to the app, the app developers chosen, the platform chosen to launch the app, the app’s complexity, the tools used in app development, and other factors.

However, after considering all of these budget-influencing aspects, Mobile App Developers have divided the pricing range into three categories based on features, technologies, and intricacy.

• Simple Food Delivery App: Includes a user-friendly UI/UX interface, basic features such as MVP, and assures simple functioning. Each platform will take around USD 20,000 and take 4 to 6 months to construct.
• Substantial Food Delivery App: A single platform with sophisticated features such as bespoke UI/UX design, in-app payment portal, social network integration, push alerts, and more can cost up to USD 25,000.
• Enhanced Food Delivery App: With complicated components built with the recent advancements such as voice-activated lookup, real-time monitoring, tailored visuals, third-party implementations, server-based multiple databases, and much more. A single platform will cost around USD 35,000 and innovation will take 9+ months.

Budget and time estimates might fluctuate depending on your on-demand food delivery app development needs, so it’s always a good idea to have a free consultation with the professionals to talk through the specifics of your project.

Also Read: Top Techniques Every Startup Can Use to Retain Customers

How Many Types of Food Delivery Apps Can You Work On?

When it comes to how to make a food delivery app in today’s dynamic restaurant industry, there are two business models to consider: 

Aggregator

You may use this concept to create an app that serves as a platform for users and restaurants to connect. This revenue model allows customers to order meals and eateries to view and fulfill the order without the need for delivery assistance from the application’s parent firm. In such a case, the cost to build your delivery app may range somewhere around USD 121.29 per client. 

Source: Food Delivery App Design

Platform with Logistic Support

In this financial model, you provide restaurants with the tools they need to serve meals to customers in real-time. This is where you manage the restaurant’s whole customer service (except food preparation). Across your app, end-users will be able to select a menu item from the list, make a purchase, and monitor where the food has arrived, while restaurants will be able to track order status, hand over the meals to the delivery person, and be paid for the order, all without having to do anything but prepare the food.

Who Are the Other Players in This Field?

There have been several companies that have entered the meal delivery sector over time, the following have indeed been fortunate to improve with age and become unrivaled leaders:

• Grubhub
• DoorDash
• UberEats
• Zomato
• Postmates
• InstaCart
• ChowNow

Even though the industry is fragmented among numerous competitors, all of the brands’ market valuations are on a high level. We realize it’s probably your ambition to build a meal delivery app and join the ranks of these industry leaders, and why not? After all, the money that comes with being the best is huge!

However, for somebody who is just getting started and aspires to be like them, you must understand how they gain and grow, as well as what functionalities to include in your food delivery app. Let’s begin with the functions that your on-demand food delivery mobile app should have.

Key Features of Food Ordering System

When you create a food delivery app, whether it’s for restaurants to user marketing strategy or you’re trying to figure out how to design a delivery app like UberEats, you’re creating four apps and then integrating them into one. Because you are developing an app for three separate stakeholders – restaurant, clients, delivery people, and the admins – the functionality will change from one panel to the next.

For the Customer:

• Search Menu
• Cart
• Payment Integration
• Order Tracking
• Rating and review
• Customer Support

For the Restaurants: 

• Login
• Menu Management
• Push Notification
• Checking Rating and Review

For Delivery Personnel: 

• Registration
• Order Management
• Updating the Order Status

For Admin: 

• Restaurant Management
• Application Management
• Payment Management
• Discount Offers and Coupons
• Technical Assistance

Now that we’ve looked at the functionalities that should be included in your app, let’s look at the technology that will enable you to build an on-demand food delivery app. For example, the tech stack you choose has a role in determining how much it costs to construct an app like Uber Eats.

What Is the Technology Stack Used for Food Delivery App Development?

Now that you’re semi-prepared to approach the destined-to-be-profitable smartphone app market, you should familiarise yourself with the problems you’ll face along the way from constructing a food delivery app like Uber Eats to enjoying the spotlight, as well as potential remedies.

• Cloud Services- Azure, AWS, Kahu, Cloud Sigma
• Registration – Google Sign-In, Facebook Login SDK
• Payment: Paypal, Stripe, Amazon Payment, Wepay, Braintree
• Maps and Locations – Google Maps, OpenStreetMap, Mapbox, Mapkit JS
• Restaurant Listing – Foursquare API, Grubhub API, Yelp Fusion API
• Analytics – Google Analytics, Localytics, Apple Analytics

Also Read: Best Programming Languages For Mobile App Development in 2023

What Are the Challenges in Entering the Mobilized Food-Delivery Market?

Competition

The most significant issue that entrepreneurs facing the creation of an app like Uber Eats or Swiggy face is competition from an already saturated market. In this circumstance, you’ll need to provide something that the competition doesn’t, including both terms of functionality and app UI/UX design. You and your food delivery app development firm will need to come up with fresh strategies to entice eateries that are already associated with others in the industry, while also focusing on providing greater discounts and alternatives to people ordering meals.

Partnering Restaurants

Since you’re just getting started, this might be a stumbling hurdle, even if it has nothing to do with the expense of developing the Uber Eats, Zomato app, or meal delivery software. Instead of going for the large names, you must concentrate on low-level eateries in need of marketing. So rather than having names of restaurants that are well-known among millennials, focus on growing the number of partners at this phase.

Stable Interface

Although an important aspect of online food ordering app development services, this may be a challenging decision since the goal of each of the four screens is distinct and tailored to the needs of the consumers, but here is where you partnered mobile app design agency can help. They’ll have to develop a consistent experience – a blend of style and functionality – across all displays while responding to a variety of diverse intentions.

MVP Features

Another challenging problem that your restaurant app development agency colleague will be able to tackle is determining which MVP features to include and which to exclude from the app. MVPs also have a significant influence on the cost of developing food delivery apps. Since you are just getting started in the business, it is critical that you take the plunge before diving in fully, and the only way to do it with the least money and effort is through MVP. Your associated agency will assist you in creating an MVP that will help you generate funds for your company.

Hiring an App Development Partner

Selecting an agency that can turn your concept into a fully functional app business is challenging, and you should ask a lot of questions before choosing a mobile app development company. Finding the perfect team to turn your concept of Website Development into reality, albeit time-consuming, is what will help you navigate the competitive on-demand food delivery app business.

How MultiQoS Can Help in Developing Food Delivery Apps?

If you’re considering food delivery app development or want to learn how to make an app similar to Uber Eats, a Mobile App Development Company like MultiQoS can assist you in keeping up with the industry. You may get advice from the specialists there and pursue your passion!!

Also Read: How Much Does It Cost to Hire an App Developer in 2023?

Conclusion

Uber Eats may have carved out the largest share of the online meal delivery market. Nonetheless, there are several chances for new enterprises to get a strong foothold by using apps to identify particular groups.

It’s vital to note that there are various stakeholders (users, couriers, restaurants) in this business model, and you must find the right balance in giving value to all of them. You cannot have customers without couriers, and you can’t have couriers without users, therefore it’s a chicken-and-egg issue (the same logic goes for restaurants). This highlights the necessity of well-designed apps with clear business logic.