Roadmap for Developing a Steady Food Ordering Mobile App for Foodies

The food/restaurant industry, being one of the fastest growing industries, has always managed to keep up with technological advances to meet the ever-changing demands of customers. The rise of mobile app development has helped restaurant businesses with consistent on-demand delivery services. Most of the fine dining restaurants, cafes and takeaways are now striving to invest in a smart Android or iOS app to boost their late night sales. These are all features that a restaurant business owner should incorporate to make their app popular and user-oriented.

• GPS order tracking

Any of the on-demand apps for food ordering won’t last for a day if they don’t come with location tracking feature using beacons or GPS. Foodies will always deliberately want to know how far away the point of sale is and how long it will take for the delivery person to reach them as soon as they confirm their order. The GPS tracking function works for both ends. While the customers can track the delivery route and the time it takes for the delivery executive to reach them, the delivery executive can easily know the location of the customers and follow the shortest route to deliver.

• Simple menu search

Just as all restaurants make it mandatory to provide a menu card at each table or display it in bold at the front counter, having an easy-to-obtain digital menu card is a prerequisite for apps. It is crucial to allow users to choose the dishes or drinks they want from the batch and place the order seamlessly with a few taps. It is also imperative to incorporate the search option in the menu so that customers can retrieve any item they wish to have and place an order.

• Geofencing to send push notifications

While geolocation is all about tracking everyone near a specific store, restaurant outlets can leverage the technology to gain an added edge for their businesses. They can send push notifications for personalized offers to specific audiences as soon as they approach the geofence.

• Mobile payment options

With any reliable feature to facilitate payments via credit/debit cards or mobile wallet, an app cannot survive any longer. You may lose many end customers who are not at all comfortable carrying cash or paying through a third party payment system. Therefore, it is always suggested to offer in-app payment options in addition to COD by integrating trusted gateways like PayPal, BrainTree, Amazon Pay, Apple Pay, etc.

• table reservation

In addition to increasing takeout orders per day, such an app can simultaneously help owners increase traffic to their restaurants. With the function of time slots or table reservation, the app can allow users to reserve a table in advance and have an enjoyable dining experience amid the crowds and congestion at peak times.

quick conclusion

On-demand food ordering apps are helping restaurant businesses clearly stand out from the crowd by reaching out to foodies anytime they need to. So getting a user-friendly app for the users is right now the most prudent solution for most of the catering business.