Food Delivery App Development Cost and Tech Stack

Blog Overview

Online food delivery is an emerging market The online food delivery market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.3% until 2030 and reach USD 505.50 billion in 2030. 

• USA has DoorDash and UberEATS

• UK has Just Eats, Deliveroo

• Canada has to Skip the Dishes.

• India has Swiggy and Zomato

Every country has its version of the food delivery app. Online food delivery development has won millions of customers' hearts (and downloads).

The food industry is growing at a fast rate. Apps like UberEats have proved that you can penetrate the industry by thinking out of the box.

Let's begin with some interesting statistics about the food industry.

Food Delivery App Models

Choosing a profitable model requires profoundly understanding your customer's pain points. So let us get to it. To begin with, the food delivery app development has two core models:

• Order-only business model: The restaurant manages its delivery. App only manages to order. E.g., Dominos.
• Order with the delivery business model: Aggregators handle delivery, not the restaurants. E.g., Uber Eats.

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Food Delivery Models and Tech Stack

Before we drill down into the Food Delivery Tech Stack, we must first understand the desired features that customers want in an app; as the tech stack you choose will depend on those features and customizations.

• Customer app: This should allow users to search nearby restaurants, create profiles, search filters, deliver tracking, and push notifications.
• Delivery app: provides access to GPS, registration, order status, push notifications, and history of delivered orders
• Restaurant app: this app is for restaurants that can list their menus, create campaigns, and communicate with delivery persons and customers.

Now that we know the basic models of food delivery apps, here's what the tech stack will look like.

Tech Stack for Food Delivery App

Frontend:

Frontend is usually divided into Android and iOS.

• For Android: Java or Kotlin are commonly used as foundation languages. Android Studio uses an IDE and XML or Android Studio's layout editor to design the user interface.
• For iOS: Swift is the primary language for iOS app development. Whereas Xcode is the official IDE and interface builder for UI design.

Backend:

There are backend languages such as Python, Ruby on Rails, Node.js, and Java, that can be used in building an app. Also, there are web frameworks simply used to speed up the process of building an app and have some pre-built functionality, i.e. Django. Express, Flask.

Typically for larger apps they will use cloud platforms which allow for greater scalability and flexibility, e.g. Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. 

Apart from the front and back end, several customizations are needed in an app. Below are the standard tech stacks used to customize food delivery apps.

Customizations Used for Food Delivery Apps:

Cost is the next and crucial deciding factor while developing a food delivery app. The table below gives an indicative cost breakdown of food delivery app development.

Food Delivery App Development Cost (Associated with Each Stage)

One needs to consider the monetization models after deciding on the tech stack. After all, no one wants to build an app that doesn't make money.

Let's Look at the Top 4 Monetization Opportunities for Food Delivery Apps:

Delivery fees

Delivery fees are charged based on location and timing and distributed between the app and the delivery driver.

Advertising

Popular apps like Grubhub also earn from in-app ads. For example, restaurants can pay extra to feature themselves at the top of search results for a specific time.

Subscription

You can provide subscription plans which give users more perks than a free account. E.g., Swiggy in India offers subscription plans where you get free delivery irrespective of the distance. Zomato Gold club subscription provides a host of benefits to its members, like discounts at partnering restaurants, free delivery promos, etc.,

Commission

Lastly, food delivery apps can earn by charging fixed commissions. E.g., Just Eat generates massive revenue by charging restaurants commissions on transactions.

Ready to build your food delivery app?

There are many ways in and loopholes you can take advantage of to design a top delivery app for your startup or business. So, if you're looking for an app development firm to develop your food delivery app, make sure they have worked on similar projects. Your app will have a great UI and a UX that is comfortable to use, and this will allow you to take advantage of the business model that suits you best. 

Here is where Clarion Technologies can give you an advantage. Our team of highly skilled mobile app developers can help you build an innovative food delivery app that will wow your customers and increase sales. To hire developers at Clarion Technologies and get an estimate for your app idea.

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