Create a Restaurant App: Features, Cost & Tech Details

With the increasing use of mobile, the majority of businesses can’t go around without a branded app.
The restaurant industry is no different.
More than 52% of customers have more trust in a restaurant’s own branded app than a third-party food platform.
But food delivery is not the only reason why customers turn to their smartphones. They use apps to view restaurant menus and prices, check for operation hours, search for restaurants nearby, look for restaurant reviews and much more. 60% of local searches on mobile convert into buying customers within the hour.
Below are the main benefits of mobile apps for restaurants.
• Customer loyalty
One of the main reasons to create a restaurant app is to improve customer experience. With the help of an app, restaurants can provide different features such as menu lookup, instant access to the information, search for delivery options, etc. Customers that have a great experience with a restaurant are more likely to turn into loyal customers.
• Simplified payment processing
In the modern world, a lot of customers find it more convenient to pay via an app. The mobile payment market was estimated at $827.6 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow to 8,724.2 billion by 2027.
Enabling customers to pay in your restaurant with their preferred payment method improves customer experience and leads to higher loyalty.
• Increase in sales
The most crucial reason for restaurant mobile app development is the possibility of increased sales. There are a number of methods to how a business can achieve that: by offering food delivery, allowing customers to book a table via an app and avoid long waiting lines, or even check the menu and working hours.
• Special deals
What better way to turn one-time customers into returning ones than by offering a loyalty program, a special deal, or a coupon for the next visit? Restaurant app development can help you with customer retention.
• Customer feedback
Just a few years ago, restaurants had to conduct costly surveys and interviews to find out what customers thought about their venue. Thanks to restaurant apps, businesses can get customer feedback instantly and tailor the processes to provide better service and customer experience.
So, how can you create a restaurant app for your business?
App development for restaurants is a complex process that consists of different stages:
STEP 1: CONDUCT MARKET & BUSINESS RESEARCH
The main secret to creating a successful restaurant app is knowing the market state, key app types and the main competitions. That’s why market and business research should be the number one step in the development process.
STEP 2: SET BUSINESS GOALS & STRATEGY
So, what do you want to achieve with restaurant mobile app development?
Answers to this question will help you understand what app type you should choose. Don’t start app development just for the sake of development. You need to fully understand what you want to achieve and how the app will fit in your strategy.
STEP 3: CHOOSE A RESTAURANT APP DEVELOPMENT COMPANY
This is, for sure, one of the most important steps when you create a restaurant app.
You can find numerous restaurant app builders that might entice you with the promise to create a food delivery app for free. However, such solutions are not the best option as they don’t allow you to create highly customized apps. You might end up hitting the ceiling far too soon and would need to create a restaurant app from scratch.
STEP 4: DECIDE ON THE APP FUNCTIONALITY
After you’ve successfully identified your business goals and chosen the development team, it’s time to decide on the functionality of your future app. The final set of features directly depends on the results you expect to achieve with your application. Features selection may vary significantly, as you might need to combine features from different app types to achieve the required results.
STEP 5: CHOOSE A TECH STACK
After you’ve successfully identified the set of features, it’s time to choose the tech stack for restaurant app development. You can either choose to create a native app or a hybrid one that will work both on Android and iOS. The tech stack will differ based on your decision.
For example, you will need to use Kotlin or Java for Android development, Swift or Objective-C for iOS apps and Flutter for hybrid app development.
STEP 6: DESIGN A RESTAURANT APP
So, now that you know how to build a restaurant app, what’s next?
Of course, you need to create the app design. You need to address one issue with the design – it should offer a smooth user experience.
STEP 7: DEVELOP AN APP
At this stage, developers create the code base of your application. They implement all of the features, integrate your store with third-party solutions and turn your idea into a real application.
STEP 8: TEST, DEPLOY AND LAUNCH THE APP
The restaurant app development process must include these steps. Before releasing the first version of the app to the market, all the features should be tested and all the bugs should be hunted down and fixed. This is one of the ways to ensure that your app will work without a hitch. Only after everything is sorted out can you release the application to the app stores.
STEP 9: START MARKETING & PROMOTION
If you haven’t launched your marketing strategy by this moment, it’s your cue to start rolling it out. Tell the world about your new app through different types of marketing channels, including social media marketing, content marketing, influencer marketing and much more. Before you move in either of the directions, make sure that the channel you choose will help you connect with your target audience.
STEP 10: COLLECT & ANALYZE USER FEEDBACK
App release doesn’t mean the end of restaurant mobile app development. Successful applications share one secret – their creators continue working on them long after the launch. They analyze customer feedback and apply changes to meet customer expectations better. You should follow suit and pay attention to what users are saying about your application.
STEP 11: START ONGOING DEVELOPMENT & SUPPORT
As mentioned, development is an ongoing process that can go on for months or even years. Implement changes and improvements based on customer feedback, plan to add new functionality, release it and analyze the customer feedback once again. Optimize your app for the latest version of iOS and Android, and don’t forget about updating security protocols.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO CREATE A RESTAURANT APP?
The cost of restaurant app development may vary based on a number of factors. Typically, small restaurant app development costs $5,000-10,000, medium restaurant app development cwith additional features costs $10,000-50,000 and a restaurant app development cost for a few operating systems, custom design and complex features is $50,000-$280,000.
As you can see, restaurant app development is a complex process comprising different stages. If you want the process to run smoothly and without unexpected pitfalls, choose an experienced software development company for the job. Read more about how to Create a Restaurant App