How to Find a Reliable Tech Partner for Your Food Delivery App in 2023

The online food delivery market is growing exponentially and we are witnessing an influx of new applications right now. Thanks to high long-term demand and great ROIs, many investors want to put their money into the food delivery market. Of course, the only way to achieve this goal is to hire a dedicated food delivery app development company.

Why? Because a dedicated mobile app development company has professional developers who are familiar with development practices/technologies and can turn raw ideas into user-centric cross-platform mobile applications. Without a technical partner to accompany you throughout the development cycle, you may fail to develop a user-centric food delivery solution and establish a brand presence in this highly competitive market.

However, which app development firm is right for your business? Since there are thousands of mobile app development companies across the globe, it often gets challenging for an investor to find the right tech partner for their food delivery application. Not only is it necessary that the development team you hire has the required technical expertise, but it’s also crucial that they adhere to the latest market practices and can deliver the project on time.

Of course, if it’s your first time working with an app development partner, you are bound to make unexpected blunders in the beginning. But, with the right approach, you can easily compare different service providers and hire the most reliable food delivery app development company for your business.

In this guide, we have penned down different factors that’ll allow you to scrutinize the market and hire the best food delivery app development partner to be part of an exponentially growing industry.

Why are You not Late to Start a Food Delivery Business in 2023?

Even though industry leaders like UberEats and GrubHub are leading the on-demand food delivery industry, new business ventures can still enter the market and gain the desired exposure. Why? Because users are always ready to try new food delivery applications that could allow them to order their favorite cuisines within a few minutes. Not to mention, the COVID-19 curbs have only propelled users’ reliance on food delivery applications as dining out is still not an option for many people.

This is the reason why we have witnessed an influx of new food delivery applications in the last two years. According to a report generated by Statista, the on-demand food delivery industry is expected to surpass 466,472 million US dollars by the end of 2026. In terms of revenue, the food delivery market is among the most profitable markets. Back in 2020, when the COVID-19 outbreak first struck the world, the food delivery industry generated a revenue of $26 Billion. What’s more interesting is that this revenue is projected to hit $42 billion by the end of 2025.

Let’s take a look at some of the other statistics that ensure the exponential growth of the food delivery industry in the coming years:

• Post COVID, 70% of the American population prefers to order food online rather than flocking into a crowded restaurant
• Nearly 57% of millennials believe that ordering food online saves time that they can utilize for other important tasks
• 73% of the US population believes that ordering food online from apps like GrubHub and UberEats is more convenient than dining out
• By the end of 2026, both restaurant-to-consumer and platform-to-consumer delivery solutions are expected to acquire 3152 million new customers combined
• Like the US, the food delivery market in the UK is projected to witness immense growth in terms of revenue. By the end of 2026, the revenue is expected to reach $9.4 Billion.

So, even if apps like UberEats and GrubHub share the maximum space in the food delivery market, there are still plenty of opportunities for new ventures to gain the desired visibility and build a strong customer base.

Aggregator vs Dedicated Food Delivery App – Which is the Right Option for Your Business?

Now, before you go out and start searching for a food delivery app development company, it would be crucial to decide which business model you want to follow for your food delivery business. Ideally, all food delivery applications fall under one of the two parent categories, i.e., aggregator applications and dedicated restaurant-to-consumer food delivery applications.

Choosing the right business model will mainly depend on your business objectives. For instance, if you run a restaurant and want to start your own online food delivery service, you would have to invest in a dedicated restaurant-to-consumer food delivery application. But, if you want to start a business like GrubHub or UberEats, it would be better to develop an aggregator application where multiple restaurants can create their profile, allowing users to order food from different places.

Let’s discuss both these models in detail so that it becomes easier to follow the right food delivery app development approach for your on-demand solution.

1. Aggregator Applications

Aggregator apps aren’t owned by a specific restaurant. Instead, they act as middlemen between the restaurant and the customer. Multiple restaurants can list their business on an aggregator platform and reach their customers more conveniently.

The customers, on the other hand, can search for nearby food outlets and order their favorite cuisines from the desired restaurant. In the majority of the cases, the aggregator business is responsible for hiring delivery agents as well. UberEats, for instance, recruits the delivery agents on its own and is responsible for their payouts as well.

As of 2022, aggregator applications like UberEats, DoorDash, and GrubHub share nearly 40% of the on-demand food delivery market. The aggregator model is an ideal solution for entrepreneurs who do not want to start their own restaurant chain but want to be a part of the online food delivery industry. By launching an aggregator application, they can get multiple restaurants to sign up on their platform and allow users to order food online in a hassle-free manner.

Now, since the aggregator business model is the most sought-after food delivery app development approach, the competition is quite fierce as well. To put it in simple words, if you launch an aggregator application, you would directly be going head to head with industry giants like GrubHub, DoorDash, and UberEats. So, it would be crucial to devise an effective marketing strategy to make your food delivery application reach the masses.

2. Dedicated Restaurant-to-Consumer Applications

As the name implies, these types of food delivery applications are launched by a particular restaurant itself. In this type of business model, there’s no middleman and that’s why the restaurant has to hire delivery agents as well. Ideally, launching a standalone restaurant-to-consumer is a feasible option for large-scale restaurants having multiple chains across the globe.

Dominos, for instance, has its own delivery applications that allow customers from 90 different countries to order Pizzas from the nearby Dominos outlet. However, since Dominos runs a global restaurant chain, the company has enough resources to launch and manage its own food delivery application. For local restaurants, it might not be as rewarding to invest in a dedicated restaurant application.

8 Tips to Find a Reliable Tech Partner for Your Food Delivery Application in 2023

At this point, you would have a clear vision of what type of food delivery application you want to launch. So, the next step is to hire a team of food delivery app developers and launch your own on-demand food delivery service. Here are a few factors that’ll make it easier to scrutinize the market and find a team of reliable food delivery app developers for your business.

1. Decide Between In-House and Offshore Development Team

The first step towards hiring a food delivery app development partner is to choose between an in-house development team vs an offshore development company. Both these development approaches come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Hiring an in-house development team would be the right approach if you want to keep an eye on the developers all the time and don’t want to deal with any communication barriers. However, managing an in-house development team is not child’s play.

Apart from finding the right talent in your locality, managing an in-house team is relatively more expensive. Several expenses such as monthly salaries, office rent, and the daily running cost can easily take a toll on your bank balance. That’s why many business owners choose to hire remote developers as it’s comparatively affordable and more convenient. When you hire an offshore development team, you get dedicated project managers who overlook the entire development process and ensure everything is going according to the plan.

The only downside of outsourcing food delivery app development is the lack of communication. Due to different time zones, it often gets challenging for business owners to communicate with their remote development partners.

2. Start With the Google Search

The easiest way to find a reliable food delivery app development company is to perform a Google search. Simply type “food delivery app development” in Google search and the search engine will display a list of all the development agencies you can hire.

Now, it’s not necessary that the company ranking at the top of the SERP will have better skills than others. The Google search will only help you get one step closer to different prospects. It would be crucial to compare all these prospects and draft an initial list of service providers who have the required skills to meet your business objectives.

3. Compare Portfolios

Once your initial draft is ready, the next step would be to compare the portfolios of each development firm. Going through the portfolio will give you an insight into whether the particular team can develop a custom food delivery solution for you or not.

The idea is to look for a development team that has prior experience in food delivery app development. While comparing the portfolios, look for development firms that have developed similar food delivery apps in the past. Such developers are already familiar with the market and know the essential features that need to be integrated into your food delivery app. Comparing different development partners will allow you to further narrow down the list to 4-5 most potential development firms.

4. Decide a Development Budget

The cost to develop a food delivery application is different in every situation as it depends on an array of factors. In general, it can cost anywhere between $20,000 to $100,000 to build a food delivery app. So, after you have narrowed down your list to 4-5 development firms, the next step would be to devise an estimated budget for your application.

This will allow you to further eliminate service providers who do not fit within your specified budget limits. This will be a relatively time-consuming process as you’ll have to go back and forth with each organization one by one to get their quotation. But, finalizing the budget at this stage will save your time and energy in the long run as you won’t have to interview anyone unnecessarily.

5. Get Familiar With the Development Process

As a business owner, you don’t have to understand each phase of the development process in detail. But, it would be good if you have a rough idea about how app development works. This will allow you to avoid unnecessary jargon while evaluating the capabilities of a particular firm.

If you are familiar with the latest app development trends, technologies, and practices, no one would be able to take you for a ride. Now, in case you don’t have the time to learn app development (even briefly), you can also hire an outside consultant to evaluate different service providers on the basis of their technical ability.

6. Get Reference from Other Clients

You can also validate the expertise of a development firm by getting in touch with the people who have worked with the particular development team in the past. The majority of food delivery app development companies list client testimonials on their websites and are even open to sharing their contact details.

Get in touch with these clients and ask them about their experience working with the team. You can also ask whether the developers maintained open communication and whether they were able to deliver the app on time or not. All these questions will help you decide whether the development company can build your food delivery application or not.

7. Testing Methodologies

Testing is an integral part of the entire development cycle. This is the phase where the code gets validated and any potential bugs that might interfere with the app functionality get eradicated.

While every development team tests its code to some extent, it’s crucial to look for a development company that adheres to the latest testing methodologies to achieve maximum efficiency. We recommend joining hands with a team that combines both automated and manual testing to evaluate the code and remove all the bugs to deliver user-friendly functionality.

8. Post-Development Maintenance

Finally, the last deciding factor to hire the most qualified food delivery app development company is post-development maintenance support. Once your food delivery application is live in the market, it would be imperative to act upon user feedback and make essential changes as soon as possible.

So, make sure to look for app development companies that offer at least 7-8 months of post-development maintenance support. Such organizations will closely monitor the app performance and make the required changes to your food delivery app to make it user-centric.

Conclusion

The gradually increasing demand for food delivery apps has allured many business owners to be a part of this multi-billion dollar market. But, to launch a stand-out food delivery solution, you need a team of expert developers, and finding the right food delivery app development tech partner is not easy.

The sheer amount of global app development firms will make you think twice if you are on the right track or not. One of the best ways to avoid getting overwhelmed by the hiring process is to execute it step-by-step so that you can narrow down the list of potential prospects without any hassle. So, follow the above-mentioned steps carefully and hire the most reliable food delivery app development company.

Looking for a custom food delivery app development partner? Hire RV Technologies as your food delivery partner and we’ll devise a bespoke food delivery solution that would cater to your end-users’ expectations and make ordering food a convenient task for them.