A Full Guide on How to Develop a Food Delivery Website
Creating a food delivery website requires a fair amount of preparation as well as consideration into the appropriate business model. In this article, we provide you with all necessary information about developing a food delivery website.
Food delivery websites are created to save time because they allow users to choose from a lot of restaurants and pay for food easily.
According to GloriaFood, 86% of people use delivery platforms at least once per month.
If you want to launch a food delivery business, it’s best to start with creating a user-friendly website.
So, in this article, we’ll discuss steps to develop a food ordering website as well as explain popular business models.
Food Delivery Models for Startups
Food delivery services provide a lot of opportunities for startups. Three business models discussed below are the most popular.
- The order only model. Such service as GrubHub uses this model. So, this platform connects users and restaurants. Then the restaurant delivers food. Usually, the service gets a commission from 7% to 15% per order.
- The order and delivery model. UberEats is the best example of this model because it provides customers with both services — ordering and delivering. This model is also profitable for restaurants because there is no need for them to hire couriers, purchase vehicles, etc.
- The fully integrated model. This model means doing all three jobs — cooking, ordering and delivering. Of course, it needs some additional expenses, e.g. salaries for cooks, heaters, and more.
Examples of Food Ordering Platforms
Studying the competitors beforehand is significant while launching your own startup. As a result, you get knowledge of their strategies, allowing you to avoid many common mistakes. So, we’ve already prepared three popular platforms for you to look through.
#1. UberEats
Uber decided to embrace the business, so now users have a chance to order food utilizing such service as UberEats. This platform is similar to Uber. So, the clients are able to use functions like real-life GPS tracking, cashless payment, etc.
#2. Postmates
This food ordering service delivers dishes from restaurants in the USA and Mexico City. The main advantage of this platform is the opportunity to bring not only ready dishes but also groceries, alcohol, and more.
#3. Delivery.com
This service provides delivering food, groceries, laundry, and so on. Delivery.com is an interesting platform because it suggests what food you can order. How does this feature work? Using your current location, the service offers to choose from the restaurants nearby. As a result, customers get their orders faster.
How to Create a Food Ordering Website
Making a good food ordering website requires efforts. Below we’ve prepared some points that you need to consider beforehand.
#1. Get Custom-Build or Ready-Made Website
Modern customers want to use the unique, fast website. As a result, buying a ready-made solution isn’t the best idea for serious business. The customers should trust you, so to build a good reputation it’s better to develop a website with proper functionality.
#2. Describe Your Target Audience
Busy people tend to order food. So, there are three target audiences among them — students, parents, and working professionals. Each group has special needs.
For example, students usually like fast food. As a result, it’s better to cooperate with local fast food restaurants and deliver their orders as fast as possible. Considering the second group, you need to pay attention to healthier food. Patents often prefer to cook on their own, so you may just deliver fresh groceries. Humans that spend a lot of time at work don’t want to think about meals but prefer well-cooked dishes. That’s why they often offer food from restaurants.
Of course, you can start with one target audience and then expand your business.
#3. Create a UI/UX Design
The design of your food delivery website is the key to your success. A truly simple and user-friendly design requires a lot of design effort, especially since the user experience will make or break your business. It’s better to divide the creation of the design into several stages to understand what is necessary.
#4. Use Social Media
Nowadays social media is a vital marketing channel. Every company pays attention to social media because it’s a fast way to gain users. In order to develop your social media accounts properly, you need to be creative and consider your customers’ desires. Moreover, you can post some interesting offers and loyalty programs on social media.
#5. Prepare Your Website For Local Demands
Such platforms as GrubHub and FoodPanda deliver food locally and get profit because they are adapted to the demand of local people. There are some tips from these services:
- Customers are different. So, you need to create your business strategy according to the local environment and different type of clients.
- It’s good to study what cuisine local people prefer.
- It’s better to integrate several payment options, e.g. credit cards, eWallet, etc.
#6. Consider Additional Revenue Streams
Launching a startup, it’s better to think about different revenue sources. Below we provide you with some profitable ideas.
- The most popular way to monetize a website is to place ads. The advertisements can be completely different. For example, you can offer different restaurants to put their ads on your platform and then charge a fee.
- One more way to make money is selling gift cards for a certain sum of money. After that, your customers can give these cards to their friends or family.
- You can offer any additional service, e.g delivering medicine. As a result, you get an opportunity to take a commission for every order. For instance, the platform Delivery.com provides delivering laundry, medicine, and so on.
#7. Consider Developing a Mobile Version
Of course, creating a website and mobile application (especially for both platforms — iOS and Android) can be time-consuming and costly. However, it’s possible to build a website and then adapt it for mobile phones with a responsive design. As a result, the number of clients will increase.
Making a food delivery marketplace requires some time and what is more important a team of experienced developers. Luckily, there are a lot of software development companies that can provide you with high quality and reasonable price.
So, all you need to do is to find a reliable vendor. Good luck!
