10 necessary functionalities for a mobile app in the HoReCa business

We already presented in an article the reasons why you should have your own mobile app for your restaurant.

Food delivery became one of the most steady and growing markets. As shown by Statista, the online food delivery revenue worldwide is expected to exceed 130$ million in 2021, and 182$ million in 2024.

At the same time, restaurants that chose to deliver food through their own app or website shows a growth of 89$ million in 2021. Revenue is expected to have an annual growth of 9.56%, thus having a projected market volume of 117$ million in 2024.

The restaurant-to-consumer delivery model had gained track fast, as it provided an easy and improved solution for restaurants to switch from phone to online orders. At the same time, big 3rd party apps that deliver food strongly pushed the global markets in the recent decade, and fast food chains have adopted their own digital strategies.

Another motive why the restaurant-to-consumer delivery model keeps growing is mainly out of 2 reasons:

A study from Crossover showed that 3rd party food apps could charge the client anywhere from 15% to 40% more than the restaurant’s price in their menus. Considering the number of restaurants on the food delivery apps, a restaurant’s actual profit after a month is barely enough for billables, like electricity and gas, and paying their employees.
As the pandemic drags on, according to research presented at the conference „Food on demand” by the financial services company Cowen & Co, consumers seem less willing to return to restaurants. As of mid-July, 52 percent of surveyed consumers said they would continue to avoid dining in once fully reopened restaurants, up from 36 percent in mid-April.

What functionalities should your food delivery app have – for customers

Having a food delivery app for your own restaurant means that you will interact directly with your customers, thus you have the ordering and delivery as simple as possible. Winning your customers is hard, especially with such a fierce competition.

Having this in mind, what are the functionalities your app should have that can win over customers and make them return to you?

A sign-up page: the sign-up page should be efficient, simple, attractive and branded with your logo. Your customers should be able to tell you are different from your competition with the very first interaction of your app. Your sign-up page should let a user create a new account using a login/password or sign up via a third-party service such as Facebook or Google for added convenience.
A profile/account page: Once a customer has established a new account in an online ordering system, they should view their profile. This profile may include saved payment methods for easy access, an order history, the ability to reorder, and the capacity to save favorite menu items.
Order placement: Customers should be able to add or delete items from orders, if necessary, and a summary of the order should be listed before the customer completes the payment so that they can make last-minute changes. Being able to specify the delivery time (as soon as possible or at a specific time) could be a significant additional feature.
Payment processing: It is ideal to be able to pay for an order through online ordering software. Payment processing should be quick and secure, and your app should allow multiple payment options (coupons, credit cards, cash on delivery, PayPal, Apple Pay/Android Pay, etc.).

A basic food delivery app should include all of these features. Some additional nice-to-have features include:

Notifications or real-time tracking: Keeping customers informed of their order status (placed, prepared, on their way) through notifications or a real-time tracker is a great additional feature.
Social media integrations: letting users link their social media accounts to share photos of their food is an easy way to boost loyalty while increasing the exposure of both your restaurant and app.
A loyalty or rewards program: Offering rewards to users is another good way to build loyalty. For example, offering free delivery on every fifth order will encourage users to get back to your app. Adding other discounts, membership options, and referral programs may encourage users to continue using your app. You can even get customers to get their friends to join.

The goal of the food delivery app is to attract new users and retain old users. It is important to make it easy for users to place orders, pay, and receive food. Providing additional features or rewards is an easy way to enhance your loyalty to your restaurant.

What functionalities should your food delivery app have – for your restaurant

Your app should help you have a clear overview of your customers orders and help you boost your sales.

How do you do that?

Content management functionality: With a simple interface that allows you to manage your menu, including pictures, pricing, ingredients (especially for people with allergies/food intolerances), promotions, and any other important information about what your restaurant has to offer. This page should allow easy editing so that you can update your information as needed.
Order management/tracking: Your staff should be able to instantly see incoming orders and update order status. It is important to track where orders are in the preparation process. Real-time updates for canceled orders completed orders, and orders for delivery are also an important part of this feature.
Cross-interface communication capabilities: It is mandatory to be able to update the order status of the courier/delivery person as well as the customer. Cross-interface communication is about notifying the customer or courier that the order is ready for pick-up or on its way.

What about costs?

What influences the development cost of an app: design, features, integrated platforms, and the infrastructure.

Usually, an app takes time to be developed, especially when its complexity grows, like adding payments in the app, table booking, pre-ordering, beacons and more. All these increase the development cost.

That is why Roweb has its online delivery / sales / reservations / orders & marketing restaurant app with 0% commision on orders and can be deployed in just 3 days, once we have all the necessary info. Another benefit if you choose to work with our company is that we offer installment payments according to your needs.

Learn more about our solution

What are other benefits of working with Roweb for your restaurant solution?

Our solution is already deployed across multiple restaurants. There are restaurants that, since September, had seen a massive growth in both sales and number of orders. For example, there is one restaurant that has a 500% increase in orders and 365% in sales in just 5 months.

When a restaurant has its own app means that it will have access to something of high value – consumer behaviour. With its built in CRM solution, Roweb’s dedicated mobile app can offer valuable insights on how a client behaves and can start to build loyalty marketing strategies in order to increase customer retention.

Learn more about our solution

What are some of the functionalities we will offer so you can use to grow your restaurant?

own delivery system that can be used easily by both clients and employees;
0% commission for all the online sales – eliminating commission for third party delivery services;
online menu with contactless access to reduce risks and boost the clients’ trust (for those who serve in their restaurant);
extended restaurant services through online offers in only a few days by creating a dynamic and ready-to-sell website;
ordering mobile app for placing your restaurants offers only one “touch” away from your clients;
CRM based mobile app that offers you valuable insights about your customers’ behavior (ordering history, contact data, client type);
real-time feedback from clients (by using QR codes and NFC tags) and the opportunity to optimize your offers based on valuable information;
taking over and efficiently distributing orders and managing all your business remotely;
promoting the restaurant’s offers to the existing clients and to the potential ones, as well.

We are ready to answer all your questions.

Get in touch with us to start discussing your next app for your restaurant

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