The explosive popularity of mobile phones and tablets has completely changed the way customers interact with restaurants, and many restaurant owners are now turning to branded mobile ordering apps as a way to increase sales and keep up with their competition.
By creating a customized app that features your restaurant’s brand and menu items, you can provide customers with an incredibly convenient solution for placing orders.
Not only will this make it more efficient for customers to place orders quickly on their devices, but create a unique connection between them and your business.
Wondering if you should get your own app for your restaurant to online food deliveries? Read on to discover the pros, cons, and effects to your restaurant's customer experience.
Mobile ordering apps for restaurants—the need of the hour
We can name several benefits of online food ordering systems.
With a mobile ordering app for food, you get to showcase your menu, promotions, and reviews on the app, which can attract new customers and retain loyal ones who want new ways to order from their favorite restaurants.
Restaurant ordering apps can also reduce your operational costs, such as labor, rent, and utilities, by allowing you to focus on preparing and delivering quality food.
By using a food delivery app, you can grow your restaurant business and stay competitive in the market.
Unless you're something like a fine dining restaurant that absolutely can't afford to offer online delivery, any restaurant that refuse to go online could stand to lose competitiveness and would find difficulty in staying tall in the market.
According to Statista, the projected online food delivery market volume of US$1.45tn is expected by 2027. This shouldn't come as a surprise: the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic was one of biggest drivers of restaurant mobile apps and digital platforms.
Loyal customers kept their favorite restaurants alive by ordering food online, opting for takeout options or order-now-pickup-later.
And even though we're in the clear from the COVID-19 pandemic, we shouldn't expect to see
Many third-party online food ordering platforms are available in the market which contributes to trillions of dollars' restaurant industry. Some of the most popular apps include:
Grabfood
Grabfood is a popular food delivery service in Southeast Asia, offering a wide variety of cuisines from local favorites to international delights. With its user-friendly app and efficient delivery system, Grabfood ensures that customers can enjoy their favorite meals in the comfort of their own homes.
Uber Eats
Uber Eats is a global food delivery platform that connects customers with their favorite local and chain restaurants. With a vast selection of eateries and a seamless ordering process, Uber Eats makes it easy for users to satisfy their cravings anytime, anywhere, while enabling more restaurants online to take orders easily.
Foodpanda
Foodpanda is a leading online food delivery service, operating in numerous countries across Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. With its extensive network of partner restaurants and commitment to customer satisfaction, Foodpanda delivers a diverse range of delicious meals straight to your doorstep.
Grubhub
Grubhub is a pioneer in the American food delivery industry, offering a vast selection of local and national restaurants to choose from. With its easy-to-use app and commitment to customer service, Grubhub ensures that users can enjoy their favorite dishes without the hassle of cooking or leaving home.
Deliveroo
Deliveroo is a UK-based food delivery service that operates in multiple countries, providing customers with a wide array of dining options from local eateries to popular chains. With its innovative technology and focus on quality, Deliveroo brings the best of the culinary world right to your door.
Why popular food delivery apps aren't always the best choice for your restaurant.
The question must be asked: do you really need an app for restaurant ordering? Or more specifically, do you really need to be on a food delivery marketplace?
Some restauranteurs have little clue about the technicality and online marketing tactics.
After all, it's easy to go with what's popular and choose a popular food delivery mobile app for your restaurants, in the hope that it boosts your sales and services with the convenience that only comes from mobile ordering apps.
Here are a few factors that would make you ask yourself before deciding to get your restaurant listed in a food delivery marketplace:
Commissions
While these marketplaces can help spread the word about your restaurant, they come at a significant cost.
Typically, these marketplaces charge commissions upwards of 30% for each food order placed online. As a restaurant owner, you should consider whether you are willing to pay these commissions for each order that comes through these marketplaces.
If not, you could consider adding the 30% commission to your prices. However, note that customers might not be willing to shoulder such fees, and it could deter you from making more sales and scoring some of that sweet customer loyalty.
No personal touch
Food ordering marketplaces often come with their own designs and platform architectures, making it nearly impossible for restaurateurs to change them unless the marketplaces do it as part of their branding or update.
This means that restaurant owners get stuck with monotonous designs and must manage with stationary designs and components, even if they don't want them.
It's difficult to imply custom fonts and color themes as per restaurant owners' taste, and that's where they lose their personal touch to the mobile ordering app for their own restaurant.
So, should you compromise your restaurant's identity, theme, and flair?
Hassle to get listed
Listing your restaurant on popular food delivery apps can be a daunting task for many restaurateurs.
The stringent rules and regulations imposed by these platforms often create unnecessary hassles for restaurant owners. Even after submitting the required documents and photographs, it may take more than a month for restaurants to get listed.
This can be frustrating for restaurant owners who want to make their business available online. The complex procedures should not be a barrier for restaurants to reach their customers.
Less control
When using food ordering marketplaces, you may have less autonomy over your content and services. These platforms may offer discounts on your dishes without your knowledge, which can harm your reputation if you are against providing discounts.
Additionally, making changes to your content and other components can be challenging on these marketplaces. It's important to ask yourself why you shouldn't have complete control over your own content and services.
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What are the alternatives to food delivery app marketplaces?
With the rise of food delivery apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash, restaurants have been able to expand their customer base and increase revenue.
However, the fees that these apps charge can eat into profits and even put some restaurants out of business.
As a result, many restaurant owners are looking for alternatives to these marketplaces. Fortunately, there are options available for restaurants to save on fees, take back control, and even build custom features for their delivery services.
In this article, we will explore the alternatives to food delivery app marketplaces and how they can benefit restaurant owners.
Cococart
Cococart has a range of features that are specifically designed with restaurant owners in mind.
With Cococart, you can get an all in one business tool to streamline your orders, bookings, local payments, grow your marketing, deliveries, and build loyalty.
You’ll even get to customize your welcome page with your restaurant's brand logo, title, and additional information.
The best part? The app comes with no commission fees, so you take home more of your hard-earned income from your restaurant.
Here are some other great features from Cococart you should consider when you're building your own food ordering app:
- Ability to add any payment method with no transaction fees. Simply let customers transfer to your bank account straight away, and enjoy zero fees on orders.
- Customizable payment methods. Because you can add any payment method in the world, you can accept payments via credit card, PayPal, and local payment methods in your country. For example, in Singapore, you can accept payments with PayNow. In the Philippines, you can take Gcash payments for your online restaurant.
- Manage pre-orders. Pre-orders are a huge part of managing a restaurant and doing online food delivery. With Cococart, customers can order for a specific date and time, according to your availability.
Chownow
Chownow is an ideal alternative to popular food delivery apps. Chownow's features are customizable and allow restaurateurs to create their own unique ordering platforms with custom designs and features that fit the needs of their restaurants.
It allows restaurant owners set their own prices and fees without charging hefty commissions like other marketplaces.
Lunchbox.io
Lunchbox.io allows restaurants to create their own branded ordering app, giving them complete control over the design and features.
With Lunchbox.io, restaurant owners can keep their branding intact and customize the look and feel of their app.
On top of that, Lunchbox.io does not charge any commission fees for orders placed through its platform, allowing restaurant owners to save more on margins.
Sociavore
Sociavore is another great option for restaurant owners looking to get their own web ordering site.
Sociavore gives its users the ability to create customized menus, create customer loyalty programs, table reservations and promotional offers tailored to their business.
It also allows restaurant business to connect with their customers on social media platforms and give them additional incentives such as discounts and coupons.
Ready to start your own online orders?
Ready to start your own online orders? Creating a branded mobile ordering app for your restaurant can be a great way to increase customer engagement and sales.
Before getting started, consider the features you may need to implement in order to provide an effective ordering experience.
Some important features include customizable menus, secure payment options, real-time order tracking and notifications, loyalty programs, promotional offers, and integration with social media.
You can use any of the above-mentioned platforms to create your own branded mobile ordering site for your restaurant.
