In the current time, each and every business is going online. So, in the same context, many businesses have also invested huge amount of money to develop a restaurant finder app to grow their venture. This helped them expand their business domain and increase brand value.
Every industry is going digitalization with each passing day, and the restaurant business is no different. While people do not prefer to go out to eat some delicious food, restaurant delivery apps have a lot to bring to the table. Such experiences help the businesses expand their customer base and earn them high business profit and sales.
As per research, by 2023, the online food ordering and delivery business will reach $365 billion, and the demand for restaurant finder app development will increase 4x times. This figure clearly indicates the amazing opportunity for restaurant owners to grow their business and offer a digitized dining experience to their potential customers. So, if you too are planning to grow your food delivery business, this blog is a must-read for you.
Market Stats of the Food and Restaurant Industry
- The Restaurant Delivery market in the United Arab Emirates is expected to reach a revenue of $7,100 Million in 2024.
- It is projected to experience an annual growth rate of 4.39% between 2024-2028, resulting in a market volume of $8,800 Million by 2029.
- The number of users in the Restaurant Delivery market is expected to reach 2.3 Million users by 2029.
- In 2024, the user penetration is estimated to be 19.5% and is expected to increase to 22.9% by 2029.
- In a global comparison, the United States is anticipated to generate the most revenue, amounting to $36,950 Million in 2024.
- South Korea is projected to have the highest user penetration rate of 44.8% in the restaurant delivery market.
How a Restaurant Finder App Works?
Before jumping on the building steps to develop a restaurant finder app it is a crucial phase where you will understand the working mechanism. So, in this section, we are introducing you to a few normalized working steps. They are as follows:-
1. Select a Restaurant
After installing the application the first step is to find different restaurants from where you can buy food items. To provide a suitable listing of restaurants to your users you can hire dedicated mobile app developers from a renowned platform building company.
2. Explore Food Options
The next thing users can do is explore from different food menus. They can switch between restaurants to find varied food options. Additionally, you can build a restaurant finder app to provide your customers with multiple options for different cuisines.
3. Contact Restaurant Partner
Restaurant services provide an attendant to each table to assist customers. Additionally, these partners can be booked in advance or through on-spot booking. They are highly sophisticated and offer fascinating services. So, that users can have a good time while dining in a restaurant.
4. Place Order
Users can now place online orders after selecting a cuisine of their choice. By contacting a startup app development company you can implement this single procedure method that allows customers to add the item to food delivery finder apps. So, they can easily manage their order by keeping it in the bucket for a certain period of time.
5. Generate Notification
As soon as the order is placed, a notification is generated listing the items ordered by the customer. Additionally, it is also mentioned that they have booked an attendant or not. The payment method is also mentioned in the bill to reduce confusion afterward.
6. Choose Payment Gateway
After selecting the food and adding it to the cart users have multiple options for the payment. Additionally, you can make a restaurant finder app that promotes different payment gateways like UPI, Net Banking, Credit Card payments, and cash as well.
7. Give Feedback
Lastly, after availing of all the services users can provide their valuable feedback through reviews and ratings. Additionally, there is also a facility to deliver comments on the services offered. So, you can contact a mobile app development company to help restaurant owners in improving the quality of the food and enhances the services.
Must-Have Features of a Restaurant Finder App
The following is the list of some of the essential features of the best restaurant finder app that you shouldn’t miss, including these features.
1. Sign-Up
You can simply use social media integrations along with your restaurant finder app to make the sign-up process easier for the users. This will not only cut down the efforts of the users but also enable them to get connected with other foodies of the same liking.
To make your app slightly different from the competitors, you can incorporate the ‘Sign-Up Later’ option so that foodies can first explore the whole application and then sign-up.
2. User Registration
For a better customer experience, provide a unique profile to each user to help them review their food adventure, bookmark their preferred food, check reviews & ratings, communicate with other foodies, and search for available discounts & offers.
While availing services from the food delivery app development company, you can ask the professionals to add some gamification to make your app attractive and interesting.
3. Restaurant Search
If you plan to develop a restaurant finder app like Zomato or Yelp, you must have noticed that the app has an exclusively organized search filter with a multi-tiered hierarchy. You can do the same so that users can search places based on location, timings, facilities, payment mode, and more.
Before developing a restaurant finder app, you might definitely have the details of a vast number of restaurants. But, you can expect the users to visit each restaurant’s profile to enjoy food.
In that case, including a restaurant search feature is a must. And yes, don’t forget to include the location-based suggestions and search in your restaurant app. This will make it hassle-free for the foodies to find their nearby restaurants in just a tap.
4. Restaurant Information
Just like the users, restaurants should also have a strong online presence. Agree or not? So, don’t forget to include information about your restaurant on the app, such as – working hours, address, cuisine available, rating, photos, menu scanning, map, and in-app calling option. This will build your restaurant credibility and make it easier for the users to better understand your restaurant’s services.
- Browsing Menu
While browsing the restaurant’s menu online, different users have different preferences. So, basically, the on-demand app development company professionals suggest including three menu options. Such as –
- Scanned Menu
This feature allows the restaurants to scan their printed menu and add them to their gallery. So, this is one of the easiest options for both the users and developers as it is easily accessible and does not require any coding.
- Interactive Menu Screen
This option is one of the most popular menu solutions that you can include in your restaurant tracker app. In this menu feature, the professionals have to create an interactive menu with an image of a food item. Also, this will make it easier for the users to choose any dish & find the relevant information about that particular dish.
Top 6 Challenges Faced by Food Delivery Business Apps and its Proven Solutions
5. Text List Menu
This will allow the users to built-in a text list with appropriate names, prices, and descriptions of available dishes. Including this feature in a restaurant finder app is a bit more costly and time-consuming than the rest. So, if you are running short of budget, you can skip including this option.
6. Offers & Discounts
This is one of the most amazing features of a restaurant finder app that can bring in high sales and keep your existing customers hooked. Along with this, a rewarding tool can also be a business driving tool for your restaurant business.
As per the restaurant ordering app development company experts, including offers and discounts, can allure the users to use your application and result in high ROI.
7. In-App Message & Call
Many users have multiple queries regarding restaurant services, pricing, table booking, menu, and more. To resolve this, the in-app message and calling option is a must for all restaurant finder apps. This will make your restaurant app different from others and offer a better customer experience. So, do not forget to incorporate this feature into your mobile application.
8. Table Booking
When it comes to online table booking, the on-demand app development company experts suggest including two different options for the users. In the first option, the customers enter the date, time, and number of persons, while the restaurant staff chooses the table. On the other hand, the restaurant completely allows the customers to book a table of their preference and requirement.
9. Push Notifications
One of the smart ways to keep your potential customers hooked to your restaurant’s service is to keep them aware of the latest offers and special foods every day. But, how? Push notifications come as a handy option in this scenario. So, including push notifications into your app will enable every customer to remain updated about your restaurant’s special discounts, offers, and events.
10. Reviews & Ratings
Based on the restaurant food and service experience, every customer prefers to leave their valuable feedback. Positive reviews aren’t only limited to increasing sales but also increase the app’s engagement time. This is a key factor of a restaurant finder app that can help your business gain customers’ trust by building credibility and increasing business profit.
Top 5 Restaurant Finder Apps
There are a lot of different apps available that help users to find and book a restaurant. So, it is important for business investors to know them to develop a restaurant finder app for their venture. Below, are the 5 trending apps are listed in a table representing their stats:
Top 5 TheFork Alternative Apps |
Supported Devices |
Downloads |
Ratings |
TheFork |
Android|iOS |
10M+ |
4.7 |
OpenTable |
Android|iOS |
10M+ |
3.8 |
Nearbuy |
Android|iOS |
5M+ |
4.4 |
EazyDiner |
Android|iOS |
1M+ |
4.7 |
Quandoo |
Android|iOS |
500K+ |
3.9 |
What is the Process to Develop a Restaurant Finder App?
It is crucial for investors to know the right and suitable process to develop a restaurant finder app. We are going to discuss precise and generalized development steps for building similar mobile clones in this section. So, you can easily follow them. They are as follows:
1. Domain Research
To develop a restaurant finder app, first you need to do a thorough market research. In this, you can study different business models and observe various use cases to find restaurants app. Additionally, you can also prepare a documentation report to reduce your efforts and time.
You can prepare a blueprint listing all the needed features and development tools to start the process. So, you cannot feel burdened during further development stages.
2. Development Contract
Now, you need to hire a renowned and the best restaurant finder app development company. So, that you easily start the development process at a fast rate. For this, you need to follow a precise and working hiring method so that you can ensure your mobile app credibility.
Initially, you have to analyze their previous works and then you can conduct technical interviews to choose the right development partner to create a restaurant finder app.
3. Design App Interface
After hiring the suitable restaurant mobile app development company, you can start the development process officially. First you have to design your restaurant finder app interface to ensure responsiveness. Additionally, your app must be interactive and attractive to engage users.
So, you can select from multiple themes and designs though different wireframing methods. Eventually, it is technically sustainable to use automated designs on your mobile apps.
4. Backend & API Integration
Without a supportive backend infrastructure, you cannot make profit and get data accessibility. Additionally, it is also mandatory to provide your users with channel communication services. So, you must integrate dynamic database models and responsive APIs to fetch queries quickly.
So, you can gather sophisticated backend and API tools to refine your restaurant booking mobile application to the level you have expected.
5. Testing & Launching
Your mobile application needs to be tested for detecting bugs and errors in the source code. There are different testing models available that makes this task easier and efficient. Additionally, restaurant search app security is also a major concern to resolve these issues to maintain mobile apps productivity.
To make this task easy and affordable, you can contact a hybrid app development company that has a great experience in working with testing and application security services.
6. Maintain & Update
Restaurant locator app maintenance is also mandatory to ensure the operationality and functionality in an ordered manner. It is necessary for a business investor to know the cost to maintain a mobile app before contacting a services provider.
Additionally, you need to provide regular updates to your customers. So, that they can easily use new features and functions without any difficulty.
What are The Benefits of Restaurant Finder App Development?
Investment of money to develop a restaurant finder app is quite worthy for business investors. They can find a lot of advantages and scope in the mobile app development. Here, are the major benefits discussed in detail:
1. Brand Marketing
You can do brand marketing to expand the domain of your restaurant finding mobile application across the globe. Additionally, contacting sponsors is also beneficial for business investors to make your business brand popular among the people in different regions. So, you can increase the value of your mobile application through market hiring.
2. Profitable Business
This industry is considered as one of the most promising and profit gaining among different others like healthcare, fitness, and logistics. Additionally, there are a lot of different methods that you can choose from the below section to start earning revenue through your business. So, you can easily balance the invested cost and perform outstanding against your competitors.
3. High User Engagement
Food and restaurant industry attracts a lot of customers and is operational to provide them a good experience. You can outsource many services to generate and divert direct traffic on to your mobile platform. Additionally, you can also run business campaigns to explain your services to your target audience. So, that they can easily avail your services.
4. Data Accessibility
As users register their information in the app database by entering their required details, you can make use of them to enhance their app experience and generate high-revenue income.
Additionally, you can use AI-based restaurant mobile app development services to personalize their interest and choices. So, they can come to your restaurant finder application regularly and also providing references to others.
5. Growing Industry
There are a lot of developments are being made to improve the versatility and variability of the restaurant booking industry. Many applications are being developed to take this business online and reduce the efforts of both business investors as well as users. Additionally, by using economical and eco-friendly solution in your application, you can target environmental problems to build a better future.
6. Restaurant Chaining
If you are having a restaurant business idea and don’t know the right method to start the chaining process through online services, then you must approach a restaurant finding app development company.
Additionally, you can take the advantage from existing restaurant businesses to build a restaurant management software by studying their business models to apply them for your profit.
How to Monetize a Restaurant Finder App?
If you are investing money to develop a restaurant finder app, then to balance it you need to monetize your mobile application. So, it is profitable to know significant money-making strategies for extensive business growth. We are looking few of them in this section:
1. Provide Subscription
Business investors can start their money-earning process by providing subscriptions and memberships to the users. You can find restaurant ordering app development solutions in the UAE to implement various models like monthly, annual, and lifetime to earn profit.
So, it is compulsory to make the needful arrangements before implementing this method. Additionally, you can make use of restaurant finder app development services to introduce this revenue model.
2. Ad-based Services
Next, you can also implement ads and run campaigns to spread your services all over the world. So, you need to target major possibilities and fragments where you can outsource your ad-based services.
But, you must ensure that your method should be capanble enough to attract customers in large number. So, that you can make a high revenue business out of it and offer these services at rental costs.
3. Platform Fees
Charging platform fees form users is another method to generate profitable revenue for your restaurant booking business. Additionally, you can apply this to various payments and transactions.
By integrating different payments methods, you can charge processing fees from your users. So, that it can be easy for you to make money to support your business fundings.
4. Booking Charges
Applying booking charges on restaurant and attendant bookings is also another method to generate a high profitable income. Additionally, if users are listing menu in advance then you can charge for that also.
These charges must be 1-3% of the total booking cost including the food. So, you can build trust in them by offering least possible price and getting a good return from high user engagement.
5. Premium Features
You can offer premium and advanced featured services through your restaurant finder app. So, that you can easily start generating business revenue through it. These services may include order delivery and storage facility.
You can charge extra amount on these value-added services. Additionally, it is quite profitable to approach an on-demand restaurant mobile app development company for including rental charges.
What is the Cost to Develop a Restaurant Finder App?
To obtain a compatible and efficient mobile platform, business investors must know the cost to develop a restaurant finder app. There are a lot of different factors that influence the mobile app development cost of similar mobile apps. We will find out those and discuss them in detail. Additionally, we are also looking a table listing estimated cost in this section:
1. Location & Size
If the size of an Android app development company is big then it may cost higher than a company with less developers. Additionally, the location also plays a major role in determining the development cost. Companies in western region are expensive than those in the eastern countries. So, it is a good thought to identify your budget specifications at the right time.
2. Development Platform
Whether, your mobile application is being developed on iOS or android, also matters and is responsible for accounting the cost to create the best restaurant locator app. The iOS development platform is costlier than android building operating systems. Additionally, choosing a hybrid platform may also be expensive depending on your requirements.
3. Technical Stack
You must understand the role of tools and technologies in determining the mobile apps development cost. As a business investor, if you are using normalized tools then you might have to pay less amount of money. But, implementing features with tools like AI and Blockchain can increase the cost of developing mobile apps to a great extent.
4. App Features
A mobile application is incomplete with featured content and services. But, this is a common concern of businesses to know the correct cost & features to develop restaurants searching app. Adding extra features can increase the cost. Additionally, implementing advanced services can also result in the price rise. So, for this you need to prioritize resources and make the required features list.
Here we are representing a table showing the estimated development cost. To build a less-featured mobile app, then you need to invest $8,000-$14,000. But, for building an app with added complexities, you might have to pay an amount more than $25,000. So, you can consult the exact market cost with a proficient on-demand mobile apps development company.
App Structure |
Development Time |
Estimated Cost |
Simple |
5-8 months |
$8000-$14000 |
Moderate |
8-12 months |
$14000-$20000 |
Complex |
More than 12 months |
$20000-$25000 |
Quoting the Blog!!
Finally, coming to the conclusion, you can now easily start the process to develop a restaurant finder app for your business. Additionally, gathering valuable resources is also useful for business owners to reduce time consumption and increase the development productivity.
Along with this, make sure to include all the features mentioned above into your restaurant tracking app, then only you will be able to beat your competitors in the market. These are just the basic features of a restaurant finder app that should be included at any cost.
To make your app more unique and different, try to come up with some different features. For that, get in touch with the best restaurant app development company professionals, and they will help you with the same. So, what are you waiting for? Just tighten your belt and start the restaurant finder app development process right away.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What Does Restaurant Finder Apps Do?
- They help customers to find and book a restaurant of their choice.
- Allow them to book service attendants for management.
- Provide a categorical menu of different food items.
2. What is the Cost to Develop a Restaurant Finder App?
- The custom mobile application development cost is dependent on different factors.
- To develop simple apps, $8,000-$14,000 is the required investment.
- But, it may rise to $25,000 with extra features and functionalities.
3. How to Build a Restaurant Finder Mobile App?
- Do thorough market research and make an initial plan.
- Give a development contract and start the development process.
- Test your mobile application and launch it for market existence.
- Regularly maintain and update your application to improve productivity.
4. How Does Restaurant Finder App Development Benefit Businesses?
- They can target users in large numbers to get data access easily.
- This industry is growing rapidly and also offers a profitable business.
- Easy brand marketing can also be conducted to expand the business domain.
5. What are the Methods to Earn Money From a Restaurant Finder App?
- You can start earning by providing subscriptions to users.
- Implement ad services to generate on-click revenue.
- Charge processing and booking fees.
- Offer premium and advanced services to your prime members.
6. How Dev Technosys Support Investors to Develop a Restaurant Finder App?
- Our mobile app development services are compatible with every platform.
- We offer a strong mechanism to develop a restaurant finder app for your business.
- Here, you can hire our skilled and experienced developers who provide customized technical support.