There is an eternal love between human kind and good food! It is no wonder than that people always love to dine out at popular restaurants. But, a sharp trend shift is being witnessed in the food business over the last couple of years. People are showing more inclination to ordering food online, particularly through a robust mobile app. This new trend has been largely fuelled by the billing models of restaurants, who end up collecting many taxes and excesses (service taxes included) from their visitors. On the other hand, the food ordering apps help the users save their energy (of driving up to the food joint) as well as money (with their coupons and discount offers). Such apps present the best of both worlds, where the food lovers can order from the best restaurants around and that too at lower than normal prices!
Prevalence of many quality food ordering apps are proving catalysts to the overwhelming popularity of ordering food through mobile devices. When there is a trend, everyone wants to have a piece of its share. And thus, as a mobile app developer, you are more than likely to be working on one or multiple food ordering apps. The fist important thing to keep in mind is: a high benchmark has already been set in this industry, so the client would expect nothing but the best features in the end product. No need to get all tensed yet, we are here to discuss about the key features you need to build in the app.
- Menu Screen: Let us start with the obvious, the menu feature! Food apps should infuse interest of their users right from the word go. So, showcase the specials of the day on the Home screen. When clicked upon, the user should be led to the menu screen to see all the requisite details and make choices. The menu page should contain attractive images as well titles and descriptions for each of the food items.
- Neat Categories: Allow the users to filter their search, to cater a customised experience. If a person is looking out for Italian food he should not have to go through all the other offerings. There are endless variants of creating categories, choose the simplest way keeping in mind the end users.
- Reviews and Ratings: In the old world, everyone would ask around for references to the best restaurants. Carrying the same notion, the reviews and ratings helps the users understand which restaurant would make their eating experience really great. Apart from this, the food partners (of your client) would always be happy to hear the end customer feedbacks. So, arrange for this in the app.
- Coupons and Discounts: As mentioned before, the food ordering apps are growing in popularity due to their cost saving features. The coupons and discounts should have a section of their own, which can be easily accessed by the user. This could also reflect in payment screen, somewhere, to simplify the application of coupons.
- Multiple Payment Methods: While there would be some, who would want to pay immediately through online payments. There would be others who want to get the food delivered first, before making the payment. So, have options for online payments or COD. Apart from this, there should be options to make payments through Credit or Debit Cards as well as PayTM, PayPal and their likes.
- Order Tracking: Users are always tensed whether their order would reach on time, so give them the privilege of tracking their order in real time. This would encourage them to use your app again and again.
These are some of the bare minimums which every successful food ordering mobile app should have. At Keyline, we try to assure the best deliverables to clients with our mobile app development service.
