Let’s Create a Food Delivery Website to Order Food in the Age of Delivery

According to Grand View Research, Food delivery applications are profitable as the total global online food delivery services market size which was valued at USD 50.70 billion is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.7% through to 2030. According to https://www.reportlinker.com/, the global online food delivery services market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.3%. This growth was very much dependent on the restrictive containment measures involving social distancing, closure of commercial activities, and remote working that resulted in operational challenges.

This global online food delivery services market is segregated by type into the platform to the customer, restaurant to the customer, payment method into cash on delivery, and online payment. And it covers Asia Pacific, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, Middle East America, South America, etc.

I searched for “food delivery website” and “https://www.swiggy.com/” was the first URL to appear followed by “https://www.zomato.com/jaipur/order-food-online”. The popularity of food delivery websites and mobile applications is enormous with various startups like Zomato, Swiggy, Box8, FreshMenu, Eat.fit, EatSure, DunZo, MagicPin, and Voosh turning out to be next-level unicorns.

The arrival of food delivery partners has brought choice and convenience to customers who order a ready-to-eat meal from their mobile phones. Food suppliers, food retailers, and food markets globally have transformed their operations and are anticipating more radical changes in the coming times.

How does a Food Delivery System work?

A customer places an order. Receives notification on order status – order is being prepared, order ready, order picked up, order on the way. As the customer tracks the order on the food delivery app, the delivery agent reaches their doorstep, places the order (in case of no contact delivery), or hands it over to the consumer.

Why are food delivery apps popular?

The best options in food delivery streamline the delivery or take-out experience for customers. Such applications offer restaurant owners online ordering and delivery tools to control their success and growth. Guests/customers can access the menu and place orders on their favorite devices.

Which business models do food delivery websites use?

The convenience of ordering online allows customers to call anytime, anywhere using their mobiles, tablets, or computers. There is no need to go anywhere to pick up or collect your order, except your doorstep. It additionally implies that it can easily become a part of the day-to-day and does not disrupt business operations. Food ordering and delivery businesses cut across certain rules.

Aggregator Business Model – It allows multiple restaurants to register and function on a single food delivery platform. Swiggy lists many restaurants on its application. Customers can select their restaurant, make food preferences, and order on swiggy.

The Order and Delivery Model – Someone prepared food, and someone else delivers it. For Example, Amazon delivers biscuits that are manufactured by Hershey’s, cookies by Parle, Chips by Lays, and groceries by local vendors.

The restaurant does not have to bother about who will deliver the food. Third-party logistic partners manage all the deliveries. Such third-party logistic services are solely dedicated to on-time and efficient food delivery practices. They simply have to onboard and align delivery agents from their logistic services.

Integrated Model – Many restaurants are able to manage their delivery agents but do not have an online presence. They crave a platform to bring their offerings online.

Inventory Business Model – Businesses that employ this model do everything in-house. Only one entity is involved here. They prepare food in-house and deliver it by themselves.

How does a Food Delivery Website works?

As the Integrated Food Delivery Business Model is the most prevalent one, let’s learn how it works. It is essential to plan how you plan to prepare, promote, and deliver your food. You must be aware of the value you will bring to your customers, the offers and discounts you will offer, the revenue that you plan to generate, the potential challenges that you need to overcome, the infrastructure that you wish to build, the software and hardware resources, and what competitors are offering. Starting early, and making well-informed decisions beforehand adds value to the overall marketing idea.

Stakeholders in Food Delivery System

It is also important to explain the delivery process through the functions performed by various stakeholders in managing food delivery.

Admin

• Create an account for delivery agents
• Enable/disable the delivery service provided by restaurants
• Set up delivery charges for the deliveries
• Broadcast the order to all the delivery agents present in the delivery range of the restaurant
• Assign the order to any other delivery agent in case no one has accepted it.

Merchant

• Create an account for the restaurant’s delivery agents
• Enable a self-delivery option to manage the order deliveries
• Set the delivery fee for delivery agents
• Set a delivery range for the restaurants
• Change the order status to “accepted”, once the restaurant accepts the order
• When the restaurant prepares the order, then change the status to “Ready for pickup”
• Assign the order to a particular delivery agent in case no delivery staff accepts the order on broadcasting

Delivery Staff

• Delivery agents get notified about incoming orders.
• Change the order status to ‘In Preparation’, once the order is accepted by a delivery person.
• Delivery staff picks up the order and the customer receives the notification that the order is ready for pick up.
• The delivery agent can then update the status to ‘Order picked up’, or ‘On the way’
• The app tracks the delivery agent’s route when he sets out to deliver the food to the customer
• The system sends an in-app notification to the customer when the delivery agent reaches halfway
• The delivery person changes the order to ‘Delivered’ after delivering the order.

Customers

• Customers can check all the status updates from the delivery app
• Live to track orders in real-time.

What should be the features of a Food Delivery Website?

Best food delivery applications in 2022

Toast TakeOut, Uber Eats, DoorDash, ChowNow, Grub Hub, Caviar, Seamless, Postmates, Delivery.com, Delivery Dudes, Waitr, BiteSquad, McDelivery (McDonald’s Food Delivery App), TravelKhana, EatSure, GoKahana, Dunzo, and Flyer Eats

Why do you need a website for your supplying food?

Food delivery services cater to Restaurants, cafes, street food, pizza shop, food trucks, dessert shops, ice cream shops, takeaway, sweet shops, beverage shops, bakeries, and bars and acts as a complete solution, allowing taking orders through the website, and mobile app. The chosen business model should allow quick setup to instant order notifications, dynamic pricing, instant payment, and social media marketing. A website is accessible worldwide. Therefore it will be visible to a wider audience.

What is the cost of the online food delivery services market?

To a very large extent the cost to deliver food online depends upon:

• The overall cost of logistics, supply chain, delivery partners, and of course on restaurant and food preparation.
• This cost also includes the cost incurred during the fulfillment of the order
• The cost incurred during delivery of the order (fuel), the package boxing, gas, mileage of the vehicle
• Spoilage of food during delivery or due to temperature
• Leakage of liquids during delivery
• Spoilage of milk and dairy products due to limited shelf life
• Many such salient and subsidiary factors.
• Also, timely delivery, fresh groceries, fresh dairy, and hot and freshly cooked food play a major role in shaping all deliveries.

The net and overall cost of food delivering app/website depend upon the time consumed while designing screens, web services, admin panels, iOS Native apps, Android Native Apps, Cross Platform App, Secondary/supporting apps, and Web apps.

What challenges do food delivery apps face?

Third-party food delivery apps like Uber Eats (owned by Zomato), DoorDash, and GrubHub charge a considerable fee from restaurants, which makes them not-so-easy partners to deal with. Customer experience and convenience an intersecting point of the expenses of restaurants and the delivery partners who work hard at the last mile.

Learnings: What is the Future of Food Delivery Services?

Website development companies in India can rest assured that Ordering food can never lose its sheen owing to sedentary work setups, busy day-to-day schedules, and time constraints. Food service delivery providers and restaurants will require certification against a standard in order to secure a license to operate. Consumer applications will be made more transparent so that the end user gets to know every minute detail about the order. Inventory, production, logistics, and sales must be managed with immediate recallability and traceability. Restaurants will implement design innovations with a combination of rapid heating, cooking technology, hot-holding cabinets, and new traceability systems. Packaging should be safe with fully recyclable, safe, and fully traceable packaging systems. Aligned quality assurance processes will ensure that the consumers will choose the delivered product on the basis of assurance from the restaurant partner.