The time has changed immensely. Now you don’t have to wait to book a table in your favourite Restaurant. You can order food online from the restaurant of your choice and enjoy the meal in your comfortable sitting at home watching your favourite TV show. The apps like Zomato and open table are getting popular because of the ease that these bring in our lives in getting the food of our choice whenever we want.

There are two types of people who look to develop mobile apps like Zomato:

1. Restaurant owners who want to have their own app for their restaurants.
2. Businesses that work as an aggregator for finding restaurants, ordering food and booking tables.

If we look in the history of Zomato, we will find that the platform was specifically designed for the people to find the place to eat. Later on, the company added the food delivery service so that customers can take benefit of order from home when all the tables of their favourite restaurants are booked. The biggest competitor of Zomato is Open table which started in 1998. Open table is a booking app where anyone can make reservations in over 48,000 restaurants.

Things to consider when developing the app for like Zomato or Open table:

The first thing that one should consider while developing a Restaurant App is its UI and UX. If the app is not neat and is difficult to use, the client won’t use it. The app should be appealing to the eyes and should be easy to use. If you want to develop an aggregator-type of restaurant app, then the following features are must-have:

1. Geo-location – The main aim of any restaurant app is to allow the user to select from a variety of restaurants to dine in. Most of the customers like to pick the restaurant which is nearer to their location. Therefore, a location-based search is must to have. Google map integration is important to let the customers find and navigate the place they like.
2. Filters- Filters are important because it gives the customers the results that they are looking for. The filter result can be on the basis of price, cuisine, time, neighbourhood and seating options. You can also search result in alphabetical order or according to the rating.
3. Search feature – Search is another important feature of add as it allows the clients to find the restaurant of their choice by its name. The search feature should contain the time, date, cuisine, party size etc.
4. Order history or Booking – It’s not uncommon to forget things and people tend to forget the name of the restaurants from which they have ordered their food last time and liked it. Booking history will make it possible for the clients to check the name of those restaurants that they have liked in the past.
5. Social media – Integrating social media is also very important as it will let the users share their experience with friends and family members.
6. Reviews and ratings – It is a well-known fact that most people check reviews online before making any purchases. User reviews make the app more reliable. Provision to add photographs is another great feature that will make a difference for the diners.
7. Multiple language support – The feature is especially valuable when your service is available in multiple countries or in a country with lots of tourists.
8. Integration with multiple restaurants – If the restaurants that you have partnered with have their own websites, then you can integrate it with your app which will allow you to use their menu, photos and prices.
9. Rewards and special offers – Everyone like offers and people like it more when they get loyalty rewards. It’s the best way to make them keep on coming again and again to your app.
10. Payment through the app – It’s easy to pay the restaurants via the app. People want to eliminate the hassle of paying the restaurants by going there physically. In-app payment allows the user to make the payment from home comfortably.

A separate app for restaurants:

Managing restaurants apps need a solid backend to store the database of the clients. The stored database can be used for the marketing purposes which you and the restaurants that you have partnered with can use for promotion and marketing. You can also use the database for the upcoming events like launching of a new place to eat, new rewards and loyalty programs etc. The restaurant app needs to be developed for android and iPads as it allows the clear view of the app even from the ultra-portable devices.

Cost for developing the restaurant app:

Many factors affect the cost of developing the restaurant app like technology that you use and the team that you hire for the development. People who like to build an app or a website from scratch should hire dedicated developers India. This will save you from the hassle of hiring every professional individually. Dedicated developing companies already have good designers, quality assurance and backend specialists, project managers and analysts in their team. They have a range of specializations. Most of the mobile app development companies help you in validating your app idea and keep on giving you the support even after the app is launched. The cost to develop the app will depend on the company’s size and its location that you have hired. You will need a team of project managers, iOS developers, designers, Android developers, QA specialist, and Backend specialists. The cost will change if you want a single or cross platform app. The number of features that you want to implement will also impact the development cost of the app.

Restaurant app development is not an easy process; therefore, it requires you to hire dedicated developers India. If you want to earn big with your app, make sure that you work with the team that is expert in its work.