How to Build a Food Delivery App Like Uber Eats: A Detailed Guide

As of 2024, Uber Eats operates in 6000 cities across 45 countries. The population of most of these cities exceeds 100,000 residents.

But what about consumers located far from major urban areas? What about small towns or rural regions? Here, we can reveal a considerable Uber Eats' drawback. The service operates in big cities only, targeting highly populated areas while small towns worldwide remain uncovered. There are massive spots on the world map where demand for Uber Eats-like app is giant.

And that's where you can succeed.

If you are looking for ways to satisfy the needs Uber Eats misses, you have come to the right place. In this article, we will provide the answers to the sharpest questions:

• How to create an app like Uber Eats?
• What features are a must?
• How to monetize your idea?
• How much does app development cost?

And even more!

Get ready to succeed in the rapidly growing industry in 2024.

Uber Eats business model: how it works?

Uber Eats is the product of Uber, a world-renowned unicorn and a game-changer in the transportation industry. Both apps represent the concept of the sharing economy and on-demand services. Uber offers ride-sharing opportunities, and Uber Eats allows individuals to earn money by delivering meals from local restaurants and cafes to customers.

So how do winning delivery apps like Uber Eats work? Such apps provide services for three groups of users (restaurants, customers, and couriers).

• A restaurant creates an account, provides a description and precise address, publishes a menu with prices and photos, and receives orders from customers;
• Customers, in turn, sign up and create an account, browse available places and menus, choose meals, and order them via the app;
• Delivery guys register on the platform, get notifications about orders, accept the ones they can fulfill, pick up the food, and take it to the customer's doorstep.

Uber Eats handles all transactions, calculates approximate distances and arrival times, allows tracking food routes, etc.

Uber Eats revenue: how it’s monetized?

If you want to know how to develop a food delivery app like Uber Eats, you probably also want to know how it’s monetized. So, let's pay particular attention to Uber Eats monetization model. Now, it charges customers and restaurants for each order. The exact amount of fees varies from location to location.

Uber Eats customers pay delivery and service fees per order.

Restaurants pay for the service to make their accounts active and visible to potential customers. Besides, they pay a fee per order:

In turn, the platform pays a driver for each successful order. The payment structure is rather complex and consists of base fare, trip supplement, promotions, and tips.

Why it’s worth investing in food delivery app development in 2024: key statistics

As of 2024, Uber Eats is definitely one of the leaders in the food delivery industry. So, what are the current opportunities for startup founders wanting to create a food delivery application? Let’s take a look at some stats:

• In 2024, approximately three billion people used online food delivery services.
• With 1.9 billion users in 2024, Asia appears to be the biggest market for food delivery services today.
• There are a lot of reasons why people use food delivery apps. For example, DoorDash revealed that the primary reason why people order food delivery is convenience (63%), and the second (43%) is that they don’t feel like going out.
• DoorDash also reports that almost half of Americans (49%) order restaurant food weekly.

These statistics show that the market for food delivery apps is growing steadily, and it makes sense to enter it.

Critical features for your app like Uber Eats

When entering the food delivery industry in 2024, the critical point is to start as fast as possible and roll out a robust application while competitors are distracted with minor tasks.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a way to achieve your goals. This is a chance to win a market share in a defined region and lay the foundation for a viable grocery delivery app. Once you have a simple MVP powered with crucial features, you can verify your concept, find out customers' opinions, present your business in a local market, and raise funds to grow your business.

To make an app like Uber Eats quickly, you need to prioritize essential features first. Knowing Uber Eats' basic functionality, you can easily decide which to include in your app.

The features we've collected in the table below are essential. With a basic budget only, you can bring them to life on an MVP stage. Check it out!

Specific features for restaurants

• Menu

Let restaurants describe their assortment in detail, enhance it with photos, etc.

• Order management

Restaurants receive multiple orders. Show them in a convenient table, and let restaurants change order status (e.g., preparing an order, fulfilling an order, passing it to a courier).

Specific features for customers

• Search and filters

Customers appreciate easy filtering. Let them find precisely what they're looking for in a defined area.

• Order placement

Once a choice is made, guide a customer to the checkout.

Specific features for couriers

• Order management and status update

Let delivery guys accept or decline orders, as well as update status: "picked from a restaurant," "on its way," "delivered to a customer."

Platform administrator: the trouble solver

Another role that takes part in a platform is an administrator. This person represents the platform and mainly deals with these tasks:

• Relationship management

As the food delivery platform grows, conflicts may erupt. Customers' concerns, couriers' troubles, transportation incidents, scams, and fraud – the administrator should be ready for potential issues, react correctly, and fix them fast.

• Customer support

Customers appreciate the help and fast response. If they need a step-by-step registration guide or have any recommendations, wishes, or questions, there should always be someone available to assist them.

• Performance monitoring

The admin tracks key performance indicators such as delivery times, customer satisfaction ratings, and order accuracy, identifies areas for improvement, and implements strategies to enhance overall performance.

• Feedback Collection

Admin is also the one to gather feedback from customers, restaurants, and couriers.

Now, let's see how to build a delivery app powered with these features.

How to Build an App Like Uber Eats in 6 Steps

You've just shortlisted critical features and can't wait to start acting. What's next?

1. Start with market research

You've come here with an idea of how your app should look and where it should operate. The next thing you should do is conduct market research - the process of gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about a market you are about to enter, including information about your target audience, competitors, and overall industry state to make informed business decisions.

Let’s now see what it takes to conduct market research for your food delivery app startup.

• Investigate uncovered markets

Earlier, we noted that Uber Eats operates in a limited number of cities. To compete with an influential market leader, your app should either have unique, exceptional features or… serve the needs of particular user groups.

Take a look at cities, states, and countries where you can meet Uber Eats couriers, and focus on destinations that don't belong to that list.

For instance:

• Uber Eats doesn’t operate in Thailand. Tourists who are already used to ordering food in their home countries would want the same seamless experience during their vacations.
• There is Uber Eats in Japan and Australia, but currently, in the big cities only;
• The service doesn't operate in Czech Republic, Hungary, and several other European countries;
• You won't find Uber Eats drivers in small towns worldwide as the service mainly targets big cities.

Remember that even if you focus on a market full of similar apps, you still have a chance to succeed. When Uber Eats started operating in Toronto, the app's product manager Chetan Narain noticed that customers were more than happy to try a new solution.

With this in mind, you can target potentially profitable locations and think of a unique value proposition.

• Learn your competitors

Conducting competitor research is crucial when building a food delivery app like Uber Eats. You need to understand what existing players are doing well and where they fall short. This will help you identify opportunities and avoid common pitfalls.

Currently, the most globally popular food delivery apps are Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub, and Zomato. Of course, you probably won’t be able to compete with them after launching the first version of your app. However, you can study their features, user interface, and strong sides that made them this popular.

However, apart from market leaders, there are also small local online food delivery services on the market you are about to enter. They will probably be your direct competitors. You can examine their customers’ feedback, identify gaps, and create a unique value proposition for your app. You can focus on areas where competitors lag, such as better customer service, lower fees, or faster delivery times.

By doing thorough competitor research, you will be equipped to create a food delivery app that stands out in the crowded market.

In this part, we have described only a small part of pre-development activities. Check our discovery phase services to find out what else it takes to minimize all risks for successful app development.

Step 2. Design your application

Another thing you should do is create the app's prototype. This is a sample, a graphical representation of how your app will look on a user's screen. In a mock-up, you should highlight relations between screens. This task will be done by a UI/UX designer within your development team. This specialist may:

• Recommend the most user-oriented color scheme for your app
• Draw minimalistic, straightforward design components
• Suggest optimal UX design

An app's prototype is not only about a beautiful picture. It is also about well-thought-out logic. To do everything right and make your app attractive to a target group of users, involve a qualified business analyst in the process.

Step 3. Choose a tech stack

There are two optimal ways to build a food delivery application MVP: a web app or a cross-platform mobile app. These options allow the creation of applications accessible to everyone using scalable modern technologies without investing a fortune in the development process. Let’s see how to choose a proper tech stack for them.

Web app development

Web apps are accessible from any device with a browser, ensuring broad reach and easy accessibility for users. Building a web app using frameworks like Angular, React, or Vue.js is the most efficient path to creating a robust MVP. The combination of Node.js and Express.js allows for fast and efficient server-side development in JavaScript. This can speed up development time as the same language is used for both front-end and back-end.

Cross-platform development

Cross-platform development means building an app that works well on any device, serving iOS and Android users' needs in the same way. This is a faster, easier, and more affordable way to produce a high-quality MVP than building native applications for the mentioned platforms.

To build a cross-platform mobile app, you need developers proficient in cross-platform frameworks like React Native or Flutter. Until you validate the app's concept and make sure your idea is viable, building a cross-platform app is an optimal solution for your business.

Step 4. Develop a quality MVP

Earlier, we identified the list of must-have features for your app. Now, it's time to implement these features. MVP is not an excuse to release a bunch of low-quality features. It's about launching only basic functionality that works as well as possible.

One of the key components to successful MVP creation is choosing the right development methodology. At Clockwise Software, we mostly stick to Agile methodology.

Why?

Agile development is ideal for MVP creation. It promotes iterative progress, allowing you to continuously refine the product based on user feedback. This approach helps you quickly address any issues and make necessary improvements.

Agile also promotes close collaboration between the team members:

Here's a breakdown of key roles and their responsibilities:

1. The project manager oversees the entire development process, ensuring that everything goes on time and within budget, coordinates between different team members, and handles any issues that arise.
2. UI/UX designer collaborates closely with developers to implement the design accurately.
3. Front-end developers are responsible for the parts of the app that users interact with, bringing the UI/UX design to life.
4. Back-end developers handle the server-side logic, ensuring the app runs smoothly and efficiently.
5. QA testers play a crucial role in identifying and fixing bugs. During the whole development life cycle, they conduct various tests, including functional, usability, and performance testing, to ensure that the app is reliable and meets user expectations.

A skilled development team and the right development team will allow you to build a quality MVP that will attract investors' attention.

Step 5. Work on your app’s refinement

So, now you know how to start a food delivery app. But what’s next?

After your MVP is up and running, you need to use it with maximum results.

• Collect feedback

That's one of the critical MVP purposes. Ask for users' opinions, listen to their wishes, and consider their preferences to make your app better.

• Grow the user base

Offer your first users to invite friends in exchange for a discount at a specific restaurant. Offer restaurants the opportunity to attract their customers in exchange for a lower service fee. Brainstorm and generate new ways of user acquisition in your region. Try all of them to get the best numbers.

• Attract investments

Bootstrapped money may be enough for a high-quality MVP. But to keep rising, you need some considerable external investments. Investigate available fundraising methods and focus on your goal.

• Test several monetization models

In the beginning, you, just like Uber Eats, may charge the service fee. This is the straightforward way to monetize an on-demand delivery app. However, as your product grows, you can make a profit using several more channels like:

• advertising,
• promoted listings,
• paid content,
• premium services,
• first-row delivery,
• and even subscriptions!

With enough funds, a vibrant user base, and strong confidence, you can start working on improving the MVP and upgrading it to a full-featured solution.

In conclusion

Building a food delivery app like Uber Eats requires strategic planning and understanding of market dynamics. Here’s a quick recap:

• Start with thorough market research to identify underserved areas and understand your competitors.
• Develop a user-friendly prototype with an intuitive design.
• Opt for cross-platform or web development to save time and resources
• Ensure the high quality of your application via thorough testing by a competent QA engineer.
• Once your app is live, collect user feedback, grow your user base, attract investments, and explore various monetization models.

By following our recommendations, you can successfully launch and scale your food delivery app and capture market share in this growing industry. Stay focused on delivering value and continuously improving your app to meet user needs.