7 Tips to Build a Restaurant Finder Mobile App like Zomato?

In this country of 132.42 crores people, almost all are a foodie! There are many metro cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, etc. All these countries are filled with people who work hard to earn and sustain the competition. It is not possible for all to cook daily after a hectic schedule. Also, the number of outings are more in metro cities. Plus, there are 337 million smartphone users in India. That is more than the total population of most of the countries! Hence, restaurant mobile app development companies are working towards this market.

Have you ever heard of Zomato? That is the best restaurant finder app. Wait! That is not it. It is also an on-demand mobile app. An on-demand mobile app is something that offers real-time and hassles free services. It is basically a mediator between a service provider and consumers. Users usually prefer to pay a small fee for what they want instead of spending a lot of time. These on-demand service apps are best for people with lack of free time and hectic schedules.

Let us see what Zomato is and a bit of its history:

Zomato was found in the year 2008 by 2 Indian men named Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah. Starting from India, it now operates in 23 countries including superpower country the USA and Australia. In the year 2016, Mr. Goyal said that the company Zomato is worth 1 billion US dollars. The headquarter of Zomato are in Gurgaon. This hyper-growth 'restaurant search and discovery app is one of the most successful startups in India. When introduced, it was just a restaurant finder and many industry leaders did not find it promising. Time being, it changed the whole scenario and now is super successful.

Now the main question is how does Zomato earn? Zomato is an app that is present is almost every millennial’s smartphone. As we know, Zomato is free of cost application. What is the income source? 75% of the revenue is generated by restaurant advertising. Zomato approaches different restaurants and cafes no matter what size and standard. It advertises on behalf of these restaurants and showcases their features. As there are 10 million active users of Zomato, the restaurants that show advertises on Zomato surely earn good revenue out of this investment. Obviously, these restaurants pay a good amount to Zomato for the advertisement. Also, a revenue is generated from ticket sales. The Zomato business app earns money from restaurants that wish to register on Zomato. It has a yearly package for such restaurants. Have you heard of Zomato book? It offers analytics, smart table management, staff management, online reservation management, CRM and much more for large-scale restaurants i.e. elite restaurants. Zomato white label offers customized apps for restaurants with customized designs, low cost, easy control, powerful integration and push notification.

Let us see how to build a restaurant finder mobile app like Zomato?

1. Include a sign-up process: A signup process is usually the most boring step. Unfortunately, it is the first step and many users discard signing up due to the lengthy process. Just like Zomato, let your new users sign up easily with social media sites like Facebook. It requires social media integration. This helps the sign-up process to be easy and faster.

2. Social media integration: As mentioned above social media integration can let users sign up easily and quickly. But that is not it. It has many other benefits. On Zomato, many users share posts from Zomato directly on Facebook and Instagram. These posts can be about favorite food, great ambiance, food events, parties, etc. It helps restaurants to promote their brand. In the marketing industry, the brand which is promoted by end users is considered as the best one.

3. User profile: This is very important. The user profile contains search history, order history, details such as when the order was placed, when the order was received, delivery guy’s details, favorites list, friend’s chat, past ratings/reviews added, etc. You can ask the app development company to add animations of faces of the user to make it more fun to use.

4. Detailed restaurant information and menu: This is the basic motto behind developing an app and hence should be given top most priority. Any user wishes to see detailed information about restaurant or cafe including items in the menu with respective rates, today’s special menu, discounts, offers, exact location, contact details, rating & reviews of the restaurant, etc. The menu should be interactive and in a scanning manner. This enhances the customer experience. It is recommended to add high definition images of all items on the menu so that users get an idea of how food looks and feels.

5. Search option: It is recommended to add a search option and divide it into many categories such as; on the basis of location, nearby restaurants, cuisine, price, restaurant name, etc. Since a restaurant finder app has details of multiple restaurants, the user cannot go through all restaurants as it will not be feasible. Always offer a rich search option with multiple filters.

6. Table booking: Restaurant finder app like Zomato is widely used to book tables in advance. This feature is mandatory to add in your restaurant mobile app. Users can simply select the restaurant of their choice and book table for as many people as they can. This feature is best for restaurants that are always crowded. It is not recommended for restaurants that are not much crowded and has many empty tables.

7. Delivery tracking: Zomato’s delivery tracking system is amazing. Again, you need to integrate with other apps and services. To add a delivery tracking mechanism, you need to integrate GPS. Many apps such as Zomato display the exact location of delivery guy so that user can be sure whether the order is on right track or not. Also, the user should be able to contact the delivery guy and customer service.

Conclusion: These were the 7 guideline points used for food delivery app development like Zomato. Zomato has immense popularity due some extraordinary features. To build a mobile app like Zomato, you need to consider certain parameters like add delivery tracking, table booking, restaurant information, search option, etc.