If you are a restaurant business owner planning to invest in a mobile restaurant app to grow your business, then you are on the right track. But have you ever thought about what makes the mobile app appealing to customers? Simple and intuitive features!

A top restaurant app development company believes that, if your mobile app doesn’t have any unique features, it’s sure that your app will be lost somewhere in the world of apps, and your dream of reaching a wider audience may shatter. So, how can you stop this from happening? The only way is by adding astounding food delivery features that enhance customer experience. 

 In this post, we will highlight eleven must-have features in your restaurant app that enhance customer engagement, which can help restaurant owners to expand their customer base and generate revenue. However, before we know the features, let’s put a glimpse at food delivery statistics. 

Important Food and Delivery Enterprise Statistics

Are you considering developing an online food ordering application but need to know if it is worthy investing in or not? Here are the following statistics to provide you with a clear picture. 

• By 2022, the online food delivery market had generated $63.2 billion in sales, a 10.7% increase from the previous year.
• 2027, it is anticipated that the market will have grown to a volume of $96.50 billion, representing an annual growth rate of 8.90% for revenue (CAGR 2022–2027).
• 2027, there will be over 217.1 million users of online food ordering applications.

These statistics demonstrate that there is a significant demand for online meal-ordering applications. Therefore, there is no reason why you should pass them on. But what features should a mobile restaurant app have? Let’s see.

11 Must-Have Features To Include in Your Restaurant Mobile App

Given below are eleven best restaurant app features that make your app stand out from the rest.

• E-Menu

The menu is one of the essential parts of any restaurant. Thus, having an e-menu feature in an app lets users explore all the cuisines and food items restaurant offers along with its engaging pictures, which make them irresistible to order.

The photos in the e-menus should be professionally clicked, the food should seem enticing, and the menu should be simple to navigate. When the users have a lot of dishes in front of them, they can get lost, which can have a negative imapct on your app. 

A smart filter is yet another function you can include in the e-menu. Thanks to the filter, users can easily find the precise dish they are craving. 

• Online Ordering Service

Another significant feature to include in a food app is an online delivery service. Since 69% of customers place food orders using a mobile device, it is one of the beneficial and significant aspects. 

Online ordering prevents customers from standing in huge lines at their preferred restaurants. The payment system over the app always makes the users happy. In addition, it increases customer satisfaction. 

As per the data, 67% of the consumers who order online visit the restaurant often. Having an online ordering feature in your food delivery app can positively impact your business.

• Online Table Reservation

Nobody likes to wait in a long queue, and everybody wants hassle-free service. The online table reservation feature allows customers to pre-book their table just like the OpenTable app so they don’t have to wait for others to finish their food. With this great features, your business will get a needed boost, guarantee that diners will receive their meals 60% faster and without having to wait.

• Real-Time Food Tracking

Nobody likes waiting for anything, especially when it comes to food. Thus, it is necessary to have real time food tracking feature in your app. Online meal tracking allows users and admins to track the progress of their orders.

The real-time status of food orders and the whereabouts of delivery workers inform users that their orders are being processed and make their waiting procedure less tedious. With this functionality, you can update users on the status of their orders and share the delivery partner’s details.

• Push Notifications

The push notifications will enable you to tell the customer when the order arrives at the delivery address and to remind them about the table reservation.

Additionally, you can use it to remind customers about forthcoming holidays like Valentine’s Day and invite them to reserve a table in advance and get a discount.

A push notification is like a miniature flier that you can use to inform your customer of exciting events, deals, and new menu items. This way, you will be able to keep your customer engaged, even if they are off their sites.

• Social Media Integration

Social media has significantly contributed to internet marketing in the past few years. This powerful platform can change the customer’s perspective about your restaurant.

Thanks to social media integration, customers can quickly share pictures or videos of their favorite meals with friends and family. Additionally, it can increase the visibility of your online food ordering app on social media, making it easier to draw clients regularly.

Customers may make the best use of social media. Businesses can integrate social media with loyalty/discount programs to encourage existing customers to refer new customers and earn points and prizes. It attracts new customers while converting one-time clients into regular customers.

• Customer Feedback Portal

Integrating customer feedback features in your app can help you reach a wider audience. Suppose your restaurant serves the best finger-licking food, but very few people know; how would you feel? Definitely hurtful!

But with the feedback section in your food delivery app, you will allow users to share their experience, which gives you various valuable insights that help you improve your overall business and keep you ahead of the competition. 

The feedback portal offers hassle-free customer care effortlessly because complaints or ideas may be addressed immediately, fostering client trust.

• Customer Support Via Chatbots

There is simply no comparison for applications when it comes to ease. But up until recently, human interaction was one thing that even apps couldn’t make possible. Fortunately, a new era has arrived. And chatbots have made customer service more effective and sophisticated than ever. 

Whether answering a call, solving a payment issue, or providing assistance while delivering an order, Chatbots are smart enough to engage with the customer and support your business in a big way. You and your customers will benefit from integrating chatbots for customer service in your restaurant or food delivery application.

• Easy & Secure Payment Method

These days, customers want convenient, secure, and various payment choices. Thus, integrating multiple payment methods can increase the appeal of your restaurant app. 

Additionally, this will help your business gain the client’s trust. Any owner of a restaurant or food delivery service should think about processing money via GooglePay, iOS Wallet, Amazon Pay, Stripe, and more such payment methods.  The more payment options there are, the better. Offering options is never a bad idea when it comes to a customer’s hard-earned money. 

• Food Customization 

Have you ever wanted to top your pizza with more cheese? Or you may want to take out or add some vegetables to your spaghetti. We all experience this at some point.

Many foodies are picky eaters who constantly require specially prepared meals. They prefer to consume food exactly how they desire.

Thus, incorporating food customization features in your mobile restaurant app can significantly impact your food business. Adding more, you can gain the trust of your foodie’s customers and consider making new decisions based on their experiences.

•  Loyalty Rewards

Every consumers are drawn by discounts and deals, but loyalty points is something that keep them returning to your food delivery service. Even offering loyalty rewards is one of the finest way to gain trust of existing customers. So, if you pay close attention to your loyalty programs, you can use this to draw more customers.

Incorporating these features in your food delivery application enables you to communicate with users directly. Today, there are various methods to offer customers rewards for their loyalty, like offering happy hour specials, issuing membership cards, and doing various other things that engage customers.

Benefits of Developing A Restaurant Mobile Application

After understanding the fundamental features your restaurant app must have, you must also comprehend the advantages it offers. It is an essential component of your restaurant app development roadmap.

• Rise In The Sales Graph

Developing a mobile restaurant application can help you boost sales. Today, nobody wants to experience late service in restaurants or overcrowded places. Everybody wants to be treated like they are special. 

When you develop your restaurant app, you not only give users access to make an advanced booking but also allow them to put instructions on the app so you can know what they actually expect from you. This will improve users’ experience, which helps in boosting your restaurant sales. 

• Raise Brand Awareness

Having a mobile app for your restaurant helps raise awareness of your brand. The use of applications has expanded along with the use of smartphones. By creating an app for your company, you can better connect with your customers and stay in touch with them at all times. Customers can be informed of sales, receive news, participate in contests and surveys, and provide comments.

You can post news, host contests, conduct polls, advertise offers to your customers, and seek their opinions.

• Easy Payment Process

In digitalization, giving your customer an app with an easy payment process can significantly impact your business. Integrating payment gateways into your app can help customers pay easily and rapidly, leading to a great customer experience. This automatically increases your sales when they share their experience with others.

Additionally, you will be able to devote more time on things that are more important for you, which will cut down on the time needed to handle cash payments. Remember, the more payment methods your app supports, the more it will be useful for your users. 

• Online Review, Rating & Presence

Restaurant mobile applications let you stand out from the crowd and build a positive online reputation. Additionally, using food restaurant apps is an excellent way to gather customer feedback and act on it right away. The feedback and rankings assist your restaurant in identifying problems and addressing them quickly.

Key Takeaways

Whether you are a restaurant owner desiring to enhance your sales, gain customers’ trust, or an entrepreneur planning to invest in the next major online food ordering service project. The features mentioned above are a requirement in your software to enhance the user experience.

However, a food delivery service app can only succeed based on its features. It must make ordering easier and provide excellent customer service.

You can hire the most reliable mobile app development services to ensure your idea for a food app is a success.