Congratulations- You’ve just opened your new restaurant, great!
But wait!
If you believe it’s enough to bring a chockful of customers to your table then it’s time to wake up! The clock is ticking!
Many startups make this mistake and ultimately, shut their restaurant right after 6 months or a year (that hurts a lot, though).
Don’t want to join the league? Well, it’s time to invest in mobile app development for restaurants!
Investing in a dedicated restaurant app could help your business drive more customers and eventually, increase revenue. When your customers feel at ease ordering and making payments, they’ll likely visit your place again. Furthermore, developing such an app will give you a competitive edge in the market.
Still in a dilemma? Let’s set our sights on the top benefits of building a solid restaurant mobile app!
But before that, let’s dive into its meaning, important facts, benefits, and more.
Restaurant Mobile App: What is it?
In layman’s language, a restaurant mobile app is a dedicated software app that helps restaurants provide better food ordering or dining experience. With the app, restaurant owners may enable a multitude of tasks, including food ordering, table reservations, payments, discounts, loyalty programs, and more. Furthermore, there’s no need to stand in line to place an order. Customers may simply order and track their food and if the offers are underway, they can get some amazing cashbacks.
But remember that the features and functionalities of a restaurant app may vary from one restaurant to another. Before you dive into the designing aspect, consider your target audience and your business objectives to make the best out of your mobile app development.
The popularity of restaurant mobile apps is booming and the stats don’t lie!
Important Facts & Statistics Related to Online Apps for Restaurants/Food Delivery
- The food delivery app market is expected to reach a $165 billion market size by 2029.
- Nearly 50% of restaurant owners prefer mobile payment options for their guests.
- More than 50% of US diners are likely to prefer a restaurant’s own branded app to ensure the restaurant is credible.
- More than 30% of global customers prefer to order directly from a restaurant’s mobile app.
Well, that’s the popularity of mobile apps!
Now, you might have understood why restaurant mobile apps are so important for both owners and customers.
Without further ado, let’s dive into the benefits of mobile app development for your business!
5 Biggest Reasons to Invest in Mobile App Development for Restaurants
Let’s take a look at the top 5 benefits of building a solid restaurant mobile app.
Reason #1: Customer Engagement
Building a solid restaurant app may help you get in touch with your customers and build a long-term professional relationship with them. Once the user downloads the app, they will get notifications about the latest details, special menus, new add-ons, news, or anything else. Whenever any notifications come on their phone, they will get a reminder of your business and will most likely order it if they feel like doing so. Moreover, whenever you order something, the customers’ friends or friendly will likely inquire about your brand. This, in turn, will help create brand awareness.
Reason #2: Boost Your Restaurant’s Visibility
When it comes to increasing your brand’s visibility, building an app is the best thing that you can ever do! Remember that a professionally crafted mobile app infused with user-friendly features will facilitate a seamless customer experience. Furthermore, when your app is so good that is now available on Google Play Store & Apple Store, customers will likely notice and download it.
Besides implementing robust features (discussed below), try to integrate social media sharing to bring more visibility via word-of-mouth marketing. Ultimately, all these aspects combined altogether will help escalate your sales figures.
Reason #3: Easier Ordering
Everybody is busy with their work! And even if you ask someone to pass you a glass of water, it wreaks havoc on their spine. Thanks to technology, you may now build a solid restaurant app that enables your customers to order food in just 2 minutes. With a dedicated mobile app, customers may easily browse menus, customize orders, and pay their bills with just a click. Thus, it helps save their valuable time and now they can use that time and labour in doing some other work.
Reason #4: Payments & Loyalty Additions
Technology has paved the way for convenient and hassle-free payment transfers like UPI, Credit Cards, Credits, and more. Well, you cannot expect your customers to stand in a queue and pay their bills. During the app development process, integrate mobile payment options to ensure quick and cashless transactions. Remember that if you don’t integrate quick and secure online payment methods, your customers feel you’re obsolete.
It’s 2024!
Every app has a unified payment interface. There’s hardly any app without any seamless mobile payment integration!
Furthermore, integrating loyalty programs may give you an edge over your competition. Keep in mind that customers like rewards are a deciding factor among customers in choosing your restaurant or your competitor’s. The seamless integration of payment and incentive elements improves customer retention and experience.
Reason #5: Gain Insights for Informed Decision-Making
How would you know what your customers crave for these days? How would you know what customer searches the most? This is where the benefit of building a mobile app development comes in! Remember that understanding your customers’ preferences is important to ensure you provide personalized recommendations. Infused with modern features, a mobile app provides you with in-depth insights into the users that allow you to understand your audience better. Based on your user’s preferences and order history, you can refine your menu and implement custom marketing techniques to facilitate customer satisfaction.
That’s the list of the benefits of investing in mobile app development!
But things are not done yet!
If your app lacks valuable features then it’s of no use. Remember that incorporating the right set of features may help your business gain an edge over the competition and make your app stand out!
Top Features to Include in Mobile Apps for Restaurants
- Table Reservation
It helps customers to book a table in advance to avoid hassles in finding the table at the last moment.
- Digital menu
This feature provides a comprehensive menu of cuisines, combos, beverages, and other offered items.
- Location-based Services
Ensure you integrate location-based services like geofencing and beacons into your restaurant mobile app to foster customer engagement.
- Chatbots
Facilitates quick and seamless communication with customers to provide them with information about offers, discounts, and follow-ups. Furthermore, it even handles their general queries.
- Online Food Tracking
This feature allows users and owners (you) to track the progress of their orders.
- Quick Ordering or Order Scheduling
It allows your customer to add their favorite food items or previously ordered dishes directly to the cart to facilitate quick order placement.
- Push Notifications
Send push notifications to your customers and let them know about newly added dishes, the latest offers, deals, and discounts. To enjoy maximum customer engagement, try to add their names whenever you send push notifications on their smartphones.
Final Thoughts
So, there you have it! These are just a few reasons to consider investing in a mobile app for your restaurant!
From enhanced customer engagement to informed decision-making, building a robust restaurant mobile app may let you reap countless benefits. Whether you want to attract your target audience or increase your overall revenue, developing a mobile app serves all your business purposes.
Don’t have time to invest in restaurant mobile app development? Do you want professional app development assistance? If so, your search ends here!
EitBiz is a leading mobile app development company in the USA that leverages ultra-modern technology to build a mobile app for restaurants and improve your customers’ in-app experience. Our team of 50+ app developers and designers not only craft ordinary apps but ensure each digital product is secure, feature-rich, performance-driven, and scalable to achieve your business goals.
Let’s build your restaurant app today! Drop us an email at info@eitbiz.com or call us at +1 (812)530-6300 today!