The rapidly expanding food delivery app market presents significant growth opportunities for established players like Zomato, Uber Eats, and Swiggy, as well as emerging food delivery startups.
You can expect over 10% yearly growth until 2030 in the food delivery landscape.
So, if you are thinking of creating a food delivery app like Zomato, the timing is just right.
More and more consumers are relying on these apps daily. Plus, smartphone accessibility has made this business really lucrative.
But building a successful food delivery app is not easier said than done.
It takes serious investment: money, hard work, and expertise, especially when you’re dealing with complex, AI-driven app features, data sets, and ordering workflows.
So, we’ve mentioned everything you’ll need to know about building a Zomato-like app.
From key delivery app features to the app development process, and even the costs involved in creating a Zomato-like app—we’ve covered everything. Happy reading!
Is Zomato Profitable? Current Stats & Business Outcomes
Zomato was founded with a vision to provide better food to more people by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah in 2008.
What started as a small restaurant-listing-and-recommendation portal has now become a multi-national restaurant aggregator and food delivery company.
As a matter of fact, in 2021, Zomato went public, opening its initial public offering at a valuation of over US$8 billion.
Since then, the company has come a long way by launching lucrative subsidiaries like Blinkit, District, and Hyperpure.
Based on Zomato’s business KPIs, it is quite evident that the food delivery giant witnessed tremendous growth in the financial year 24-25.
In Q3FY25, Zomato’s Gross Order Value (GOV) saw a substantial 57% year-over-year (YoY) increase, reaching ₹20,206 crore.
Zomato reported a significant 128% YoY growth in Consolidated Adjusted EBITDA, demonstrating improved operational efficiency and profitability. This growth was largely attributed to improved margins within the food delivery segment.
Zomato’s strategic focus is multifaceted. It includes expanding the quick commerce network to capture a larger market share, improving operational efficiency, and exploring new markets and business opportunities.
Zomato is also actively addressing competitive pressures from new market players. As a result, Zomato is reallocating resources to focus on customer retention and improving the overall customer experience.
According to the FY reports, Zomato is actively working on improving its dining-out segment and gold subscription program.
Key Features of a Food Delivery App like Zomato
A successful food delivery app like Zomato relies on a carefully designed ecosystem of interconnected mobile applications, POS systems, and analytical dashboards.
Only when the customer, driver, admin, and restaurant vendor apps work together can a seamless customer experience be achieved.
That being said, let’s explore some of the critical features of an app like Zomato:
1. Customer App / User Interface:
The customer app is the primary touchpoint for users as it facilitates restaurant discovery, menu browsing, real-time order placement, and delivery. Here are some of its key features:
Restaurant Discovery & Menu Browsing
The customer-facing app usually displays a list of hyper-local restaurants along with comprehensive menus. It also provides high-quality images of dishes with accurate restaurant addresses, phone numbers, operating hours, and customer ratings.
Advanced search and filtering
Most apps like Zomato make restaurant and menu browsing easier for customers through the advanced in-app search feature. This, along with search filters, enables users to search for restaurants based on the type of cuisine, dietary restrictions, price range, reviews, and location.
Ordering
The customer-facing interface of a food delivery app is also equipped to take online orders. Through a user-friendly UI, customers can place orders by adding items to a cart and checking them out virtually. Customers can also customize orders or adjust food quantities if needed.
Payment Transactions
A customer-facing app should have multiple secure payment gateways, including credit/debit cards, digital wallets, UPI, and cash on delivery (where applicable), with robust security measures.
Customer Support
Food delivery giants like Zomato take customer support seriously. They have AI chatbots that can solve almost any customer query in seconds. Additionally, apps like Zomato also have in-app texting and calling options, which can help users connect with restaurants or delivery drivers.
Order History
This app feature lets users access past orders and reorder their favorite meals easily.
Live Order Tracking
Using this feature, customers can view their delivery driver’s location and estimated delivery time without calling or following up with the restaurant vendor.
Push Notifications
Zomato uses a variety of sassy and well-written push notification messages to provide timely updates on order status, delivery progress, and even promotional offers.
Review and Rating
Have you ordered something lately without first looking at its reviews? No, right? This is exactly why you need an interactive, easy-to-use ratings and review system for your Zomato-like app. These will help your app users decide where to order food and what dishes to get.
2. Restaurant Vendor App
The restaurant vendor app serves as the digital hub for restaurants, enabling them to manage their online presence, orders, and customers. Here are some of its key features:
Menu Management
The restaurant vendor app allows restaurants to create, edit, and update their digital menus in real-time. This includes adding high-quality images of dishes, detailed descriptions, and pricing. Restaurants can also categorize menu items and highlight specials.
Inventory Management
Restaurants can track ingredient availability in real time, preventing overselling. They can also temporarily or permanently mark items as “out of stock.” This food delivery app feature helps restaurants maintain accurate inventory and avoid order fulfillment issues.
Order Management
Zomato-like apps typically alert restaurant vendors of incoming orders instantly. They also provide detailed order information, including customer details, order specifics, and delivery instructions.
Restaurants can also update order statuses, such as “received,” “preparing,” and “ready for pickup/delivery,” and manage estimated preparation and delivery times.
Customer Relationship Management
Restaurants can access customer reviews and ratings to monitor customer satisfaction and address concerns. They can also respond to customer feedback and engage with their customer base.
Performance and Analytics
Food delivery apps like Zomato provide detailed reports on sales volume, revenue, and order trends. Restaurant vendors can use this data to evaluate their business performance.
Such real-time analytics also give insight into popular menu items, customer preferences, and delivery efficiency.
3. Delivery Driver App
The delivery driver app serves as the core tool for drivers, enabling them to manage their deliveries efficiently and ensure timely service. Here are some of its key features:
Order Management
This feature provides delivery drivers with detailed order information, including precise addresses, delivery times, and any specific instructions from the customer or restaurant.
GPS Navigation
The driver app is integrated with GPS. This provides turn-by-turn navigation and optimized routing, helping drivers find the fastest and most efficient routes to their destinations. This minimizes delivery times and maximizes driver efficiency.
Earnings Tracker
This feature allows drivers to track their delivery history, earnings, and tips and offers instant payout options for quick and convenient access to their earnings.
4. Admin App
Everything seamlessly happening on your food delivery app results from an intuitive and well-designed admin.
Dashboard Analytics
The admin dashboard of an app like Zomato provides a centralized overview of the entire platform’s performance, including key metrics like order volume, revenue, customer acquisition costs, delivery times, and more.
User Management
This feature enables administrators to manage all user accounts, including customers, restaurants, and delivery drivers. It includes functionalities like user registration, verification, account management, and role-based access control, ensuring data security and efficient user management.
Restaurant Management
This feature of the food delivery app enables administrators to manage restaurant listings, menus, and promotions.
It includes functionalities like restaurant onboarding, menu updates, and promotional campaign management, ensuring accurate information and effective marketing strategies.
Financial Management
This module provides a centralized system for managing payments, processing transactions, and generating financial reports. It includes features like payment gateway integration, transaction tracking, and revenue analysis, ensuring secure and transparent financial management.
How to Create an App Like Zomato?
Building a Zomato-like app is a step-by-step process. Here’s a simple guide to get started.
Step 1: Define your USPs
Zomato already exists. What makes your app different? Is it a niche cuisine, faster delivery, lower fees, a focus on local restaurants, or a unique user experience?
Think about this and make a list of your unique selling propositions to get started with the development of a food delivery app like Zomato.
Step 2: Feature Definition
Decide which features are key for your app. Start with the most important ones. Add extra features later in updates. Focus on these core features first:
- Restaurant discovery
- Menu browsing
- Live order tracking
- Multiple payment options
- Reviews and ratings
Step 3: Design and Prototyping
When it comes to food apps, design isn’t just nice to have—it’s crucial.
Think about it: you eat with your eyes first! That’s why Zomato uses high-quality images to grab your attention.
So, for your Zomato-like app, investing in a visually appealing design is essential. It might cost a bit more, but it’s what will draw users in and keep them coming back.
Step 4: Development Process and Tech Stack
The development phase involves translating the design and requirements into a functional code.
Here, the choice of technology stack is critical and it depends on your target audience, platform strategy, and budget.
For cross-platform development, React Native is a popular choice, while native development might be preferred for platform-specific optimization.
Backend development means using technologies like Python/Django to build the server-side logic and database. The backend will be used to manage restaurant data, user accounts, and order processing.
The front-end development focuses on the user-facing interfaces. Simultaneously, development of the restaurant-facing application, and the delivery-facing application, takes place.
APIs are integrated for payment gateways, GPS, and other essential services. Throughout the development process, version control systems like Git ensure code integrity and collaboration.
Step 5: QA and Testing
Following development, rigorous testing and quality assurance (QA) are conducted to ensure the food delivery app’s functionality and performance.
Functional testing verifies that all features work as intended, while usability testing gathers feedback from real users to identify and address any usability issues.
Performance testing checks the app’s responsiveness and stability under various load conditions.
Lastly, security testing ensures the app is secure and protects user data.
Once testing is complete and any necessary fixes are implemented, the app is ready for deployment. The app is submitted to the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, and the backend code is deployed to the server.
Step 6: Launch and Marketing
Time to launch! Put your app on the App Store and Google Play Store. Have a marketing plan ready. This includes social media, ads, influencers, SEO, and referrals.
Step 7: Post-Launch Maintenance
Post-launch, ongoing maintenance and updates are crucial for the app’s success. Based on user feedback and market trends, bug fixes, feature updates, performance monitoring, and security patches are continuously implemented.
The Cost of Developing a Food Delivery App like Zomato
Building a food delivery app like Zomato from scratch is an intensive and expensive process. As a result, there is no simple answer to the question: how much does it take to build an app like Zomato?
Many factors affect the final cost. In this section, we’ve tried to list all the pricing components.
App Complexity and Features
The cost of building a food delivery app like Zomato depends on the complexity and type of features selected. Naturally, a simple app with basic features costs less. While a food delivery app with advanced features like real-time tracking and AI costs more.
- Basic App: $1500 – $2500 (INR 1,30,000 – INR 2,16,000) – Simple features only.
- Medium Complexity App: $2500 – $5,000 (INR 2,16,000 – INR 4,34,000) – Some advanced features.
- High Complexity App: $5000 – $10,000 + (INR 4,34,000 – INR 8,66,000 +) – Many advanced features, complex design.
Platform (iOS, Android, or Both)
The platform you choose also matters. One platform is cheaper than two, and building for both iOS and Android costs more.
- iOS or Android Only: $1000 – $2000 (INR 86,000 – INR 1,73,000) – For one platform only.
- Cross-Platform: $3000 – $5000 (INR 2,60,000 – INR 4,34,000) – For both platforms, using tools to save cost.
UI/UX Design
Good design is key for food apps. Easy-to-use and nice-looking apps keep users coming back. The cost depends on how detailed and complex you want the design.
- Basic UI/UX Design: $300 – $500 (INR 26,000 – INR 43,000) – Simple, standard design.
- Advanced UI/UX Design: $800 – $1500 (INR 70,000 – INR 1,30,000) – Custom, complex, and engaging design.
Backend Development
The backend is the engine of your Zomato-like app. It includes servers, databases, and APIs. It must be strong to handle real-time data, orders, and payments.
- Backend Development Cost: $1500 – $3000 (INR 1,30,000 – INR 2,60,000) – Cost for server and database setup, APIs.
Third-Party Integrations
Adding extra features often means using other services like maps (Google Maps), payments (payment gateways), and notifications (SMS). These integrations add to the cost.
- Payment Gateway Integration: $100 – $300 (INR 8,600 – INR 26,000)
- GPS/Location Services: $200 – $500 (INR 17,000 – INR 43,000)
- Push Notifications: $500 – $2,000 (INR 43,000 – INR 1,73,000)
App Maintenance and Updates
After the launch of your food delivery app, you also need to set a budget for support and ongoing updates. This covers bug fixes, improvements, and new features. Maintenance costs about 20% of the initial development cost per year.
- Annual Maintenance Cost: $500 – $1000 (INR 43,000 – INR 86,000)
Build an On-Demand Food Delivery App Like Zomato with Deonde
Imagine launching a feature-rich food delivery app like Zomato, without writing a single line of code.
Wouldn’t that be great? If you like the idea of starting a Zomato-like business but don’t want to get involved in the nitty-gritty of developing an app from the ground up, consider Deonde.
Deonde’s SaaS-based solution offers a cost-effective alternative, eliminating the need for extensive development teams and infrastructure investments.
By leveraging Deonde’s pre-built Zomato-like platform, you significantly reduce the risks associated with custom development, ensuring a reliable and scalable solution from day one.
With Deonde, you also gain access to continuous support and maintenance, ensuring your app remains secure, up-to-date, and performing optimally.
At Deonde, we handle the technical complexities, providing regular updates, bug fixes, and security patches so you can focus on growing your business.
Skip the development headaches. Deonde’s SaaS food delivery app lets you launch your Zomato-like ordering and delivery app quickly and affordably. Get all the features you need, without building from scratch.
Conclusion
Whether you choose to embark on a custom development journey or opt for a streamlined SaaS solution like Deonde, the key to creating a Zomato-like app is to prioritize user experience.
Deonde offers a compelling alternative, allowing you to launch a feature-rich app quickly and cost-effectively, bypassing the complexities of building from scratch.
By focusing on your unique selling proposition and leveraging the right tools and expertise, you can capitalize on the burgeoning food delivery market and create a thriving business.
FAQs
1. Can I Build A Zomato-like App On A Smaller Budget?
Yes, focus on the core features first to save money. Use cross-platform tools like React Native to cut costs by 30-40%. Use third-party APIs for maps and payments. A basic app (MVP) costs less to test the market before investing more. A basic version might cost $20,000-$40,000, while a full app can range from $50,000-$150,000. However, to maximize savings, choose Deonde, where you can launch your food delivery business at just ₹2,499 a month!
2. Does The Choice Of Platform (iOS, Android, Or Both) Impact Development Costs?
Yes, platform choice changes development costs. One platform is cheaper (30-40% less) than both. iOS users tend to spend more, but iOS development is pricier. Android reaches more users but is more complex to develop for due to device variety. Cross-platform tools help reduce costs for both but may have some performance limits.
3. How Long Does It Take To Develop An App Like Zomato?
Expect 4-8 months to build a Zomato-style app. You should plan 3-6 weeks upfront. Basic, core development (features like orders, payments, listings) takes 3-5 months. On the other hand, testing and quality assurance alone takes another 3-4 weeks. Additionally, you’ll also need a team of 4-6 developers. Adding advanced features like AI will take longer. However, you can fast-track the development process when you choose to work with Deonde. Deonde’s pre-built SaaS-based platform helps you move to market faster—in less than a week. Get all the functionality of a Zomato-like app without having to wait months for it—only with Deonde.
