The pre-internet era found people visiting restaurants or ordering food through telephonic calls. People mostly got their hands on local cuisines. Since the advent of the internet, businesses started experimenting with out of box ideas, which would make them popular and earn huge profits.
Online food delivery is one such idea. Much before the advent of smartphones, businesses worked on a local level, totally depending on newspaper advertisement or bill bord promotion. The advent of smartphones saw a huge rise in innovation and revamping of the food industry. Food delivery apps came up, revolutionizing the food market
How does online food delivery work?
Did you ever wonder how the food delivery app works, or what goes into making it? Online food delivery apps allow customers to order food from the restaurant of their choice with a simple touch of a button. One can’t even imagine the level of sophistication that goes into the making of these apps. There is already some established online food delivering platforms. If a new business wants to work on their own, they need to start creating their own website and mobile compatible software which is of course a huge work. But as always there is a way out. Click here to start an online food delivery business one needs ready to eat online food delivery script and a food delivery app clone.
What is an online food delivery script and food delivery app clone?
For any online business to succeed, they need a strong food delivery script along with a food delivery app clone. The food delivery script handles the delivery logistics and keeps track of the deliveries. Clone scripts are pre-built apps that are tested and are ready to launch. They are more like templates that are used to build a food delivery app. To keep it simple, food delivery apps collect information from registered clients of their establishment. They list these details in their apps and websites to generate an audience.
Why go online?
Online food delivery is a booming business. With the whole world operating online, businesses need to constantly strategize themselves to keep up with the upcoming trends. Online food delivery is one such sector that sees new changes every passing day. Businesses have to keep themselves updated with these trends to stay relevant and make money.
The 2020 covid pandemic has seen a shift to an online mode of operation, with more services being offered online. The online food delivery industry has seen tremendous growth and became more relevant in this period. Many food establishments struggled to make it through the lockdown. Online Food delivery was considered a much safer and reliable alternative to people when compared to dining out at a restaurant. Restaurants had to push themselves to come up with new alternatives to keep up with the booming business of online delivery. Restaurants re-strategize themselves to work both online and offline. This shift of many businesses to operate online led to a surge in online food delivery.
What’s trending in online food ordering services?
Lockdown has brought out the creativity of people. The businesses have come up with innovative ideas to please the audience.
Gen Z and food delivery apps
According to a survey, 6 in 10 millennials use food delivery apps. With the prevailing competition in the world, Millennials hardly get time to cook for themselves or to go out to dine. They are regular visitors to the food delivery apps. The efficiency and ease to manage these apps, making them the apple of the millennial eyes. Be it exotic food or simple bread and butter, the apps got you covered. They have a plethora of options set according to one’s affordability. They provide a wide range of varieties. The food delivery apps provide quick delivery along with real-time tracking of your parcel. They got you covered with their discounts and promotions when you are broke. They offer worldwide food in one app. The food delivery apps also see the millennials as the target audience and plan their marketing campaigns targeting them.
Innovation
Any industry grows through innovations and the same is the case with the online food delivery industry. The food delivery industries have always tried to work on their delivery time, just to stay ahead of their competitors. They have come up with so many innovative ways from ordering food through eyes while driving your car etc. This section deals with all those out of box innovations that further lead to the success of online food delivery apps.
Vegan and vegetarian food
During the pandemic, there has been a significant rise in people switching to veganism. This is mostly because of the speculation that animals might be the potential carriers of the virus.
Food delivery apps came up with a separate section dedicated to vegans and vegetarians. Earlier, there weren’t any options in this category. With the millennials being sensitive about certain topics, the food delivery apps to are supporting it.
Food on go
How many times have you skipped your breakfast while going to a meeting or office? People tend to skip their breakfast due to their tight schedule. Food delivery apps got you covered for this. Food delivery partners integrate with the cab drivers. They offer food delivery options to the passengers, while on their journey. You can now grab a burger midway while going somewhere and finish having it before reaching there.
Using drones/parachute for delivery
Did you ever think that food can fly? Thanks to this new innovation, even the food has wings now. Food delivery apps are trying to deliver food through drones. This they believe would speed up the process as there won’t be any traffic.
In Melbourne, one eatery delivers the order using a parachute which lands at the predetermined drop-off location where the customer waits for his/her order.
Maps
Thanks to the recent integration of food delivery apps with Google, one can go to google maps and directly order food from there while searching for the restaurants. You can get the food from your favorite delivered.
Groceries and medicines
Food delivery apps started with the delivery of groceries and medicines during the pandemic. This helped people to prevent them from going out in a situation that would put their lives at risk.
Parcels
Some apps also started parcel delivering services. A delivery partner would come to your house and collect the parcel. He would then go to the specified location and deliver it there.
Ghost/cloud kitchens
Ghost or cloud kitchens are places built specifically for food delivery. These increase opportunities for people who want to start their careers in the food industry. One can deliver multiple cuisines from a single place.
Selling pre-portioned food
Food delivery apps came up with a new method. In this, the fresh ingredients are packed according to their requirements in the recipe. Consumers can go to the app and select the recipe they want and get the ingredients. This is for all those people out there, who want to try their hands at cooking.
Frozen foods
People can buy frozen foods, microwave them and have it at their convenience. The demand for frozen food rose last year during the pandemic as people saw them as items that can be stocked for future use.
Healthy food
Several food delivery companies came up with the idea of providing fresh and healthy food according to the customer’s dietary requirements. Consumers can now get food according to their diet plans. This is very much relevant in this internet era as people are becoming more conscious of their health.
Pet food
The pandemic has had a larger impact on many of our plans. With many of us staying home, to avoid contracting the virus. This behavior created the perfect environment for pet food e-commerce to grow. As people moved towards digital platforms to get a hold of the essential items, their business boomed. The pet food will be available to them in one click.
Food orders based on cryptocurrency
The rise of blockchain technology leads to a new business service, crypto food orders. Customers all over the world can order any kind of takeaway or delivery with cryptocurrencies.
A certain restaurant, for example, accepts over 50 cryptocurrencies. The use of cryptocurrencies for orders, can eliminate fraudulent activities and enhance the overall food ordering experience. Customers are not limited to only one particular payment option but can pay for their orders even with relatively unknown cryptocurrencies.
Technology
Wonders are created, when technology meets innovation. With the advancement in technology, food delivery apps needn’t restrict themselves just to manpower or conventional payment methods. With the rise in net banking services, customers can now pay for their order either by cash or through online banking by using any third-party apps. The customer can order food when he is in his office and pay for it online. By the time he reaches home, his food will be delivered.
Artificial intelligence
The recent years saw a growth in Artificial intelligence. With the Corona pandemic, no contact delivery became a priority. Home delivery has become the new normal.
The current applications of Artificial Intelligence in the foodservice sector fall into four main categories:
- Restaurants started using virtual assistants like chatbots to reply to customer inquiries and also to process and customize customer orders.
- Restaurants are using Artificial Intelligence-driven robots to extend the capacity and therefore the speed of food preparation and delivery.
- Developers are working on applications that use Artificial Intelligence to help consumers choose meals based on their eating preferences.
- Restaurants are integrating Artificial Intelligence-driven Kiosks to cut down customer waiting time and enhance the customer ordering experience.
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)
Food Delivery companies came up with new strategies to market their products. Augmented reality and Virtual reality provide the consumer with a real-life image of the product creating cravings for them, who end up ordering the food. This is a great marketing strategy.
Ordering food via Twitter
It is not new for food delivery apps to promote themselves on social media. One company came up with a strategy where pizza will be delivered to the consumer who tweets pizza emoji. The specifications for the pizza must be mentioned in a pizza profile on the company’s delivery service.
Ordering via a voice assistant
Voice assistants have become a household name. People can now place an order through these assistants.
Ordering via smartwatch
The sales of smartwatches increased significantly in the past few years. The food delivery companies integrated with these smartwatches to provide service to the customer within a few clicks.
Ordering via television
Gone are the days when you wished you could grab food from your television. The advertisements looked so real and almost gave us cravings at odd times. Now that the food delivering apps work twenty-four hours round the clock, we can order our food and satisfy those midnight cravings. Several companies partnered with specific television companies to deliver food to customers. People can now lay on their beds and order food easily.
Managing Food Waste
Every day, tonnes and tonnes of food end up getting into trash bins. While there are people who are dying due to hunger. The United States already features a massive garbage problem. The United States Department of Agriculture estimated that nearly thirty to forty percent of their food supply was wasted every year. Food waste costs the hospitality industry a tremendous twenty-five billion dollars annually, and thus the pandemic has only further worsened financial hardships. According to a December report, roughly 1,10,000 restaurants were closed in 2020 as a result of COVID-19 induced economic downturn. A growing slate of apps have entered the market in the hopes of helping restaurants stay afloat, cut costs, and handle food waste during the pandemic.
These apps allow restaurants to sell their leftover food from food to pizza to groceries at a reduced price to patrons. These apps integrate with all the local restaurants and procure all the leftover food. They fix a location to distribute this food. The people who need this food can go to that fixed location and purchase that food for a nominal price
How did the Food Delivery companies thrive during the pandemic?
Food delivery companies worked even during the pandemic. The delivery personnel risked their lives to deliver convenience to our doors. The food delivery apps started supporting local vendors, whose business got affected.
Providing food during the Quarantine period.
Several apps came up with the idea of providing food to those people who tested positive for covid. They came up with a meal plan and delivered food accordingly charging a very nominal fee.
Food delivery companies came up with no contact deliveries during this period. They acted with responsibility and came up with innovative ideas even during this period. They made sure that all necessary precautions were followed while delivering the food.
Though the food delivery got hit during the pandemic due to fear, the business started picking up in 2021. Online Food delivery in the future and the new normal. Visit our website to know more about what is trending.
