How to Build an App Like Uber Eats? A Detailed Guide

Last Updated: 1st February, 2023

Food delivery apps are becoming tremendously popular because of the convenience, flexibility, and affordability they offer to restaurants and food enthusiasts to seamlessly connect with each other. The industry is rapidly evolving with numerous new players entering the market and existing players expanding their offerings.

Uber Eats, a popular name in the food delivery industry, is a leading platform that works to effortlessly connect restaurants and customers. Since its launch in 2014, Uber Eats has grown tremendously, expanding into the industry and increasing its global reach. With over 81 million users and 90,000 restaurants on the platform, Uber Eats has become a major player in the online food ordering and delivery industry. 

Considering the growth numbers mentioned above we can anticipate that the online food delivery industry is offering lucrative opportunities for budding food entrepreneurs and will continue to do so. However, building an app like Uber Eats may not be an easy task, to begin with.

Hence, in this article, we aim to provide an idea of what it takes for entrepreneurs to build an app similar to Uber Eats.

Table of Contents

• Business Model of Uber Eats
• How Does Uber Eats Work?
• Revenue Model of Uber Eats
• A Step-by-Step Guide to Develop a Food Delivery App
• Uber Eats USPs: Features That Gives it an Edge Over its Competitors
• How Much Does It Cost to Develop an app like Uber Eats?
• FAQs

Business Model of Uber Eats

Since its inception, the technology-driven business model of Uber Eats has inspired budding entrepreneurs to start their online food delivery business. The Uber Eats app plays dual roles: it works as a restaurant aggregator as well as a delivery agent.

• Uber Eats uses an aggregator model that lists the partner restaurants in the app. This traditional food delivery model enables customers to place a food delivery request to be viewed by the restaurants. The order fulfillment is done by the restaurant itself.  
• The company supports partnering restaurants with complete logistics support. The food ordering giant uses its logistic network to deliver orders from restaurants that don’t have resources or bandwidth to provide food delivery to their customers.

How Does Uber Eats Work?

Uber Eats is a three-way marketplace that connects restaurants, customers, and delivery agents. Multiple restaurants list their brand and menu on the app. The customers search for the restaurants located in their area, browse their menus, and place orders. The delivery boy picks up the order from the restaurant and delivers it to the customer’s doorstep.

Stakeholders of Uber Eats

Restaurants: Restaurants manage food orders and update menus on the app by marking food items available/unavailable. They can change the restaurant name, contact information and opening & closing hours as per their availability. They can also decide the price of each item displayed on the menu.    

Customers: Uber Eats provides the following ordering options to its customers:

• Real-Time Ordering: The customers choose the food items from the list of restaurants available in the app, preferably from a nearer location. It is a very useful feature for those who wish to receive their food immediately after placing an order.
• Custom Ordering: The customers schedule their orders in advance as per their convenience. They can customize their orders with respect to the delivery date, destination address and time.  

Delivery Agents: Uber Eats delivery partners are independent individuals who pick up food from the restaurants and deliver it to the customers’ addresses. They can accept/reject the order request and fulfill multiple deliveries at a time. They get the delivery requests on the basis of their location and proximity to the customer as well as the restaurant.

Revenue Model of Uber Eats

Uber Eats generates revenue through the following monetization methods:

Delivery Fees from Customers

The delivery charges are divided into three categories:

• Delivery Fee: The customers pay a small amount of delivery fee that depends on location and the availability of delivery partners. The total charge may vary depending on the market in which the company is operating.
• Service Fee: Uber Eats charges service fees of 15% of the order’s subtotal.   
• Order Fee: A small order fee of $2 is charged if the order amount is less than $10.

Optional Subscription Fees from Customers

Uber Eats has a subscription model to earn additional income. Customers can pay a monthly subscription fee of $9.99 to avail the “Eats Pass”. It allows subscribers to get 5% off on orders over $15, with no delivery fee 

Commission Fees from Restaurants

Uber Eats cuts 15 to 40% of the total value on each order fulfilled from the restaurant partners. The cutoff percentage is decided based on maturity and hold of the restaurant in the market.  

Advertising Fees from Restaurants

The restaurant pays an advertisement fee to the company to come up at top searches on the app and to get more traction & sales.

Now that you’ve got a deep understanding of Uber Eats’ statistics, business model, and how does the food delivery company generates revenue, let’s gain insights into how you can develop a food delivery app that can surpass Uber Eats.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Develop a Food Delivery App

Building a food delivery app like Uber Eats is a challenging task that involves putting together a lot of components. Therefore, having a clear roadmap on coming up with your food delivery app is necessary to make a mark in the online food industry. Taking Uber Eats as an example, we have explained some vital steps that restaurateurs must follow to start similar online ventures.

Step 1: Conduct Market Research

The first step when creating a food delivery app is to research deeply about your competitors, target audience and the latest food industry trends. To get a solid grasp of the current market situation, you must find answers to the following questions:

• Who are your competitors and what kind of services they are offering to their customers?  
• Who are your target customers?
• Which features you must include in your food delivery app to steal the spotlight?
• What are the hot trends in the online food industry?

Step 2: Select Food Delivery Model

After conducting thorough market research, the next step is to choose a food delivery model that can meet your business goals as well as customer’s demands. There are two types of food delivery model:

• Order-Only model
• Order & Delivery Model

Order-Only model vs Order & Delivery Model: Key Differences

Step 3: Choose Prominent Features of an Uber Eats like App Service

Here are some must-have features you should include in your food delivery app to get an edge over your competitors:

Step 4: Leverage the Power of Right Technology Stack

When it comes to building an app like Uber Eats, selecting the right technology stack is very crucial as it forms the foundation for providing seamless user experience. You might need different technologies depending on the business model of your food delivery startup. Below listed are some essential technologies to build a food delivery app similar to Uber Eats:

Web App Development
AngularJS or React

Mobile App Development|
Kotlin (Android) and Swift (iOS)

Back-End Development
PHP 

Databases
MySQL 

Third-Party Services

Step 5: Pick a Feasible App Development Option  

Once you decide the features and powerful technology stack, you must finalize the viable option to build your food delivery app as per your requirements. There are two options:   

Hire an App Development Team

You might need the following members to build a successful food delivery solution:

• Android developer
• iOS developer
• Front-end developer
• Back-end developer
• Project Manager
• Business Analyst
• UI/UX designer
• Testing engineer

Use a Ready-Made Solution

If you want to build your food delivery app in a short time, then picking a ready-made solution can turn out to be the best option to get your food delivery business started. One such readymade white label food delivery solution is Yo!Yumm which can cater to the requirements of building a food delivery platform.
The solution is fully customizable and can be customized to build an app like Uber Eats.

Uber Eats USPs: Features That Gives it an Edge Over its Competitors

Here are some unique features that make Uber Eats an interesting variant of online food delivery businesses:  

Shorter Delivery Time

The ability to provide quicker deliveries is something that sets apart Uber Eats from its competitors. The company keeps a track on the preparation time taken by the restaurant which helps them provide faster delivery service.

Location Agnostics

A general concern that many customers face while placing an order is location eligibility. Uber Eats has taken care of it. The company delivers at places like hospitals, parks, homes, offices, etc. where a consumer may face delivery issues.

Customized Pick-Ups

Uber Eats has an in-built feature of Self-Pickup. The company allows users to place an order and schedule an in-store pick-up as per their comfort.    

Scheduled Orders 

This Uber Eats feature enables users to schedule an order in advance. Customers can also track their orders throughout the delivery process to get it delivered at their preferred location and time.    

How Much Does It Cost to Develop an App like Uber Eats?

The final cost of developing a food delivery app like Uber Eats may vary depending on the following factors:

App Size

It is one of the major factors that play a crucial role in depicting the cost of your food delivery app. The size of an app depends on app complexity and the number of features you want to incorporate your app. The more the features you will include, the higher the price will be.  

App Design

Another factor that influences the development cost is app design. Your food delivery app will not garner enough eyeballs without an attractive user interface. Therefore, the cost will highly depend on the app theme and eye-catchy graphics.  

App Platforms

The choice of platform for building a food delivery app also decides the development time and cost. Android and iOS are two major platforms available in the app development market. The price could vary based on the platform you select to create your app.    

App Development Team

Be it a freelancer, mobile app development agency or in-house developers, your app development cost will rely heavily on your app development team you hire to develop your food delivery app.    

Time to Create an App like Uber Eats!

The Coronavirus outbreak has skyrocketed the demand for Uber Eats like food delivery services. This is a crunch time for restaurateurs to make a mark in the online food industry. Building a food delivery app considering the business model, revenue model, features, tech stack and other essential factors in this blog post will definitely give you a perfect start in the online food industry.  

Building the app from scratch is a long process and requires a lot of investment in terms of money and effort. Using a readymade solution like Yo!Yumm can cut short the time-to-market and help in launching a feature-rich food ordering and delivery platform in no time.
Being white-label, the solution also has the ability to build a customized platform as per the business requirements and stall tall to give fierce competition in the market.

If you have any queries regarding the information shared in this blog post or need expert advice to build a food delivery app, please feel free to drop a message in the comments section below.  

FAQs

1. How to use the app for pickups (From a delivery staff point of view) – app feature

Delivery staff are individuals who are responsible for delivering orders from restaurants to customers’ addresses. Every delivery personnel has a personal account in the app.

• The account is created by the admin or merchant.
• The order of a restaurant is assigned to the delivery boy by the admin or merchant.
• The app shows the list of pending orders to the delivery personnel.
• A particular order is selected by the delivery boy.
• The delivery boy picks the order from the restaurant and changes the order status to – “In Process”.
• The delivery boy then delivers the order to the customer’s doorstep and changes the order status to – “Delivered”.
• The delivery staff will now cater for the queued orders. 

All the orders that are broadcasted and are still not accepted or rejected by any delivery staff are displayed here. Delivery staff can accept any of the broadcaster orders as per his condition. 

2. Who handles the deliveries in Uber Eats?

Deliveries in Uber Eats are being handled by their driver-partners.

3. What kind of marketing does Uber Eats do?

Uber Eats uses effective and fitting market strategies to build a strong customer base for its restaurants.

Pre-made content
Uber Eats provides pre-made content for their restaurants to give them an upper hand while enticing their customers.

Uber Eats Badge
The unique strategy of providing badges to their restaurants acts as a loyalty mark. It enhances the visibility of the restaurants, attracting more customers.

Assistance in marketing
Uber Eats leds its restaurants a helping hand in designing the campaigns for marketing. It provides unique and exclusive ideas to its partner restaurants to build a strong customer base.

Lighthouse customer advocacy
Uber does a brilliant job in leveraging early adopter advocacy. Dual marketing attracts customers and restaurants.

4. What’s the registration process for restaurants?

Uber Eats makes it easy for a restaurant to come on board.

Starter kit
Uber Eats provides its restaurants with a starter kit. It includes:

1. A tablet with Uber Eats order management software.
2. Stack of Uber Eats delivery bags.
3. Panels to let customers know that the restaurant is on the Uber Eats app.

Uber Eats Restaurant manager
Uber Eats provides an all-in-one restaurant management system. It allows restaurants to:

• View performance data and feedback
  It helps restaurants keep the backend and front end in check, allowing restaurants to improve overall sales.

• Update menus and preparation times
  It gives the restaurants the flexibility to update their menus and preparation time.

• Create in-app promotions
  Restaurants can post enticing offers and promotions through this built-in feature.

Menu maker
Uber Eats provides menu maker software to help smoothen the onboarding process. 

Photoshoot
Every restaurant is provided with a free photoshoot as a part of its kick-in process. Professional photography helps restaurants stand out in the app.

5. Is a white label solution best for building an app like Uber Eats?

Yes, a white label solution is best for building an app like Uber Eats. Yo!Yumm is a market-ready white label online food delivery app solution to launch a food delivery business.

6. To start a food delivery business, is it necessary to have all the functionalities like Uber Eats?

Uber Eats has been a game-changer when it comes to online ordering and delivery. Now, if you are planning to start a food delivery business. Uber Eats is a great motivation. But the uniqueness of a business is what makes it stand out. Yo!Yumm provides you with the ease to customise your business as per your choice and create a name in the food industry.

7. What are similar Apps Like Uber Eats (Alternatives)

A few on-demand food delivery apps similar to Uber Eats are listed below:

• DoorDash (iOS / Android)
• GrubHub (iOS / Android)
• Uber Eats (iOS / Android)
• Seamless (iOS / Android)
• Postmates (iOS / Android)