How COVID-19 has changed the restaurant delivery app industry

2020 has been dubbed “the year of change” and it’s quite easy to see why that is. COVID-19 has put life as we know it on hold, and we’ve swapped working in-office to working from home, eating out to eating in, and traveling the world for staying put.

While we’ll be glad to see the back of many of the more miserable aspects of quarantine and self-isolation, there are some elements of the new lives we have built for ourselves that are likely to remain as “the new normal” going forward.

One of these elements is food delivery. Of course, there’s nothing that could ever replace visiting a restaurant with friends, but while lockdown restrictions have been so tight, many of us have settled into a routine of ordering restaurant food online and eating it in the safety of our own homes.

The benefits of home food delivery

There are many plus points to enjoying your favorite restaurant’s food from home. For a start, there’s no need to get dressed up, as you may feel obliged to for a meal out. While it’s nice to make yourself look smart from time to time, there’s something incredibly comforting about being able to enjoy a great meal in your pyjamas, especially after a long day at work.

Home food delivery is now more convenient than ever. Customers need only order food from their chosen restaurant or takeaway with a few taps and clicks on their phones – no need to call ahead of time or visit the restaurant in person. It’s also a much wiser option, with the COVID pandemic in mind, to eat food from home at the moment, while you might be questioning how safe it is to eat out at a restaurant.

The rise in restaurant delivery apps

Since quarantine was first implemented, the surge in online takeaway orders has led to a new demand for quick, convenient and simple order options. This has encouraged a number of restaurants to make their own in-house delivery apps, allowing customers to access their menus and order food with just one click from their home screens.

Making apps is nowhere near as difficult as it used to be. With a DIY fast food delivery app builder, business owners with absolutely no knowledge of coding and app development can make a fully-functioning app in a matter of minutes.

These app builders work by enabling users to create their own apps based on several provided templates and a drag and drop function for customization. Businesses can produce an app that matches their online and in-store branding, and use it to encourage customers to order directly through them.

Getting a customer to download a restaurant’s app in the first place is the biggest challenge. A great way to encourage downloads is to offer an incentive for doing so. Offering customers a certain discount from their first order is a good idea. Restaurants can also encourage customer loyalty by using a punch card feature that gives customers access to a free or discounted meal after spending so much money.