Online food delivery is a growing trend that has taken off over the years. To launch your food app, you don’t need to be a restaurant owner. All you need is an online food delivery app like Talabat and an understanding of what your customers want.

Launched in 2004, Talabat is an online food delivery application developed by Abdulaziz Al Loughani in Kuwait. It has more than 2 million users.  

By 2029, the food delivery app market is anticipated to be $165 billion. Starting an online delivery service could be quite profitable. You may successfully navigate this field with the aid of a successful food delivery app development like Talabat.

Let’s get started!

What is Talabat?

Talabat is an online food delivery service that aims to give customers an outstanding food delivery experience. Not just limited to food delivery, but they also deliver flowers, pharmaceuticals, groceries, and much more.

They’ve also launched Talabat Mart and a Q-commerce grocery store delivering products 24/7 and within 30 minutes.

Being the region’s largest food delivery chain, they’ve expanded their business to 7 countries. It includes Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Jordan.

Later in 2015, Talabat was acquired by Delivery Hero, which is a leading global online food order & delivery service. They operate in 40+ countries encompassing the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, and Europe.

Reasons Why You Should Develop a Food Delivery App like Talabat

You might be brainstorming ideas around building a food delivery app. But first, you must understand why you should venture into this process. Here are the top reasons that you should learn:

1. Huge Demand

Delivery Hero is once again ahead in total app downloads, although Zomato had the most single app downloads with 55 million downloads in 2022.

With the pace of life as it is today, who doesn’t want comfort and convenience? The same goes for doorstep food delivery. As a result, there’s a huge demand for online food delivery apps.

2. Potential for Robust Growth 

In the Meal Delivery segment, the number of users is expected to amount to 2.5 billion users by 2027.

There’s exponential growth in online food delivery apps and potential for robust growth. For the past few years, on-demand food delivery apps have experienced dramatic growth. Without a doubt, new features and services are helping food delivery applications grow to new heights.

3. Profitability

According to a report, revenue is expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2023-2027) of 12.78%, resulting in a projected market volume of US$1.65tn by 2027.

Food delivery apps charge fees and other costs to restaurants and customers. Over 90% of the food delivery app’s revenue comes from commissions, fees, and other costs.

For example; DoorDash (charges 15-30%), Uber Eats (charges 15-30%), and Grubhub (charges 15- 15+%). These charges vary depending on the restaurant’s basic, plus, or premium plans.

Ultimately, food delivery apps result in earning higher profits. Planning to launch your food delivery app like Talabat is definitely worth it.

Also Read: Talabat Business Model: What Makes it the Biggest Food Ordering Service in the Middle East?

5 Steps to Build a Food Delivery App Like Talabat

Having an inspirational app like Talabat will guide you to launch your food delivery app. Following, we’ve discussed 5 steps to develop the app. Let’s check:

Step 1: Market Research & Business Plan

Understanding industry dynamics is crucial before stepping into the market. Start with conducting market research that includes:

• Competitor analysis,
• Conduct a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats) analysis,
• Gain latest insights,
• Thorough research on the target audience, and more.

All these factors will provide you with an overview of the online food delivery app industry. With detailed analysis, you can develop your business plan that incorporates important strategies required to build an online food delivery app like Talabat.

Step 2: Create a Revenue Strategy

Determining revenue strategy will help you monetize your online food delivery business. Talabat and many other food delivery apps focus on 4 revenue generating streams, including:

• Advertisement promotions 
• Subscription fees
• Commission on every delivery order
• On-site restaurant promotions

Step 3: Building an MVP (Minimum viable product)

You can test your business idea before spending a lot of money by creating a minimum viable product drafting it and gathering feedback.

Focus on the most essential elements that end users will notice when you construct your MVP. It will further help the team with considerations and perspectives required to test the app’s viability, verify the product concept, and reduce development costs. 

Step 4: Testing 

Executing testing is the most important stage to get rid of any glitches, bugs, lagging issues, and more. Feedback will help you with MVP. It will help to determine the most used features and also what needs to be worked on before launching the final product.

Step 5: Launching

The final step is to introduce your product to the market when you have completed the testing phase. Here, you need to focus on customer support 24/7 and handle customer complaints and concerns.

How Much Does it Cost to Build a Food Delivery App Like Talabat?

The cost of creating a meal delivery app similar to Talabat might be as high as 100,000 USD and as little as 20,000 USD. The restaurant’s location and mobile app development company may also affect the price.

There are also additional elements to consider, such as the technological stack employed, the complexity of the application, the features needed, and so on.

A simple app is less expensive than a complex app with advanced capabilities like a payment gateway, real-time monitoring, and many other things.

It is critical to verify that the price of a food delivery platform like Talabat is a solid investment that can provide a high return on investment when designed, developed, and deployed correctly.

Launching a food delivery app service like Talabat is a cost-effective investment. If established and constructed effectively, it may provide a sizable return on investment.

Technology Stack For An App Like Talabat

• Front-End Development: CSS, JavaScript, WebAssembly, HTML
• Android Development: Kotlin, Java, Android Studio, Android SDK
• Backend Development: Languages, frameworks, web servers, database management systems
• Hybrid Development: PhoneGap, Ionic
• iOS Development: Objective-C, Swift, Apple Xcode, iOS SDK
• Payment: Stripe, Braintree, PayPal
• Navigation: Google Maps, MapKit
• Identifying User Location: Google Places API
• Registrations: Gmail SDK, Facebook SDK
• Storage: AWS, Azure, Google
• Analytics: Google Analytics, FireBase

Wrapping Up

To sum it up, launching a successful Talabat clone app development could help you generate higher profits and target your audience on a global scale. However, you need to follow the right strategy and hire an experienced mobile app development company.

In the food delivery industry, having a strong team that shares your vision for business expansion will help you succeed. Therefore, make sure to make the right decisions.