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How We Built a Food Delivery Platform from Scratch

A Brief Glimpse Into Our Client

A Michigan based company approached us to develop a food delivery platform, which they would offer to local restaurants and delivery persons in a region as a third-party platform for getting the food to the doorstep of the customer. The customer would use the platform to find the nearest restaurants and get their food delivered to their destinations.

The client is primarily involved in offering tech solutions to businesses within the transportation domain, connecting the dots between service providers and the consumers.

The company does not directly employ any individual offering delivery service; it just provides the platform using which enterprises can streamline their day-to-day action.

Citing the exceptional growth of the food delivery businesses and the demand among the consumers, especially during the COVID pandemic when people could not go to their favourite eateries for a meal, our client decided to expand his offerings to the food businesses as well, other than transport companies, which they had been serving previously. With already so many third-party food delivery apps present in the market, the idea was to develop a platform that would present cost-effective tech solutions to local food businesses and delivery executives, to expand their operations, enabling them to reach out to maximum number of customers.

Industry

Education & EdTech

Tech Stack

Node JS, Java , Swift

Country

India

The Challenges We Faced Along the Way

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The client reached out to us at the juncture where he was facing lots of issues in developing the platform. He had connected with multiple developers presenting the scope and scale of the project but no one was able to deliver what he was seeking.

Admin:
Since there were to be multiple user access to the platform, it was necessary to create an intuitive yet robust admin panel that would oversee the overall functionality of the app/website. The need was to use the admin panel to streamline the management of all the access points along with the other backend processes.

Multiple Users:
The platform would have multiple users, and hence there was need for separate access panels for each type of user with complimenting functions and features, along with data privacy and security.

Seamless Communication:
Establishing a communication architecture that would provide a smooth and consistent line of communication between the users of the app was a priority. Spearheaded by the admin, the platform demanded seamless internal communication for receiving and sending messages, make in-app calls, and likewise, so that the flow of operations conducted via the app/website remained uninterrupted.

UI/UX:
The platform would have multiple users, from businesses to common individuals, who would coordinate in unison to ultimately execute the act of food delivery. Hence, it was necessary that we build and design it with elements that would elevate the user-friendliness. We were to design and implement the UI/UX to make the platform intuitive and easy-to-navigate across web, Android, and iOS versions.

Movement Tracking/ Live Tracking:
The app would be used to track the delivery persons, the status of the food, and the progress of the restaurants in food preparation. To assimilate all that into a streamlined formation, enhanced with continuity was essential to make the app highly functional and effective to the businesses, the delivery persons, and the customers. There had to be features like real-time tracking of the food from preparation to delivery, in-app notification system for alerts of promotional nature and otherwise, so that communication remained unhindered without any delays in delivery.

Our Primary Approach for This Project

At Brainium, our approach to the development of this food delivery platform was centered around delivering a seamless, interactive, and user-friendly experience for all stakeholders. Given the challenges faced by our client, we focused on building a robust platform that would meet their needs while addressing the pain points of the food delivery market. Here are the major areas that we decided to focus on for this project:

Understanding Client Requirements
We started with a deep dive into understanding the unique requirements of the client. Our focus was on gathering as much information as we could on the specific needs of local food businesses, delivery persons, and end consumers.

Building Scalable and Customizable Features
We focused on creating scalable features that could adapt to a growing market. This involved building user-friendly interfaces for restaurants, delivery persons, and customers, with options for customization based on the needs of each user.

UI/UX Design
The platform needed to be intuitive and easy to navigate for all types of users. Our design team worked meticulously on creating a clean, modern interface with a focus on ease of use. We ensured that users could easily place orders, track deliveries, and communicate with relevant parties without friction.

Live Tracking & Communication
We implemented live tracking features to allow customers to follow the delivery process in real time. Additionally, an integrated messaging system and in-app calling feature allowed seamless communication between users, which was essential for ensuring smooth delivery processes and minimizing delays.

Our Primary Solution for This Project

Our first job for the project was to identify the initial challenges and then chalk out a plan to mitigate it by integrating precise and highly functional features. We started by categorizing the users of the platform and creating separate access points, drawing up the permission protocol for registration and log-in processes, followed by building a robust admin panel that would be at the helm of all operations with maximum backend access. Here are our user categories:

Admin interface
Restaurant interface
Customer interface
Delivery person interface

We kept the log in and registration simple, enabling users to use their social media credentials or Gmail credentials to sign-up. To ensure a secured sign-in process, we also introduced the option of ‘login via OTP’ which one can access via email. The password retrieval process was also linked with email OTP.

We introduced the following sections within the website/app:

Home Screen
Restaurant List and Map View
Restaurant Details
Checkout and Payment
Live Tracking Page

For the customers we created a personalized section, which would have details like, account settings, my favorite restaurants, my orders, my addresses, help & support, wishlist, along with ratings and review of the food delivered for the restaurant and the service for the app and the delivery person.

The admin panel had the following segregations to streamline the overall process:

Account settings
Sub-admin management
User management
Menu management
Discount management
Restaurants category management
Order management
Reports management
Payment management
Rating & Review
Analytics
CMS management

Here is a detailed layout of the category wise specific features included to make the app function smoothly.

For the customer:Notify me
Enabling and disabling of food items as per availability. Users will be able choose the "notify me" option to get notification when a particular food item is available again.

Checkout & payment
Customers will be shown the total payable amount for the food items in the cart along with the delivery charges. On proceeding with placing the order, the amount to be paid will be displayed, as the customers choose the mode of payment. They will checkout through the single Payment Gateway and complete the order.

Order tracking
Once the customer successfully places an order he or she can track food status and delivery of the order in real time. The system was built to notify any delivery person within the vicinity of the restaurant and the address of the customer. Cancel & Refund – We ensured easy cancellation of orders until pickup, followed by refund if paid already and cancelled at the right time or not delivered, once a complaint got raised.

For the restaurant: Food items upload & management
Restaurants can upload multiple images of a food item giving multiple views to the customers to boost sales. They can also set all the features related to the food items like pricing and others.

Order management Manage orders taken and cancelled orders.

Tax & invoices Manage taxes and invoices.

Report management View sales reports.

For the delivery person: New order alert
Delivery boys will get a new order alert every time they are assigned for an order pickup and delivery. Admin can assign any delivery boy from the backend or the system will assign the nearest delivery boy.

Delivery status management
Manage the delivery status from here. If they take cash on delivery (COD) from customers then they can update the same, which will be stored in the database. Admin will manage this offline payment from the back end. It allows the delivery person to view their delivery history.

My earnings screen
View their earnings in this section.

For admin (web-based back-end functionalities):

Customer management
Admin can manage all the customers from this section.

Restaurant management
Manage all the restaurants from this section.

Delivery management
Manage all the delivery executives from this section.

Content management
Manage the content of the entire system.

Order & Payment management
Manage food ordering system and the payment processing.

Queries & complaint management
Manage queries and complaints.

Reports management
View various reports related to marketing, sales reports, etc.

Results

Increased Operational Efficiency

By offering a centralized platform for businesses, customers, and delivery persons, we helped streamline operations.

Improved Customer Satisfaction

With seamless tracking, secure payment options, and easy communication through in-app messaging and calls, customers enjoyed a much better user experience.

Enhanced Business Reach

Local restaurants gained a cost-effective way to reach more customers without the high fees of other third-party delivery services.

Faster Delivery Times

The real-time tracking feature allowed customers and delivery persons to stay informed about the status of orders.

Fulfilling Client Needs One Step At A Time

This food delivery platform has successfully met the needs of our client and exceeded expectations. By offering a robust, scalable, and user-friendly solution, we provided a meeting ground for restaurants, delivery persons, and customers. The seamless tracking, real-time communication, and secure payment system improved the overall user experience for all parties involved.

Join Hands With Us

Hear From Our Client Their Experience Partnering With Us

At Brainium, ensuring client satisfaction is crucial. In this case, we tried to meet our client's expectations and succeeded at fulfilling their vision. See what out client has to say.

It has been a pleasure to work with Brainium’s amazing team on this project. We were thoroughly impressed at how the team handled all the challenges that they faced. After clarifying what we wanted, we didn’t have to escalate much since the developers understood the assignment.