We are all part of a mobile generation where products and services of almost every business are now just a click away. F&B is one such domain which is increasingly penetrating into the digital world.
Apart from online food ordering, restaurant reservation is another aspect this industry is keenly working on. People can browse through an eatery’s menu, reserve a seat, and pay for their meal all via a mobile app or website.
Pre-reservation not just saves them time, but also steers them clear of the hassles in case the tables are already occupied.
If you are the restaurant owner, you would know exactly what it is like to manage bookings day in and day out.
Handling all those phone calls, manually showing people to their seat, taking orders, and sometimes even managing cancellations is easier said than done.
Schedules could get overlapped because to err is human. Demands might surpass supply leaving your chefs all beaten up.
This is where you need a restaurant reservation app. The question is how to develop the best one?
Before we delve into the details, there are two types of online reservation systems for restaurants:
Your choice would depend a lot on your budget.
If you own an eatery and would not like to invest in building a platform of your own, a third party site or application should be your best bet.
On the other hand, if you want to avoid the monthly or yearly expenses of using third-party reservation platforms, building a dedicated restaurant reservation app should be your goal.
Read also: The Advantages of Having A Mobile App for Restaurant Business
The last thing you would want in your eatery is empty tables. You pay for the manpower, infrastructure, power bills, utilities, and of course, the food you prepare.
However, everything boils down to zero when tables are open and sales aren’t rising. By the same token, you also do not want your guests to go home disappointed because they could not find a seat in your restaurant.
Where the Internet is easily accessible, a food lover should be able to book a table and order a meal without having to visit the place in person initially.
This is where you want to give them the convenience of pre-booking. A dedicated restaurant app is the solution you need.
Whatever you choose, every restaurant reservation app must have a certain set of features – one for the guest and one for the admin. Let us discuss them.
You need professional help to develop a restaurant reservation app. The right talent must be hired to build an application that is highly functional.
If you are planning a dedicated app for your restaurant business anytime soon, you need to look for professional app development company who would brief you about the following 6 steps before finalizing the project.
The app developer would understand your business concept and make a blueprint of the same. Everything your app would have to function to perfection should be in this blueprint.
The concept and blueprint will be thoroughly analyzed using the SWOT approach to check the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the same. This will be followed by an analysis of the cost that would be incurred in terms of money, time and branding.
A rough design will be prepared for your approval. This will detail all the features your app will have. Remember, this is still a theoretical phase where everything you approve will shape the way your app looks and works.
After all the planning, app development will go to execution. Professional developers will start coding the app.
Before being release out in the open, your mobile app will be tested for bugs. Only the beta version will be distributed among select people to test the functionality and security of the application.
Once everything gets a green signal, your restaurant reservation app will be ready for launch. Depending on the platform you choose (Android or iOS), you would need to seek permission from Google Play Store or Apple Store to get your app started.
As an additional step, you can market the newly launched app on social media and other platforms to increase brand awareness.
The cost of building a restaurant reservation app largely depends on the features warranted. It is nearly impossible to pre-calculate the exact amount.
This is because each restaurant has its own set up, menu, and other unique aspects. Less the complexity, quicker is the development and lower the price.
The cheapest applications are the simplest. They have basic functionality where a guest can make a reservation and the owner can confirm the same. Third-party APIs integration isn’t possible and the apps lack backend infrastructure.
Such applications can also be developed with mid range budgets where custom features can be integrated. These apps support third-party API integration such as payment methods. Further, they also come with backend infrastructure which is simple.
A reservation app of top quality is usually highly complicated and pricey. It comes with advanced features. Third-party integration is supported and the backend is comparatively complex. Such apps additionally enable scalable real-time synchronization, which helps in priority-driven scheduling and cancellation of bookings.
Let technology benefit your restaurant business. Modern customers are more inclined toward on-demand service. For this reason, getting a dedicated app for restaurant reservation makes a lot of sense.
However, make sure you choose professional app developers who are not only experts in their line of work but also experienced in building such apps.
A restaurant reservation app offers many benefits like received advance details about customers, increase sales, attract repeat customers by loyalty programs, personalize customer experience, etc.
A restaurant app must-have some features like signup, search option, GPS navigation, menu, online payment, guest profile, push notifications, reservation history, etc.
The cost to develop a restaurant reservation app depends on the number of features, the location of the development team, development platforms, testing, etc. Feel free to send your requirements to know the exact cost.
There are many ways to hire developers like searching on Google, LinkedIn, Toptal, Clutch, etc. But, the trusted way is to hire developers from a company like Mindinventory.
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