Why Is It Important To Have A Mobile App For Your Restaurant?

Reasons To Invest In Mobile App For Your Restaurant Business In 2025

Developing a mobile app for your restaurant business is a worthy decision! But if it comes to reality, various preachy pieces of advice are given out there, explaining how mobile app development services are reshaping the business landscape. 

But if you realize, that the majority of this advice is given by the top app development companies backed by the top tech engineers with the capabilities to transform your business and create a strong online presence digitally. 

Since such companies have experience working with global clients, they have witnessed how mobile apps can convert general searches into buying customers within an hour, therefore, they made efforts to create a restaurant app that can 10X your business sales and enables you to confidently expand your business reach.  

If you are still doubtful about how a mobile app for your restaurant can work and why it is important then you need to take a quick sneak peek of these market statistics…

Looking to add a new dimension to your restaurant with a custom mobile app? Xicom enables you to hire a mobile app developer to create a powerful digital presence for your restaurant. Let’s connect now for a detailed estimation and tailored strategy. 

Quick Market Overview of the Restaurant Industry 

The restaurant industry has seen noticeable growth in the past few years. Most restaurants have recognized this segment’s speedy development and have made a quick shift with the emerging trends. 

Apart, there has been a significant shift in the consumer’s mindset in the past few years. They have become more aware of what they eat, how they have been ordering, and what kind of order-delivering platform they have been using…

So when it comes to developing a mobile app for your restaurant, multiple things contribute to its success:

• 60% of patrons say that they use a restaurant QR code menu or promotional offers while looking to order from restaurants.

• 80% of customers search for the restaurant on their smartphone. While ever diners turn to the internet to research restaurants before making dining decisions. So 90% of them conducting online searches and making their restaurants highlight on those searches, need to maintain a solid online presence.

• 88% of consumers build trust after reading online reviews such as personal recommendations, and encouraging positive reviews on platforms like Google, Yelp, and more. 

Implementing a dedicated mobile app for your restaurant can significantly enhance customer engagement, streamline operations, and boost revenue. Various industry giants are experiencing notable growth, but Starbucks is at the frontline of experiencing business growth. 

“By having a mobile app for their restaurant chains, customer engagement rose by 48%, reflecting the app’s effectiveness in fostering a more effective relationship with customers. Moreover, the loyalty program contributed to a 12% increase in revenue from active members, demonstrating the app’s role in driving sales.” 

With that said, it’s clear that mobile for your restaurant business is an upcoming trend, but the real question is, is it a logical investment for your business?

Did you know that 70% of customers prefer ordering online?

Make a digital presence of your restaurant by simply creating a mobile app integrated with all the latest features and functionalities. Let Xicom be your strategic tech partner that enables you to make a smart move.

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Top Reasons to Have a Mobile App for Your Restaurant Business in 2025

The restaurant industry is growing at a rapid pace and quickly revolutionizing the way restaurants handle sales and order fulfillment. If you are still laying back with the traditional process and waiting for any magic to happen with your sales then you are in big dilemma.

Here we have covered potential data points with real-life examples to help you calculate potential revenue and customer ratio that you must be missing out with the lack of digital presence…

1. Loyalty and Referral Programs to Boost Customer Engagement!

Attracting customers to a restaurant for the first time is a challenging process influenced by multiple factors such as location, marketing efforts, reputation, and unique values that contribute to the dining experience offered. But how to keep those customers engaged with your brand?

This is where restaurants can make the smart move of hiring a software developer to integrate loyalty and referral programs!

If you are still taking this feature of mobile apps lightly, then take a quick walk in this case study.

On the Black Friday Sale in 2015, a popular pizza joint called Pizza Ranch ran a promotion claiming to earn double points for coming in and buying pizza from them that day. Can you believe that this small cost-effective promotion has generated 67.6% more business for that day than normally they do? 

This is where if you notice, how customers would quickly get to know this offer. Well, the biggest reason that it works is that it’s a mobile-based loyalty program that is far more personal which involves a simple punch-card being handed over to every customer who buys a drink.

Another report says that 65% of restaurant customers would be willing to download your restaurant’s app if it promised you exclusive deals and offers from time to time. 

2. Easier and Quicker Order Fulfillment With Mobile Apps

Using mobile apps for your restaurant can revolutionize how restaurants handle order fulfillment, offering a streamlined and error-free process compared to traditional phone-in orders. 

A dedicated restaurant mobile app enables you to receive orders digitally, eliminating the risk of miscommunication and verbal misunderstandings. With digital order processing, staff can immediately see detailed instructions, including special requests, reducing order errors and improving customer satisfaction. 

If you are still holding yourself back from developing a mobile app, then take the example of Square, powering 4 million businesses for order processing. It highlights that restaurants using mobile ordering systems have reported 30% faster order processing time.

Apart, here are the key highlights of using this modern mobile ordering system:

• It ensures smooth operations during peak hours. 
• Freeing up staff to focus on the other tasks. 
• Offering in-app payment features, replacing manual payment handling.
• Cutting down on processing time and minimizing errors.

3. Boost Your Restaurant Sales Among Millennials

Mobile apps can resonate strongly with millennials, especially a demographic that prioritizes convenience and digital solutions. According to a survey by Statista, 73% of millennials prefer to engage with brands via mobile apps to place orders, while 40% actively favor restaurants that offer mobile payment options.   

According to the reports, each millennial spends an average of $174 per month on eating out. So by catering to their preferences of offering mobile payments, you can get a larger chunk of their monthly spending power into your business revenue. 

If you are looking to have a quick impact on restaurant sales, then it is worth outsourcing to a software development company to integrate ordering and online payment options that position restaurants as a go-to choice for millennials. 

4. Offering Location Based Deals to Customers

Did you know that 45% of customers prefer dining out with customers that offer exclusive deals? And Apple’s iBeacon has adopted it very smartly. It is a small device that you can set up in and around the location for sending push notifications and deals to the people in your location of luring them into your restaurant during meal time. 

To replicate this strategy, you can have a mobile app for your restaurant, hire an app developer that can integrate GPS settings to tell you where they are, and send out the relevant deal information if you have more than one operating location. 

5. More Table Bookings With Mobile App

Scale up your restaurant table reservations by having an “Online Table Reservation” feature in the app. Mobile apps with table reservation features make it more meaningful for your business especially when travel companies are looking for bulk reservations with some sort of great deals. 

This is where, knowing that they will have a table at one of their favorite places when they are traveling, will immediately make bookings through an app. 

If it comes to estimating the number of reservations made monthly via mobile app, then it will greatly vary between the 50,000 to 100,000 range. 

Allowing customers to make a reservation without any worry of having to call in, will make the entire reservation process pleasant for the customers.

Knowing all such reasons, surely you will be looking to hire software developer to get started with a restaurant app. But how to create and manage the app and most importantly how much does it cost to build an app?

Here are the detailed answers …

How Much Does It Cost to Create a Mobile App for a Restaurant?

Developing a mobile app for your restaurant is a worthy decision, but venturing into the digital transformation would require effort and budget. So if you are trying to estimate the average cost to create a restaurant app, then keep in mind that there is no standard cost to create a mobile app.

Different businesses have different requirements, therefore there is no one-size-fits-all all application in the market. As per a market survey, the average cost to create a mobile app for your restaurant would range between $15,000 to $50,000+ and can go beyond $75,000+ depending upon the complexity of the app, features, and functionalities, UI/UX design, and more. 

Based on the complexity of the app, here we have categorized the approximate cost of creating an app:

App Type	Estimated Cost (USD)	Description
Basic App	$15,000 – $30,000	Covers essential features such as menu display, table reservations, and basic ordering options.
Medium-Complexity App	$30,000 – $60,000	Includes advanced features like loyalty programs, delivery management, and performance analytics.
Advanced App	$60,000 – $100,000+	Comprehensive app with AI-powered features, multilingual support, and POS system integrations.

Before you take these estimations as a final app development cost, it is worth knowing that it can go low or high depending upon your unique requirements. So, if you are thinking of digitizing your restaurant business, then book a free consultation slot with our experts for a detailed evaluation of project requirements. 

Did you know 89% of consumers are using smartphones to search restaurants?

A mobile app is no longer a luxury. Is a necessity if you are looking to capture the mobile-first audience. Let Xicom build an app that turns searches into loyal diners and generates better revenues.

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How Can Xicom Help You Get Started with a Custom Mobile App For Your Restaurant?

Having a mobile app for your restaurant can help you get a competitive edge as a major percentage of millennials prefer choosing restaurants with an online presence. Not just that, with the changing customer requirements, your restaurant also needs to have modern digital features like in-app payment, location-based personalized deals, offering push notifications, referral and loyalty programs, and more. 

To create a mobile app integrated with all such advanced features would require you to hire a mobile app development company that can understand your business niche and be able to customize the solution.

This is where Xicom outshined as a top-rated restaurant app development company well-acknowledged for developing unique solutions for multiple brands worldwide. We have assisted top food joints and developed apps boasting millions of downloads.

We don’t just build apps, we create strategies that align with your business challenges and ensure better customer engagement as we pay detailed attention to its UI/UX design.

Here’s what our restaurant mobile apps are delivering:

• 28% increase in conversion rate and 2 million downloads on the Play Store.
• Ultimate UI/UX design for seamless customer experience.
• 48% enhancement in customer engagement rate and a 30% drop in bounce rate.

For us every client is precious, so we go up and beyond in customizing the solutions with all new innovative features that make our apps future-ready. 

Read More: 115+ Top Mobile App Ideas in 2025 For Startups, Entrepreneurs etc.

Conclusion

There is no doubt in this fact that the restaurant industry is expanding and various trends and technologies are hardly hitting the business landscape and quickly revolutionizing the way restaurants attract customers and drive sales. Having a mobile app for your restaurant will help you create an online presence and offer a wide range of features like loyalty and reward programs, in-app payment processes, location-based personalized deals, and more. 

To reap the best potential of these features, you need to hire a mobile app development company experienced in developing restaurant apps for leading brands. Xicom is a top-rated software development company that enables you to turn your app idea into reality and even assist in upgrading the existing app with modern features. So if you are all set to transform your restaurant business, then contact us for a custom app development strategy and detailed estimates. 

FAQs

Here we have gathered additional information related to developing a mobile app for restaurants and help you make an informed decision.