Tackling the COVID-19 Pandemic Situation with Your Food Delivery App: Here’s What You Need to Know

These are incredibly challenging times for restaurants. Those eateries that entirely depended on foot traffic has succumbed to the pandemic situation, experiencing a steep decline in sales. Having said that, the online medium appeared to be an ideal way to reach out to potential customers. As a result, third-party food delivery platforms experienced a massive surge in demand & popularity since the onset of the pandemic.

Food delivery apps like UberEats, DoorDash, etc., rose to the occasion, helping customers satisfy their taste buds and restaurants to boost sales by catering to a wide audience. However, there’s an added responsibility up their shoulders. They need to safeguard the entire community from virus contractions.

Are you one such entrepreneur who aspires to initiate your food delivery app development? If so, here’s a blog that outlines safety strategies that you shouldn’t want to miss out on your ultra-modern food delivery app.

How are food delivery apps faring amid COVID-19?

Before jumping into details & strategies, let’s look at how some of the top food delivery apps cope with the pandemic situation and are experiencing a positive turnaround of events.

• Grubhub joined hands with 20,000 low & medium-scale restaurants in March immediately following the lockdown.
• Domino’s Pizza hired 10,000 new delivery drivers to cope with the demands of the people.
• According to a report from FoodBoss, surge pricing in platforms elevated by 16.3% in the third week of March, following the initiation of lockdown in numerous countries worldwide.
• UberEats witnessed a 30% surge in customer sign-ups with the platform in March.
• Revenue of UberEats almost doubled, reaching $1.2 billion in Q2 2020.
• As an icing to the cake, UberEats surpassed Uber’s core ride-hailing division in terms of gross bookings. While the delivery unit witnessed gross bookings of $6.96 billion, the mobility unit fell short by $3.05 billion.
• In a statement, DoorDash has clearly stated that the COVID-19 situation has enhanced the platform’s revenue & total orders, propelling it to a $16 billion valuation.
• JustEat Takeaway in the UK experienced a 43% surge in sales in Q3 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
• Thus, it is clear that different UberEats Clone food delivery platforms have witnessed a positive turnaround of events amid the lockdown situation.

What are the safety strategies to consider in your food delivery app?

Ensuring safety throughout the ecosystem becomes critical in today’s world, where safety remains the top priority. Gaining the consumers’ trust can help a food delivery platform scale big in the current scenario. Here are some cutting-edge safety add-ons that you shouldn’t want to miss out on in your UberEats clone app.

• Zero-contact Deliveries: Eliminate any form of contact between delivery professionals and customers by encouraging contactless delivery options. Instruct your delivery chain to drop food orders in front of customer locations rather than handing them over directly.
• Disable ‘Cash on Delivery’: It is pointless to introduce zero-contact deliveries without disabling cash for transactions. Encourage your customers to opt for digital modes of payments like credit/debit cards, digital wallets, net banking, etc. This way, you ensure the safety of both your delivery chain & customers.
• Safety Ratings & Reviews: Hear constructive feedback from customers on the platform’s safety standards. This way, you can take corrective action, keeping service quality in check. Moreover, this can be an ideal way to eliminate those service providers who aren’t adhering to the platform’s safety regulations.
• Face mask recognition software: Despite providing safety gear like face masks, gloves, sanitizers, etc., to UberEats Clone delivery workers, many tend to break the community regulations. To keep service quality in check, integrate an in-built recognition software, wherein the software seamlessly recognizes delivery workers before and after each ride.
• Safety badges to restaurants: Scrutinize restaurants on their safety standards and display safety badges near those restaurants that adhere to strict protocols. This way, users get to know that the food that they order comes from safe places, building the ‘trust’ factor.

Conclusion

With the market for food delivery services booming, capitalize on this growing trend by developing a food delivery app like UberEats. Implement these safety add-ons into your application to safeguard your community and witness a positive turnaround of events.