Restaurant app cost: ordering, click & collect and loyalty

When a restaurateur asks us how much an app costs, they are really asking another question: from how many orders do I stop paying commissions for nothing? The price of the app is only half of the calculation. The other half is what you pay out every month to the delivery platforms on customers who already know you.

This guide details the three building blocks we are asked about most — ordering, click & collect, loyalty —, explains what makes the bill go up and offers a simple method to know whether the investment pays for itself. If you want to see what we actually build for the restaurant trade, it is all on our page mobile app for restaurants (in French).

The three building blocks of a restaurant app

A "restaurant app" covers very different products. Before talking price, you need to know which one you are buying.

1. Ordering and click & collect. The customer browses the menu, builds their basket, picks a pick-up slot and pays online. In the kitchen, the order arrives on a tablet or a printer. It is the most profitable block, because it directly replaces part of the orders placed on the platforms or by phone.

2. Loyalty. Points, digital stamps, rewards, birthday offers, referral. On its own, it generates no revenue; coupled with ordering, it is what brings customers back to your channel rather than an intermediary's.

3. Delivery. Either with your own couriers (route tracking, assignment, real-time status), or by delegating the delivery to a logistics provider while keeping the order with you. It is the most complex and most expensive block, and the one we often advise against in a first version.

On top of that there is always a back office: managing the menu and out-of-stock items, opening hours, slots, order tracking, statistics, sending notifications. It is forgotten in naive quotes; yet it is the tool your team will use every day.

How much does it cost: scopes and timelines

Here are the scopes we see on custom projects; each one is priced through a free quote within 24 hours, as stated on our pricing page.

Each project is priced separately because no two restaurants are alike. A burger place with a menu of fifteen products and a caterer with options, extras, allergens and orders scheduled three days ahead do not have the same ordering engine.

What pushes the bill up (or down)

On a restaurant project, the price is rarely driven by the home screen. It is driven by the business rules.

Menu complexity

A "fixed-price product" menu can be modelled in a few days. A menu with composed set menus, mandatory choices, paid extras, size variations, products available only at lunchtime and real-time out-of-stock status requires a real configuration engine. It is often the first source of overruns when it has not been scoped.

Displaying allergens is part of this work: for distance selling, allergen information must be accessible to the customer before purchase. You may as well structure it in the back office from the start rather than paste it in as free text.

Till integration

This is the most unpredictable item. If your till software offers a documented API, the integration (order feed, synchronisation of the menu, prices and stock) amounts to a few weeks. If it does not, there are two options: re-keying in the kitchen via a dedicated tablet, acceptable at the start, or a third-party connector, which adds a subscription. Ask your till vendor the question before requesting a quote.

Payment

Online card payment, Apple Pay and Google Pay, pre-authorisation, partial refund in case of an out-of-stock item: all of this goes through a payment provider, whose fees run at around 1.5 to 3% per transaction depending on the card and the contract. It is nowhere near a platform commission, but it has to be included in the calculation. Digital meal vouchers (titres-restaurant), if your customers use many of them, add a specific integration.

In-house delivery

Managing your own couriers means adding a third app (or a courier mode), real-time tracking, zones, variable fees depending on distance and error cases to handle. The budget then rises significantly. For many restaurants, the right first version is click & collect only, with delivery left to the platforms while you measure adoption.

Multiple venues

As soon as you have several addresses, everything is duplicated: different menus, different hours, different stock, access rights per team, consolidated statistics. An architecture designed for a single restaurant and then extended costs more than a multi-site architecture from the start. If opening a second outlet is planned within two years, say so at the scoping stage.

Custom-built, white label or platform: the real comparison

Every option has its place. The wrong choice is to compare them only on entry price.

White label is often the right choice for an independent restaurant starting takeaway sales. Custom-built is justified when the app becomes an asset: a chain that wants loyalty specific to its brand, a concept built on a particular ordering experience, a multi-brand dark kitchen that needs a single back office, or a restaurateur who wants to own their customer base without depending on a vendor.

How to break free from commissions without losing customers

Cutting the platforms overnight is a mistake. They give you visibility that your app will never have on its own. The strategy that works is subtler: platforms to acquire, your channel to retain.

1. Identify the regulars. A customer ordering from you for the third time on a platform no longer needs it to find you. They are the ones to move over.
2. Give a concrete reason to switch. A flyer in the bag, a QR code on the packaging: "order direct, earn points, priority pick-up". The discount you offer costs less than the commission you save.
3. Make the direct channel simpler than the platform. Ordering in three screens, saved payment, reorder from the previous order in one tap. If your app is slower than the one they already use, they will not come back.
4. Follow up intelligently. A notification on the day they usually order, an offer after three weeks without an order. Marketing notifications require the customer's consent: collecting it properly is part of the project, as our article on GDPR compliance for a mobile app explains.
5. Measure the share of direct orders. It is the only indicator that matters: what percentage of your takeaway and delivery sales now goes through your channel?

Calculating profitability in five minutes

No need for a complex spreadsheet. Take four figures:

• A: your monthly revenue going through the platforms;
• B: your average commission rate (read your statements, not the contract);
• C: the share of those orders you think you can bring back within a year (be cautious: 20 to 40% for well-targeted regulars);
• D: the monthly cost of your direct channel (maintenance, hosting, payment fees, loyalty discounts).

Monthly saving ≈ A × C × B − D.

Theoretical example: 30% commission and 30% of orders brought back is about 9% of your platform sales recovered every month, minus the app's running costs. With a modest volume, the app pays for itself in about two years; with a large volume through platforms, in a few months. This simple calculation tells you whether you fall more into the white-label or the custom category. It does not count the value of the customer base, which is nonetheless what you will be left with if a platform changes its terms.

What absolutely has to be in the first version

A restaurant app rarely fails for lack of features. It fails because ordering is a chore or the kitchen cannot keep up. Our MVP scoping method applies here without exception:

• To keep: an up-to-date menu with out-of-stock management, basket, online payment, slot selection, order confirmation and status, kitchen screen or printout, customer account with history and "order again".
• To add quickly: simple loyalty (points or stamps), push notifications for follow-up.
• To postpone: in-house delivery, referral, prize draws, table booking if you already have a tool, personalised recommendations.

On the team side, plan a week of running-in under real conditions: that is when you discover that a ten-minute pick-up slot is unrealistic on a Friday night, or that the tablet's sound is inaudible in the kitchen. These adjustments cost little if anticipated.

The costs people forget

• Developer accounts for Apple and Google, renewed every year for Apple.
• Hosting and third-party services: sending SMS and emails, mapping if you deliver, payment provider.
• Maintenance: every year, iOS and Android change, and an unmaintained app eventually can no longer be updated. We detail this item in our article on the cost of maintaining a mobile app.
• Promotion: an app nobody knows about brings back no orders. In-store materials, packaging, a message to regulars: the budget is modest, but it must exist.

What we do for restaurateurs

At 55 · agency, we have been building custom mobile and web apps since 2013, with a team of 8 people between Paris, Cagnes-sur-Mer and Villeurbanne. In the restaurant trade, we have worked with Yellow Kitchens, among others. Our approach is always the same: a short scoping phase that quantifies your potential gain before pricing the app, then a tight first version, put online quickly and measured on real orders. The details of our offering are on the page mobile app for restaurants (in French), and how a project works in general on our mobile app development page.

In summary

The budget of a restaurant app climbs in steps: web ordering, then click & collect, then a full version with loyalty and delivery, and more for a multi-venue chain — free quote within 24 hours. It becomes profitable when it brings back enough orders for the commissions saved to exceed its running cost. The platforms remain your best allies for finding new customers; your app is there to keep those who have already chosen you.

Want to know whether the calculation holds for your venue? Tell us about your restaurant — menu, takeaway volume, till software — or call us on +33 1 59 13 25 55. We will send you a reasoned estimate, with no commitment.

Sources

• Become a member — Apple
• Premiers pas avec la Play Console — Google Play Console
• Conformité RGPD : comment recueillir le consentement des personnes ? (in French) — CNIL (the French data protection authority)