😇 It’s a blessing to be able to run a business that you love!
Food delivery is one of the craving business ideas among aspiring entrepreneurs.
I’m glad you have decided to launch an online meal delivery service, but how are you going to do it?
In this article, I try to address this question with all of my knowledge in the hopes of assisting you in getting started quickly.
6 Actionable steps that you can follow to start a food delivery business in the USA 🇺🇸
1. Choose your delivery niche
From the delivery business ideas above, pick the one you are fascinated about or do your research.
Choosing a business niche would help you narrow down your potential customers and serve them effectively.
Generalizing your services won’t help you survive in this fierce competition.
Specialize in what you serve and be the best in that area.
Here are some tips for you to choose the niche:
Write down the list of your areas of interest.
Analyze the market need for those areas.
And pick the one that best suits your interests and the interests of your target audience.
2. Find your target audience
Pinpointing the target audience will help you understand and serve them better.
Consider this scenario: you are preparing to launch an office food delivery service. Instead of targeting office workers, employers, and corporations, you are going after everyone who wants meals delivered.
Do you think it would be beneficial? Nah! 🙅
Not everyone is your business’ potential customer. You have to pick your audience to tailor your services around them.
3. Create a business plan
Man, this is one of the critical parts of starting a food delivery service. Pay close attention to this because this might help you get funding for your business.
Yes, you read that right! Your business plan is the one that describes your company’s core value, objectives, and how your business will achieve those objectives.
Also, creating a clear business plan will help you attract investors to your business.
Here are some of the things you should include in your business plan,
Executive summary
Budget and financial analysis
Marketing strategies
The technology behind your online delivery startup
Learn more about creating a food delivery business plan!
4. Pick a name for your business
Your business name defines your brand and its traits.
Pick a business name that:
Reflects your core value
Easy to read and remember
Not used by any other businesses
Related to your business
You can use business name generators from Shopify& Oberloto get an idea.
5. Register and get a business license
🚀 Time to officially kickstart your online food delivery service!
Registering your business is the first step to establishing your business legally.
Also, it helps you get business loans and fundraisings easily.
In addition to the registration, you need to get some licenses to run your business.
Depending on the country you are in, the legal processes vary.
Here are some of the common licenses you need to get started with your food delivery business:
Food handling permits
Employee identification number
Insurance policies
General license
DBA license
Business operation license
😅 Phew, that’s a lot!
6. Create your food delivery app
👻 We’re into the fun part!
Yes, we are about to create a food delivery app that would enable your customers to order items and get them delivered.
Here are some of the benefits of creating an app for your delivery business:
Easy for branding and marketing
Great to monitor and scale your business
Customers have the best food ordering experience
You can provide better customer service
So, how can you create an app within your budget? How?
Here are the two ways to make it happen:
Creating a food delivery app from scratch and,
Customizing readymade software solutions to your need.
The approach to creating your app is entirely up to you and your business needs.
From the cost of development point of view, we suggest you use readymade solutions.
It would take around 600 – 750 hours to create a food delivery app from scratch, depending upon the complexity.
And the hourly rate for mobile app development in the USA is around $60 to $125
So, building a food delivery service app from the ground up would cost between $36000 and $45000.
On the other hand, creating an app by customizing the readymade solutions will cost you around $5000 to $6000.
You could always add more features and functionalities when your business scales up.
For a startup owner, picking the one that offers maximum benefits at a minimum cost would be worthwhile.