Peak-hour pressure
Friday evening is when everything breaks: waiters can't reach every table, the kitchen loses track of orders and guests wait for the bill. Your software has to be fastest exactly when the load is highest.
INDUSTRY
Restaurant and food delivery app development
OXIOS handles restaurant and food delivery app development for venues, chains and FoodTech startups. We build guest apps with digital menus and QR ordering, apps for waiters and couriers, and the backend that keeps orders, kitchen and payments in sync.
Challenges we solve
Aggregator commissions and lost customers
Delivery aggregators bring orders, but they take a commission and own the relationship with your guests. Many restaurants want their own ordering channel without hiring an in-house tech team.
Kitchen and menu out of sync
A dish runs out, but the app keeps selling it. Without a live stop list connected to ordering, every missing ingredient turns into a refund and an unhappy guest.
Couriers and delivery visibility
Guests want to know where their order is; managers want to know which courier is free. Statuses, routes and handovers are hard to follow through phone calls and group chats.
What we build for you
Digital menu and QR ordering
Guests scan a QR code at the table, browse a menu with photos and modifiers, then order and pay by card without waiting for a waiter.
Online payments and tips
Card payments, split bills and tips through payment providers such as Stripe, with receipts and refunds managed from the admin panel.
Staff app for waiters and kitchen
Orders by table, statuses, the stop list and tips in one app, so the floor and the kitchen work from the same live data.
Courier app and delivery tracking
Order assignment, routes and statuses for couriers, and live delivery tracking for guests, all fed by the same order system.
Restaurant aggregator and owner dashboard
Multi-restaurant delivery apps with search and reviews, plus a web dashboard where each owner manages menus, prices and incoming orders.
Loyalty and rewards
Bonuses, promo codes, push campaigns and reward mechanics that bring guests back, from simple points to token-based rewards for healthy choices.
Related case studies
FoodTech
QuickPay
Digital menus, QR ordering, card payments and delivery tracking — plus tools for waiters and couriers.
Open case study
Delivery
Vilka
Food delivery from all restaurants in one app, with search, reviews and a web dashboard for restaurant owners.
Open case study
HealthTech
CryptoCado
A mobile app that rewards healthy eating with cryptocurrency that can be spent at partner cafes.
Open case studyWhat goes into restaurant and food delivery app development
Restaurant and food delivery app development is really two products: one for guests and one for the people who serve them. QuickPay is a good example. Guests get a digital menu, QR ordering at the table, card payment and delivery tracking. Waiters and couriers get their own app with orders, the stop list, tables, tips and routes. Both sides read from one backend, so when the kitchen marks a dish as unavailable, guests stop seeing it.
If you plan a platform for many restaurants rather than one venue, the priorities shift to search, reviews and partner onboarding. In Vilka we combined a delivery app that aggregates restaurants with a web dashboard where restaurant owners manage their menus and orders themselves. Loyalty can also go beyond discount points: CryptoCado rewards users with crypto tokens for healthy eating, and they spend those tokens at partner cafes, which brings guests to the venues that join the programme.
Much of the effort in FoodTech hides in integrations: payment providers, POS and kitchen systems, delivery zones, maps, SMS and push notifications. We document APIs in Swagger/OpenAPI and plan for bad moments — a waiter's phone dropping Wi-Fi shouldn't lose an order, and a payment that times out shouldn't charge the guest twice. Mobile apps are built with React Native, so iOS and Android share one codebase and you pay for one team instead of two.
A sensible first release for a single restaurant is often QR ordering and payment at the table; for delivery, it is ordering plus courier statuses. Loyalty, analytics and multi-location features follow once you see how guests actually use the product. Work runs in two-week sprints with a demo after each one, so you can test new flows with your staff during a quiet shift. Send us your idea: we reply within one business day and then prepare a free estimate with scope, timeline, team and budget range.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to build a food delivery app?
As of 2026, an ordering MVP for one restaurant or chain typically costs approximately $20,000–$50,000. A full delivery platform with separate guest, courier and restaurant apps plus an admin panel usually starts around $60,000 and can exceed $150,000. The biggest cost drivers are the number of apps, payment flows, POS integration and real-time courier tracking. Our free estimate breaks this down for your scope.
Do I need my own app if I already sell through aggregators?
Not always. Aggregators are good for reach and new guests. Your own app or QR ordering makes sense when you have many regulars, want to own guest data and loyalty, or pay significant commissions on repeat orders. Many restaurants keep both: aggregators for discovery, their own channel for in-venue ordering and returning customers.
Can QR ordering work without installing an app?
Yes. A QR menu can open as a web app right in the browser, with no download, which is usually the better choice for ordering at the table. A native mobile app makes more sense for delivery, loyalty programmes and push notifications. Many projects combine both: a web menu for walk-in guests and a mobile app for regulars.
Can you integrate the app with our POS or kitchen system?
Usually, if the POS provides an API. During discovery we review its documentation, test access and estimate the integration as a separate item. If there is no API, we can make the staff app or a kitchen screen the source of truth for orders and sync totals with your accounting by export. Either way, the kitchen sees every order in one place.
How do you handle payments and tips securely?
We use established payment providers such as Stripe, with hosted payment forms or SDKs, so card numbers never touch your servers or ours. This keeps most card-security requirements on the provider's side. Beyond that, we build split bills, tips, refunds and receipts, and choose local payment methods based on the countries you operate in.
Related services
Mobile app development
iOS and Android apps on React Native and Expo: design, backend, App Store and Google Play release, push, subscriptions and support after launch.
Learn moreReact Native development
Cross-platform iOS and Android apps on React Native and Expo: one codebase, native modules where needed, and honest advice on when native is better.
Learn moreAPI development and integrations
REST APIs and Node.js backends for web and mobile apps: auth, payments, push, maps, Telegram bots, CRM integrations and scheduled jobs.
Learn moreNEXT STEP
Let's discuss your project
Tell us what you want to build. Within one business day we reply with a recommended scope, rough timeline, team shape and budget range.