As dine-in restaurants are not a safe option in the current situation of the COVID-19 outbreak, more and more people are now relying on online food delivery apps.

However, in this turbulent situation, where everyone is tired of eating the same food at their home and looking out for something delicious every day, you may have to wait more or pay more for your meals to be delivered.

On top of that, we all end up spending way too much time toggling between different apps to figure out which app has your favorite restaurants, the lowest delivery fee, or any special deal available.

In this day and age, where no one can afford to waste precious time on such repetitive tasks, the sense of togetherness by the consumers and delivery service providers is a must, to make it stabilized.

This is where a neutral third-party aggregator for the food-delivery marketplace becomes very helpful. Similar to what Trivago or Expedia is doing in the travel and hotel industry.

Providing a single platform to users where they can easily get the best deal in food delivery service using filters like cuisine type, restaurants, delivery price, time, etc., is currently trending in the USA.

Currently, two such apps are very popular in the USA named FoodBoss and MealMe. Both apps function the same way Kayak, Expedia, Trivago do for travel.

They let customers compare the different food-delivery service players available in their localities, in terms of their delivery time and costs estimates side-by-side, without constantly swapping them.

Let’s understand the business models of both the apps in-detail.

FoodBoss business model

The Chicago-based food delivery search engine startup, FoodBoss (formerly known as Bootler) was founded in 2016. Currently, FoodBoss is available in 55 cities across the USA.

It aggregates over 165000 local restaurants across those cities that have their internal delivery service and third-party food delivery services – UberEats, Postmates, Caviar, Delivery.com to its app.

Users can find the list of restaurants and the delivery services, along with estimated delivery time and delivery fees (including service charges, surge prices, and taxes) by entering their address in the FoodBoss app.

The FoodBoss app also offers its users an option to filter out the results based on the cuisine type, fastest delivery time, or least expensive delivery fees, etc., to find the best deals for them.

The value proposition for the consumer is FoodBoss highlights the based ordering method as per their priorities and shows real-time information of prices/time from delivery service providers.

For now, FoodBoss is reliant on its third-party delivery service partners for the data, if they cut off down the road, FoodBoss could lose their relevance fast.

MealMe business model

MealMe is an evolving startup, which provides both an aggregator function like FoodBoss with an option to make a reservation and share food pics to their users through the MealMe app.

Recently, MealMe expanded its services by offering at-home chefs to sell their prepared meals through the MealMe app.

MealMe app also operates somewhat differently than the FoodBoss app. After creating an account on MealMe, users will find nearby restaurants. It also allows users to search for a particular restaurant.

When they tap on one, the app shows all the third-party delivery services working with that restaurant and which is less expensive among them, based on delivery fees, service charges, surge fees, etc.

The app doesn’t show the estimated delivery time. When the users select the service they find suitable, the app then redirects the user into that app.

By offering an option to book reservations and share pictures of the food/place on the app to its customers, MealMe incorporates crucial bits from both Yelp and Instagram.

With guests posting their food pictures, restaurants can also claim their brand pages on the MealMe app and post pictures of their food/place by themselves.

The value addition is that MealMe provides an option for restaurants to interact with customers on a human level when compared with other platforms that might be just ratings based.

On the other hand, MealMe also allows customers to solely focus on price comparison, if they are not interested in social networking, considering their privacy.

Another key part of the MealMe business model is affiliate marketing partnerships with the largest U.S. delivery providers.

MealMe allows in-app advertisements for such restaurants, looking to reach customers who are ready to place an order. By sending them direct customers, it earns a portion of their transactions.

Though MealMe includes all of the major food delivery service apps, and available in more cities, it is only available on iOS at present. Also, it gives limited information before redirecting users to the delivery app.

On the other hand, though FoodBoss operates in fewer cities and has fewer delivery services to compare, it gives more information than MealMe and is available on more platforms.

However, MealMe is on its way to expand its sphere of services in terms of adding new verticals, like alcohol or grocery to its app.

Turning around with Coruscate

As the food delivery service market is flourishing, the competition in terms of delivery service standards, app features, or technical aspects is also increasing.

Even if you are planning to develop an aggregator-based app like FoodBoss or MealMe, you need an expert team of app designers/developers to build your app solution future-ready.

Being a leading mobile app development company, we not just expertise in developing an incredible future-ready food delivery app solution, but also help you make an informed decision to take your food delivery app business to another level in the market.