Creating a Mobile App for Your Food Truck Business

on December 3, 2014 in Business
6 comments

Why create a mobile app for your food truck business? Mobile apps can help your business easily advertise and sell your products and services. Creating a social media presence with a mobile app will help your customers learn more about your business and help you grow your mobile food empire!

Entering the mobile market is simple and easy, with many mobile app creating platforms available to help you. No matter which website or app creator you choose, make sure that your app will be compatible with the major mobile platforms right now, Android, and iOS. This will ensure that your app can be viewed by the largest consumer base possible.

Laying the Groundwork

The first step in creating a mobile app for your food truck business is a basic understanding of your options. Think about what you want to accomplish with your mobile app. What customers are you going to target with this app? What features would you like to include? Would you like to give customers the ability to post on social media about your business? Would you like to offer coupons, reservations, business loyalty cards or discounts? How about a GPS marker of your location? If you offer a changing menu, do you want the opportunity to update this daily to spread information to your customer base?

Depending on how simple or complex your business’s needs, you may want to develop an app yourself or it may be easier to hire a company specialized in mobile app development. Luckily, there are app development websites to help you if you decide to do it on your own. Even with no coding knowledge, it easier than ever to create a mobile app with these tools.

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AppyPie.Com

AppyPie users can create their app in a few minutes without coding skills, and they will receive an HTML5 based hybrid app that works with Android, iPhone, iPad, and Windows Phone. The app creator allows you to drag and drop, with no programming skills required. Features include Passbook, GPS, ad monetization, and restaurant tools such as food ordering, menu builder, GrubHub, and OpenTable. Plans are available starting at $12 per month.

GoodBarber.Com

GoodBarber allows you to build iPhone and Android apps, without producing a single line of code. Use over 50 templates created by experienced designers, or customize them for your business. GoodBarber include 350 icons and over 600 fonts by Google. Nine navigation templates allow you to search your app for bugs and apply changes on the fly if needed. This app builder integrates with Google Calendar, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, RSS, and Facebook Events. Good Barber offers a free thirty-day trial for creating your own mobile app. Plans are available starting at $16 per month.

Appmakr.Com

AppMakr is an app creation platform that lets anyone craft iOS, Android and HTML5 apps, with no coding knowledge required. You can make as many apps as you want, with unlimited updates. Apps can include a number of features, including notifications, photo galleries, live updates, music and video streaming, chat rooms, Google Maps integration, shared events calendars, and in-app shopping. Customize your app’s looks and functionality, add content with tabs, preview and troubleshoot your mobile app and publish it to the markets with a single click. Plans are available from free, to a $99 one-time self-publishing fee.

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Mobile.Conduit.Com

Mobile by Conduit’s app builder tool includes a variety of components such as RSS feeds, event notifications, e-commerce, notifications, coupons, and customer loyalty programs. The app integrates with OpenTable, TopTable, UrbanSpoon, as well as GrubHub, Seamless, Eat24Hours, and more. The app builder supports iPhone, iPad, and Android, and they will submit your app to the various App Stores for you. Plans are available starting at $33 per month.

Shoutem.Com

ShoutEm offers a mobile app builder with content management, user engagement tools, and monetization options. The interface builder offers many customization options, and each app is integrated with existing content sources such as WordPress, Foursquare, Facebook, and Twitter. The multiple monetization options mean you can quickly create a revenue stream from your app, providing an e-commerce experience, in-app subscriptions, deals and coupons. Shoutem creates apps compatible with iPhone, iPad, Android, and HTML5. Plans are available starting at $49 per month.

Biznessapps.Com

BiznessApps is perfect for food-based businesses, offering a fast and easy way for small businesses to make mobile apps. You start by picking an industry-specific template, then customize it to your specifications. It allows you to create apps compatible with iPhones, iPads, Android and Windows, with no coding knowledge needed. Features include GPS directions, one touch calling, tell-a-friend feature, food ordering, mobile reservations, loyalty card, video integration, business information and event listings, a coupons feature, fan wall, mailing list, and points of interest near your business. Bizness Apps offers integration with your business blog, Twitter, Facebook, and OpenTable. BiznessApps offers a 30-day money back guarantee. Plans are available starting at $59 dollars per month for mobile apps.

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Make the Most of Mobile

Now that you have decided on your app creator, how can you use your mobile app to grow your business and customer base? Always keep in touch with your mobile customers by keeping your app up-to-date. Let them know your address, contact details, current location, menu items, and more. Send frequent reminders about your food truck business’s discounts, deals, and current menu offerings. Engage your customers with surveys that supply you with feedback, and offer winners and participants coupons, deals, and discounts for your business. Use location-based apps to offer deals to your consumer base when they are in your area of operation.

It may seem complicated to create mobile apps for your food truck business, but the benefits outweigh the difficulties. Mobile apps will help you tailor your business to your customers’ needs, creating more brand loyalty. Your mobile app can allow you to tweak issues in your business and get immediate feedback from consumers. Mobile app creation doesn’t have to be difficult or time-consuming, but it does need to be attractive to your customers and easy to use. Ultimately, keep in mind your customers, and make your app clean, simple to navigate, and user-friendly.

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Image credit: microsiervos


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About the Author

Jennifer Bland is an entrepreneur and world traveler who blogs at RatRaceGrad.com. Check out her website for more information on her Internet marketing tips, world travels, and to connect with a like-minded soul who has given up the corporate rat race to follow her own path!

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  • GoodBarber December 5, 2014, 2:46 am

    Hi Jennifer, you’re right, apps can be useful for a food truck business. Click to call, menu presentation, gps location, feedback forms, … are useful features that can be used to improve the experience of the hungry customer 🙂

  • Matthew Whetton February 4, 2015, 12:11 pm

    There’s some really interesting ideas from GoodBarber about ways mobile apps can help food truck businesses. What about ideas around a mobile app to help the management of a food truck business, like completing and documenting food hygiene audits (with photographs), on-site stock management etc – are these things that “foodtruckrs” would find useful?

    We’re always talking about the many opportunities for mobile apps in business at itsmonkie.co.uk (link to discussion below).

    I’d be interested also to hear how people ge ton with the app maker tools you mention. As a software development company we’re generally underwhelmed by the results of these apps, but I’d love to hear what other think.

    It is true though, that developing a mobile app from scratch can be costly – is there any mileage in several food truck owners coming together to fund an apps development that would deliver a much better result?

    Link to discussion – http://www.itsmonkie.co.uk/developing-app-business-pros-cons/

    Thanks for reading my ramblings!

    Matt

  • Artur Kiulian April 6, 2015, 10:50 am

    I’ve been fortunate to know the founder of http://www.crowdfood.com/ and he is doing something HUGE for Los Angeles food trucks. This is one app for all food trucks in the area and for foodies to skip the line. You should add them to the list 😉

  • Cato Zachrisen November 12, 2015, 7:05 pm

    The thing is.. for any “small” business. You have two choices. Hire a costly developer, which is a no-go for most. Then there are the DIY platforms. Unfortunately, on any of the platforms, the only thing that is truly DIY is signing up and leaving you credit card. Unless you are techie enough to understand color codes, embedding, iframes, and html, you`re not gonna go far. You might get your picture in the app, and some basic “contact us”, sections. But that`s not what the apps are for, is it. With Zaaver.com we are trying to bring a third option to the market. A “We do it for you” option. How does $0 setup fee, only $99/month, all inclusive sound to you? We design the app for your business specifically, build out all the functions, and publish/maintain the app for the customers. We hope people will appreciate this help.

    http://www.zaaver.com

  • Roma V March 28, 2016, 6:54 am

    iOS and Android Apps Development for Food and Drink

  • Manohar Pilankar March 28, 2016, 7:00 am

    With the rise in food tech popularity, there are a mass of apps coming up for online ordering. If the one who is Looking forward to develop your own Food and Drink App then contact – Riktam Technologies which specializes in mobile app development for food and drink apps in multiple platforms including iOS and Android. for more info check : Mobile app development for Food and Drinks in iOS and Android