Ever visited a Subway outlet? What about developing an app like Subway?
Well, before bothering to develop an app like Subway, you must be confused about the budget to invest in it, right?
To understand it in detail, let’s begin the journey together, which will comprise cost, factors, time to invest, and monetization strategies.
Subway is among the most popular restaurant chains in the world. It is an American multinational fast-food restaurant chain that specializes in sandwiches and wraps.
| App | Availability | Downloads | Rating |
| Subway | iOS & Android | 10M+ | 4.8/5 & 4.4/5 |
The brand and its sandwiches have become the leading choice of the majority of people who seek quick and nutritious meals for the whole family.
Well, the majority of the stores (20.3 thousand) are located in the United States.
Isn’t it a great opportunity for you to enter such a giant market?
You need not be bothered about the competition Subway can offer to your restaurant app, because it’s all about the type of food and service the brand delivers which can create a difference.
If you are still wondering whether or not to develop an app like Subway, let’s consider the following section.
Do you know, that Subway’s quick service restaurants accounted for 36,592 stores worldwide?
Why Develop an App Like Subway?
An app that can make the users’ experience more seamless and engaging in the restaurant world is in current demand.
If you are the one who owns a restaurant and is confused about whether to proceed with app development, then let us be your mirror.
Before how, you must know why.
With the following reasons to build an app like Subway, you will find it all.
♦ Restaurant Apps and Food: A Timeless Combination
Food is a necessity when it comes to life. Additionally, with the growing demand for people in the fast-food category, you cannot ignore their love for sandwiches and wraps.
Statistics on the U.S. quick service restaurant market reveal that its size reached 387.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2023.
♦ Simplify Sub-Ordering With Ease
An app provides a seamless service to the target user. Through effective app features, users can order their favorite sandwiches from remote locations.
You want to simplify the customer journey, right? So, opting for an app development process can be the ultimate solution here.
People prefer restaurants and a quick fast food delivery chain when the effort for ordering it is minimized. Thus, you should make an app like Subway, effectively.
♦ Increases User Engagement
One of the most important reasons behind developing an app like Subway is to increase user engagement.
If you ensure that the customers can book sandwiches from the ease of their homes, then it can automatically increase user engagement.
Thus, to create engagement with potential users, you must have a restaurant app.
♦ Enhances Brand Awareness
An app has a tendency to increase users’ visibility over the platforms. Once you develop an app that will cater to users’ needs and they download it, the brand visibility increases over their smartphones.
They can view and use it according to their preferences, which will not let them forget your brand. Instead, creating an app like Subway will help you increase awareness about your brand.
An app’s icon will play an important role here, along with its design.
♦ Helps to Manage Orders
Would you like to wait for a potential customer for a seat at your restaurant?
Well, for this issue you can prefer to develop an app like OpenTable. However, an app of your own brand that can comfort the users to order subs at their place can be of much help.
Developing an app can help you manage the target users’ orders with ease. They won’t need to wait for their turn for the seat. Along with this, it will help you to manage the orders systematically and in a clutter-free way.
♦ Assist in Complying With Business Purpose
Every business model is developed with an aim to accomplish. In the case of restaurants like Subway, it delivers quick service while maintaining freshness and taste.
Thus, while building an app like Subway, you should note that achieving the ultimate purpose of the business.
An app can help you manage orders, list them, and provide quick service to the target customers. Hence, creating an app can serve the purpose of your restaurant.
Are you ready to create an app like Subway?
With the ultimate guide to developing a restaurant app, you can have the whole process at your fingertips.
However, before reaching out to the right company to build an app like Subway, identifying the development cost is significant.
Monetization Strategies to Earn Money from Developing an App Like Subway
The right app monetization strategies can assist in covering the complete cost of investments if considered and implemented in the right manner.
Here’s a list of important money-making strategies for developing an app like Subway.
► Subscriptions
This can generate a permanent source of income for your restaurant app.
Under this strategy, you can discover different plans that can be flexible and unique based on your app requirements.
Here, the monetization depends on renewable and auto-renewable patterns. You can charge users based on their ease of restaurant app use.
► Advertisements
Providing a valuable space for other brands to display ads can become a source of revenue generation.
Here, you can allow them to have different kinds of ads, such as banner ads, native ads, audio ads, and others.
In exchange, you can charge fees from the brands to display their valuable ads.
► In-App Purchases
You can offer some of the app’s features for free to use by potential users and may charge for the advanced ones.
With this monetization strategy, you can influence the target users to go for advanced features.
This can provide a reliable revenue stream for monetizing the app and establishing price points for the features.
► Crowdfunding
This is one of the important monetization strategies for new businesses that require investments.
It is an essential practice for funding projects as well as raising many small amounts of money from the public.
You can use this strategy to successfully attract potential investors and raise capital for the business for its expansion.
► Data Monetization
Within this monetization strategy, you monetize the data collected from the users. However, this data should be utilized after obtaining consent from the users.
You can make reports that can be useful for the other brands to analyze the current market demands of the users.
In exchange, you can charge a fee from the brands. These reports can also assist you in identifying valuable user needs.
► Sponsorships and Partnerships
You can invite sponsorships and partnerships from multiple brands to increase the overall growth of your business.
This will be a relevant monetization strategy for increasing the brand identity of your restaurant.
Here, you can partner with various renowned farmers’ brands or organic outlets and earn commission or charge a fee in exchange.
This can become a permanent source of monetization for your brand.
Well, are you still unsure about the right cost to invest in developing an app like Subway?
Connecting with an experienced developer’s team can help here.
Factors Influencing the Cost of Developing an App Like Subway
Before you decide the cost of developing an app like Subway, it’s essential to consider important factors that might impact it.
Here’s a list to follow.
1. Complexity of Features and App Size
You need to examine the complexity of restaurant app features. Some of them can cost you less, but the advance once can increase your investment rates.
Features such as a basic menu display, contact information, social media integration, a photo gallery, and others can cost you less.
However, the implementation of advanced features such as table reservation, chatbots, multi-locations, and payment settings can be take high cost.
You can check out the table below to find out more.
| Complexity | Description | Impact on Cost |
| Basic Features | Simple menu display, contact info, social media links | $20,000 – $30,000 |
| Medium Complexity | User reviews, basic order placement, promotions, push notifications | $30,000 – $60,000 |
| High Complexity | Advanced order customization, loyalty programs, real-time updates | $60,000 – $100,000 |
2. App Design
The selection of UI/UX design affects the overall Subway-like app development cost.
The more functions or screens you add within the app, the more time it will take to build, and this can increase the overall complexity of the application.
Here, you should follow UI/UX design principles and the ultimate restaurant app design guide to stand out from the competitors.
The UI/UX design cost can vary for your restaurant app depending on multiple factors, as stated below in the table.
| Design Complexity | Description | Impact on Cost |
| Basic Design | Simple UI, standard templates, minimal customization | $5,000 – $10,000 |
| Medium Complexity | Custom UI elements, brand-specific design, moderate animations | $10,000 – $20,000 |
| High Complexity | Advanced custom UI/UX, interactive animations, high-end graphics | $20,000 – $30,000 |
3. Tech Stack
The selection of technologies can impact the overall cost to develop an app like Subway. The selection of databases and frameworks such as Flutter, React, and Native has a wide impact on the total costs.
Tech stack is all about the set of technologies you will use for building as well as running a mobile application.
You can check out the given table for more information.
| Tech Stack | Description | Impact on Cost |
| Basic Tech Stack | Use of widely available technologies, open-source tools, and basic APIs | $5,000 – $10,000 |
| Moderate Tech Stack | Combination of open-source and proprietary tools, moderate customization | $10,000 – $20,000 |
| Advanced Tech Stack | High-end proprietary technology, extensive integrations, and advanced features | $20,000 – $30,000 |
4. Platform Compatibility
The number of platforms on which the app is required to be developed affects the development cost of an app like Subway.
To build your app across a single platform, you might need to either hire Android app developers or iOS app developers.
However, app development is a time investment, hence you should be investing in both platforms to save future costs.
Additionally, the compatibility across screens impacts the cost of creating an mobile app like Subway. You can check out the table below to know more.
| Platform Compatibility | Description | Impact on Cost |
| Single Platform | Developing for either iOS or Android | $5,000 – $10,000 |
| Cross-Platform | Using frameworks like React Native or Flutter | $10,000 – $15,000 |
| Native to Both Platforms | Separate native development for iOS and Android | $15,000 – $20,000 |
5. Third-Party Integration
API and third-party integration have a large impact while developing an app similar to Subway.
Here, applications with custom animations, complex UI elements, and highly polished designs can require more resources.
If your app requires social media integration, then another layer can be added to the cost.
This may further result in higher costs due to licensing fees as well as integration efforts.
6. Development Team
Another useful component that can’t be ignored is the development team. The selection of the development team should comply with two important factors such as location and expertise of the developers.
The cost to hire mobile app developers depends on which country they belong.
Highly experienced developers can cost you a lot, but can ensure you a higher quality of the product.
Hire mobile app developers who suit your project and provide you with maximum output. Let’s consider the table below for the same.
| Location | Description | Impact on Cost |
| London, UK | High living costs, experienced developers | $80,000 – $100,000 |
| United States | Competitive market, high-quality standards | $70,000 – $100,000 |
| Asia | Lower labor costs, skilled developers | $20,000 – $50,000 |
| Central Europe | Moderate costs, experienced developers | $50,000 – $80,000 |
These are some of the factors that impact the development process of an app like Subway. Now, the other essential component is time.
The majority of restaurant apps don’t fulfill the users’ demand because they fail to occupy the market at the right time.
This is among the largest development mistakes to avoid while building a restaurant app.
Let’s consider the time taken to develop a restaurant app in the following section.
How Long Does it Take to Develop an App Like Subway?
The approximate time to develop an app similar to Subway Restaurants is 6-12 months.
You can evaluate the time undertaken for the development of a restaurant app depending on the complexity of features and its required design.
Every app is different, and the same goes for its development time.
Till now, you have learned about reasons to create an app like Subway, costs, and factors impacting such costs, along with the time undertaken within this process.
Now, it’s time to learn about monetization strategies that can help you cover the overall cost invested within it.
How Much Does It Cost to Develop an App Like Subway?
Well, the average cost to develop an app like Subway ranges from $20,000 to $100,000.
However, the cost to develop a restaurant app can change depending on the right factors such as features, complexity, size, design, technology, and others. All you need to know is how they work in your case.
We have discussed them all for your convenience in the next section.
Bonus Read: Cost to Develop a Mobile App
Partner With Us to Develop a Mobile App Like Subway
Searching for a reputable, skilled, and experienced team of developers?
Switch to Nimble AppGenie. Our qualified team of developers knows how to handle the project under the right market preferences and industry demands.
We are the best Restaurant App Development Company, specializing in handling the growing demands of the target users and meeting our clients’ expectations at the same time.
Our team can help you provide diversified solutions depending on advanced technology mechanisms.
Conclusion
If you are puzzled about developing a restaurant app, then you should go for it due to many reasons.
These include growing market demand, increasing user engagement, and facilitating the user to order from any location.
You should be able to know the time of its development and the monetization strategies to cover the cost invested in building an app like Subway Restaurants. You can connect with a reputable firm to know more.
FAQs
Essential features to be included in a restaurant app are Menu Display, Order Placement, Payment Integration, User Accounts, Real-Time Updates, and Loyalty Programs.
Platform compatibility impacts costs based on the number of platforms targeted:
- Single Platform: Developing for either iOS or Android is less expensive.
- Cross-Platform: Using frameworks like React Native or Flutter for both platforms costs more.
- Native for Both Platforms: Developing separate native apps for iOS and Android is the most costly option.
Niketan Sharma is the CTO of Nimble AppGenie, a prominent website and mobile app development company in the USA that is delivering excellence with a commitment to boosting business growth & maximizing customer satisfaction. He is a highly motivated individual who helps SMEs and startups grow in this dynamic market with the latest technology and innovation.
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