How to Make an App Like DoorDash

The online food ordering and delivery industry is witnessing a rising demand among modern consumers. The sector presents its dynamic capabilities with diverse business models, niches, and advancing technologies, inviting numerous business enthusiasts to invest in the industry. An aspiring entrepreneur looking to enter this proliferating industry, growing at a CAGR of 7.83% (2025-2030), is targeting a highly profitable business model allowing entrepreneurs and enterprises to explore the new trends of the sector and develop a fully functional food delivery app like DoorDash.

DoorDash is leading the charge in North America. Building a food delivery app similar to DoorDash offers a scalable, profitable opportunity for entrepreneurs looking to enter this high-demand industry. Therefore, in this blog, we explore the business and revenue model, along with a detailed guide to make an app like DoorDash.

Key Market Insights on DoorDash

DoorDash is symbolic of the high profit-making potential of the food ordering and delivery industry. Given below are the market statistics of DoorDash.

• Holds over 50% Market share in the US food delivery business
• Revenue generated- USD 10.72 billion in 2024
• Managed 2.5 billion successful orders in 2024
• Registered over 42 million users on the platform
• The company currently operates in over 4000 cities
• Pioneered the platform-to-consumer business model as an aggregator model connecting the restaurant merchants with consumers and facilitating delivery.

Market Competitors of DoorDash

Doordash entered the food delivery industry and successfully attained a large market share in the highly competitive landscape. Some of these industry giants are listed below.

Key Metrics	Uber Eats	Postmates	Grubhub
Foundation Year	2014	2011	2004
Registered Users	95 Million	9.3 Million	24.6 Million
Registered Restaurants	Over 90,000	Over 60,000	Over 300,000
Market Share	25%	05%	27%
Revenue Earned	USD 13.7 billion in 2024	USD 730 million in 2024	USD 2.1 billion in 2023

The competitors provide insights into industry gaps that can be addressed to create a successful business idea with well-researched USPs that aim towards providing a competitive edge, making your website stand out.

USPs of DoorDash- What Gives it a Competitive Edge?

DoorDash has widely contributed to the increasing market revenue of the food delivery industry. Below are well-researched market analyses that unveil the components or the unique selling points that provide a competitive edge to DoorDash and make it an industry giant.

1. Catering to the Industry Gaps

DoorDash connects local restaurants with consumers, catering to the restaurants in the suburbs and smaller cities with less competition.

2. Partnering With Numerous Restaurants

Doordash presented an opportunity for restaurants with no delivery fleet to connect with delivery agents for order delivery and expand services through the platform.

3. Continuous Monitoring

DoorDash utilizes the benefits of advanced technology to gain insights into market trends and consumer demands by constantly monitoring the insights, analyzing the consumer pain points.

4. Steadfast Dasher Support

DoorDash provides fast delivery, a variety of restaurant options, and reliable support across 50 states in the US and Canadian cities. The direct point-of-sale service adds to the customer experience, accuracy, and time-saving abilities.

5. Strong Brand Reputation

Doordash pursued the market gap and generated a large consumer base on the platform, and retained its customers with a smooth, user-friendly interface, discounts and offers, reliability, fast delivery time, and customer satisfaction.

Business Model of the DoorDash App

The food delivery business model followed by DoorDash is a three-sided marketplace, also known as the Y-structured business model, where the three user types interact on a central platform. DoorDash supports four user types on the seamless platform.

1. Admin: The admin manages the entire platform, restaurants, consumers, and delivery agents.

2. Restaurant Merchants: The merchants list their restaurants on the app and connect local eateries to consumers with home delivery.

3. Customer: The customer is an integral part of the business model, making purchases on the app.

4. Delivery Agents (Dashers): The dashers are delivery executives offered flexible jobs, adaptable timings, and remunerative payouts. The agents can seamlessly manage deliveries and their working schedule on the app.

Revenue Model: How DoorDash Makes Money?

Doordash is one of the largest food delivery platforms and has generated a revenue of USD 10.72 billion in 2024. Given below are the money-making channels for DoorDash that a young entrepreneur can also integrate to earn financial gains.

1. Commissions

The platform cuts a certain amount, usually 20%, from the restaurants for providing delivery facilities to the restaurant merchants without a robust transport system.

2. Delivery Fees

The delivery fee, ranging from $5-$8, is collected by the admin. The delivery agents, called the Dashers, deliver the required order to the customers in exchange for commission.

3. Subscription

The subscription model of DoorDash is called the DashPass, which offers delivery of numerous orders on a no-delivery-fee basis. This subscription plan is available for $9.99 per month to registered subscribers of over 1.5 million.

4. Advertisement

The website marketplace assists in restaurant promotion in exchange for some charges, providing the feature of display ads on the website, also known as featured listings. DoorDash also offers third-party paid advertisements.

5. Business Acquisitions

DoorDash earns profits from the delivery businesses acquired by the marketplace. The listed acquisitions are Caviar and Rickshaw. There are also businesses in other sectors. Hence, it becomes another source of income.

Moving forward, the blog now answers the most relevant question of how to make an app like DoorDash. Here is the five-step guide to build your own food delivery app and enter this proliferating industry.

Steps to Build Your Food Delivery App like DoorDash

This is an inviting industry with a brimming market scope of success for new businesses. Any business, restaurant owner, or aspiring entrepreneur can enter the industry and receive high ROI (Return On Investment). These are highly dependable, researched steps for a profitable business.

Initiate Market research

The first step towards taking on a business venture is to conduct a thorough market research. An entrepreneur must identify and cater to the consumer pain points with a robust survey of consumer demands, industry gaps, while analyzing the upcoming trends in the industry. New business owners can select a business model that offers a competitive edge in the marketplace.

Analyse the competitors, narrow the target audience, and boost your DoorDash-like app development. Around 56% of users reported a lack of personalization in food delivery apps, and catering to this industry setback, the upcoming industry trends aim to increase efficiency and create personalized, customer-centric businesses, such as sustainable and eco-friendly packaging, hyperlocal delivery, ghost kitchen delivery, and more.

Select an Aligning Business Model

The next step is to find an aligned delivery model that coincides with your unique value proposition and conforms to the market requirements. As the industry is widespread, with diverse consumer requirements and preferences, finding the right and aligned business model is essential. Here are some researched business models to assist a new businessman in finding the best-suited business model for their DoorDash-like app development.

1. Order Only Marketplace
2. Order and Delivery Marketplace
3. Fully-Integrated Marketplace
4. Reservation Booking Marketplace
5. BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick-up In-store)
6. Scheduled Delivery Marketplace

Choose Dedicated Features

A successful business venture and marketplace website is a culmination of numerous industry-specific, popular features that align with the latest trends and technologies. An intuitive and user-friendly interface adds to the platform’s popularity. Therefore, choosing the right and dedicated features for your business is an essential step that drives growth. Given below are the necessary functionalities that form an apex website marketplace.

Admin	Restaurant Merchant	Customer	Delivery Agent
Restaurant Management	Order Management	Discounts and Offers	Multiple Delivery Management
Robust Analytics and Statistical Report	Menu Management	Advanced Search Filters	Real Time Tracking
Delivery Management	Ratings and Review Management	Reviews & Ratings and Reward Points	Push Notifications
Multiple Payment Options	Tracking Payments	Order Tracking	Delivery Management
Multilingual Support	Support & Assistance	Restaurant Listings	Secure Login

Pick The Right Developmental Method

There are numerous development approaches available in the industry, and finding a reliable one may seem cumbersome. This important decision affects the success of your app and should be considered carefully based on the needs and requirements of the food delivery industry. The given table comprises the three ideally chosen, tried, and tested developmental methods with proven effectiveness.

1. Custom Development Method

The custom development approach builds a bespoke app from scratch by an appointed team of dedicated developers and designers engrossed in a 4-5 months of earnest development. This method requires a higher financial and time investment. Also, the business owner should have prior technical knowledge to monitor the procedure step-by-step.

2. Readymade Software

These are the market-ready solutions, feature-laden with advanced functionalities, and available at a one-time cost. This turnkey software can be installed in a few days or weeks, assisting in the quick launch of the platform. Business owners need no prior technical knowledge. It is a time and cost-efficient solution with additional expert assistance until the platform launch.

3. Hire Freelancers

Hiring freelancers is another common approach selected by businessmen to launch an app like DoorDash. It is a cost-effective method but entails a high risk factor with low reliability. With limited resources, the freelancers may deliver a subpar app, and businessmen should steer clear of this drawback by properly analysing the portfolio and deliverables of the freelancer.

This is an essential step that assists in determining the future of an app like DoorDash. Find a reliable approach that guarantees high customisation and scalability abilities for formulating a profitable business.

Launch with Successful Promotion

The final step of this business venture is to market and create its brand identity, which affects the success rate of a food delivery app like DoorDash. Align the business requirements and launch the app.

After the app is available for use, effectively promote the platform, invite loyal consumers, and retain them on the platform. These goals are attainable using the right marketing strategies– social media and influencer marketing, partnership with restaurants, content &email marketing, referral & loyalty plans, and more. Moreover, for reaching its local target audience, localised campaigns that highlight its local cuisines are highly recommended.

Our Recommended Approach to Make Your App like DoorDash?

The food delivery app development industry is saturated with numerous options available in the market. After careful consideration of multiple methods, the best approach has emerged to be the readymade software solution.

Early developmental approaches were expensive, with hourly developmental charges and a longer project delivery duration. While the readymade solutions are ideal for SMBs and large business enterprises with high customisation and scalability capabilities, with lower costs and fast launch assistance. This method allows new business enthusiasts to focus on growing their business with personalised branding.

Key Benefits of Readmade Software Soltuions:

1. Speedy Launch

The readymade solutions are readily available for launching your food ordering and delivery app in 1-2 weeks to set up and install the solution, along with a dedicated project manager. It may take longer only for certain configurations and customizations of the app.

2. Cost- Effective

The readymade solutions are cost-effective, available at a one-time cost, and with a lifetime license. It is an efficient option in comparison to bespoke development approach as well as SaaS based solutions, offering services on a recurring-cost basis.

3. Essential Feature-rich

It is loaded with essential features required to manage the operations of an advanced food delivery app like DoorDash. These industry-specific features include advanced restaurant search, geolocation, partial payment, and more.

4. Scalable and Reliable

A complete, turnkey solution is a scalable and reliable software solution that supports business growth for all business sizes without compromising on platform performance. It is also reliable with a tested framework and reduced risks for bugs.

5. Help and Support

The availability of help and support by the service providers after the launch of the food ordering and delivery app is another factor for consideration. Some of the readymade service providers offer one-year free tech support to provide reliable assistance to a new business owner.

Yo!Yumm- A Readymade Solution to Make an App Like DoorDash

Yo!Yumm is a readymade, self-hosted software solution purpose-built for catering to diverse niches in the food delivery industry. It is highly scalable and customisable, with a vast pre-built industry-specific feature list. Yo!Yumm is a cost-effective solution providing full source ownership to the platform owner with a lifetime license. It assists business owners in entering the growing industry by launching their advanced food delivery business quickly and hassle-free. Get ready-made and innovative iOS and Android mobile apps for customers, restaurants, and delivery staff, and offer seamless operational functionality to all its user types.

Why Choose Yo!Yumm:

1. White-Label Solution
2. One-Time Cost
3. Source Code Ownership
4. Highly Scalable and Customizable
5. Free Personalized Demo
6. One-Year Free Technical Support
7. Quick Launch
8. Supports 10+ Business Niches
9. Provides 5+ Business Models
10. Integrated 12+ APIs

Conclusion

DoorDash-like app development starts with a well-outlined business idea catering to the present-day consumer. The food delivery industry has produced high-yielding businesses like DoorDash, and aspiring entrepreneurs interested in this business model are targeting a profitable business. Launching a food delivery business might seem like a cumbersome task, but it can be done within no time and hassle-free with a state-of-the-art, readymade software solution. Get in touch with the experts.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does it take to build a food delivery app like DoorDash?

Building an app like DoorDash depends on multiple factors, such as features & functionalities, customizations, offshore or nearshore team development, but it primarily depends on the selected developmental approach. Building an app like DoorDash with a custom developmental method from scratch may take a longer duration of 4-5 months, while a readymade solution reduces the time for launch to 1-2 weeks.

Therefore, the launch time highly depends on the business requirements and the developmental approach selected by an entrepreneur.

What are the biggest challenges when creating a DoorDash-like app?

A DoorDash-like app development comes with several challenges, including:

1. Selecting a Development Approach
2. Defining Core Features 
3. Reliable Security Infrastructure
4. Seamless UI/UX Design
5. Post-launch Support

Is Yo!Yumm capable of building a full-fledged App like DoorDash?

Yes, Yo!Yumm is feature-laden with industry-specific functionalities after an elaborate analysis of the customer pain points and feedback. It is a purpose-built software designed to build a scalable and customizable food delivery app like DoorDash. Though not fully a clone script, the software integrates essential features, functionalities, and integrations similar to apps like DoorDash.

What kind of marketing tools are supported by Yo!Yumm to promote an app like DoorDash?

Yo!Yumm is a feature-filled software offering multiple marketing tools to promote your platform and robust data analytics, and make data-driven decisions.

1. Promotional discounts and Offers
2. SEO Marketing
3. Social Media Promotions
4. Email Marketing
5. Push Notifications
6. Advanced Reports
7. Affiliate Marketing
8. Referral Program

What are the essential features to be included in an app like DoorDash?

A food ordering and delivery app like DoorDash must include essential features that ensure a smooth, user-friendly experience. It helps in giving a new business owner a competitive edge in the industry. These are real-time order tracking, multiple payment gateways, easy payment processing, geolocation, reviews and ratings, advanced restaurant search, and more.

Disclaimer: The Blog has been created with consideration and care. We strive to ensure that all information is as complete, correct, comprehensible, accurate and up-to-date as possible. Despite our continuing efforts, we cannot guarantee that the information made available is complete, correct, accurate or up-to-date. We advise - the readers should not take decisions completely based on the information and views shared by FATbit on its blog, readers should do their own research to further assure themselves before taking any commercial decision. The 3rd party trademarks, logos and screenshots of the websites and mobile applications are property of their respective owners, we are not directly associated with most of them.