The main disadvantages of ready-made food delivery apps

Why do many ready-made food delivery apps lack customization options?

Ready-made solutions are built for quick ordering in just a few clicks. On the other hand, it often means limited flexibility, including minimal personalization. Allowing full customization in such platforms increases the risk of incorrect orders and, consequently, more returns. These apps typically lack support for advanced features, which leads to even more errors. That’s why this level of flexibility is only achievable through custom food delivery app development.

Aggregator platforms already charge high commissions that eat into restaurant profits. Adding extra functionality or reworking existing features demands more time and money. The two biggest things most businesses prefer to avoid. As a result, they stick to the default, template-based setup that’s easier to manage and maintain.

How do off-the-shelf apps limit brand identity and user experience?

A brand isn’t just a logo. It’s how people feel when they interact with your product. And a big part of that feeling comes from design. But with off-the-shelf food delivery apps, you're stuck. No room to use your own fonts, colors, or icons. Everything looks the same, and if your app blends in with the crowd, users won’t remember it. Custom food delivery app development has these possibilities. 

You’re also boxed into someone else’s idea of what a good user experience should be. The way buttons are placed, how menus work, or how screens are structured. It’s all predefined. No flexibility to shape the experience around your users’ needs.

Want to offer something special? A loyalty program, personalized offers, or integrate your CRM to really connect with users? Off-the-shelf platforms usually don’t go that far. So users end up with a flat, impersonal app. And your business is left using tools that don’t reflect who you are or what you stand for.

What hidden costs are associated with using ready-made delivery solutions?

The foremost thing is that services offering ready-made solutions charge high commissions for their services. Up to 30% of each order, which significantly reduces the restaurant's income. Also, restaurants do not receive customer contacts, and therefore cannot collect them in a single CRM system. This means that you will have to make additional investments in marketing and analyze your audience in other ways. 

To be visible on the service, you need to pay extra money for placement or advertising campaigns. And most importantly, if the platform's policy, prices, or terms of service change, the business cannot change anything. You will be forced to pay for the services that the provider charges you.

Yes, ready-made solutions let you quickly launch an app and the delivery process. But at the same time, they carry long-term risks. Namely, a decrease in profits, loss of control over the customer experience, and dependence on third-party services.

Can third-party platforms negatively impact customer loyalty?

Yes, third-party platforms can negatively affect restaurant customer loyalty due to several factors. The biggest pain point here is that people evaluate their experience with the platform rather than associating it with your brand. They don't even get the opportunity to learn more about the restaurant, its packages, or loyalty programs. Since there are so many template applications for food delivery, you might even get confused with someone else.

The template platform controls all information. Consequently, your managers cannot create personalized programs, mailings, or collect feedback for further improvements.

Customers remain loyal to the app, not the establishment. It's no longer about the brand, but about one of the solutions that have become mixed together. To avoid getting lost in the online space, make a delivery app with a custom approach. So that people will remember and come back. 

Why is scalability a challenge with pre-built food delivery apps?

Scalability is a serious challenge for ready-made food delivery solutions. Because they are usually designed for a limited number of users. During peak order periods, such systems can crash or slow down significantly, leading to a loss of customers and profits. 

Most template apps are built with a limited architecture that makes flexible scaling difficult. This means that it’s hardly or even impossible to add custom features without affecting the whole system. 

The databases in such solutions are not optimized for high loads. There are no caching, load balancing, or other tools necessary for stable operation as the business grows. As a result, ready-made platforms quickly exhaust their capabilities, and instead of scaling, the business faces technical limitations that hinder development.

How secure are typical ready-made delivery platforms?

A ready-made delivery platform has lots of vulnerabilities, like account theft, internal fraud, and data leaks.

About 20% of food delivery accounts are subject to hacking attempts using simple methods. For example, weak passwords and a lack of 2FA (only 3.5% of logins require two-factor authentication, compared to an average of 10%).

To minimize risks, companies must use 2FA/multi-factor authentication and monitor abnormal activity on the platform. It’s also important to block access to couriers' mobile coordinates and to check suppliers and employees more rigorously. Teach your users to use unique passwords so that they cannot be hacked by third parties in the future.

Do generic apps offer enough flexibility for marketing and promotions?

Ready-made food delivery apps often limit restaurants' marketing flexibility. Firstly, because platforms do not provide you with customer data (email addresses, phone numbers, order history). Therefore, restaurants cannot launch their own newsletters, loyalty programs, or targeted promotions.

All visuals are displayed through the platform's UI. Logos and other visual services are limited, and the design cannot be customized for your needs. This means that customers do not remember your brand, and there is no emotional connection to your service. 

Even if you launch a marketing campaign with a ready-made solution, it will receive 36% lower performance than if you promoted yourself through a custom app.

Conclusions

Overall, ready-made solutions will only help you launch your app faster and start working with orders. But when you look deeper, you can see how many opportunities you lose. For developing and promoting your business and more. We always recommend considering your business goals before the development stage. So that the final product meets your expectations. Around 90% of businesses choose custom development. After all, it helps you grow and build a loyal audience around your brand.