What Are White-Label Restaurant Apps? And When Does It Make Sense to Use One?

Short on time but want to join the food delivery niche, quickly improve your online visibility, and grow your customer base? There’s a solution ― a white-label restaurant app. Though developing a custom food ordering app allows you to decide on the look and feel, order flows, and features of your software, it may not be the best choice for your restaurant, especially if you’re in the early days. That’s why you might want to consider developing a white-label online ordering system.

We recently developed a white-label delivery solution that helps restaurants power up their digital identities and want to share our hands-on experience creating this type of software. Before we go into the specifics of white-label apps for the restaurant industry, let’s figure out what white-label apps are, how businesses can benefit from them, and what concerns businesses have about using this type of software.

What are white-label apps?

What is white-label? The phrase white-label is used in different business contexts and niches. In general, white labeling, also known as private labeling,  is when one company (the provider) produces an unbranded product or service and lets other companies (marketers) brand it and make it appear as if they produced it. 

Often, white labeling is used for generic mass-produced products like consumer goods, electronics, and software. White-label software has been quite popular in recent years. Many IT development companies (including Steelkiwi) build white-label apps and sell them to other companies that use them to create their own branded software.

GloriaFood, Devfood, Foodkit, Zomato, BigZpoon, and other food delivery services are built on white-label web applications. White-label apps are advantageous for many reasons: they offer a faster time to market, low initial investment, and new customers, among other things. 

Reasons why using a white-label app is a good idea

Just as with custom development, white-label products aren’t always the right solution, however. To understand if a white-label app will bring you big results, let’s go through cases when white labeling is the best way to go. 

You need a quick yet branded solution

Nowadays, practically every respectable business offers an app. Some brands choose custom development to meet their needs. But it gets challenging, expensive, and time-intensive to find and hire talented software developers. Additionally, building an app from the ground up may take months, even if you have the best players on your team. Therefore, some businesses consider it better to spend their time and money on ready-made software and rebrand it as they see fit. With a white-label solution, you’ll be ready to go within a couple weeks instead of a couple months.

You want to invest smartly on a small budget

The thing with custom development is that you have to invest large sums of money at once. Though it’s a one-time investment of this size, some businesses prefer paying smaller amounts. A white-label solution is a great way to go if you have a tight budget but want to start your own app.

You’re looking for a tried and tested solution

A custom app adds great value, but developing one can be risky, as you don’t know if your app will work. Most white-label apps, on the other hand, have already gone through fine-tuning processes like revisions, beta tests, and troubleshooting and have worked out for other users. Therefore, it’s more likely the app will work out for you. 

Additionally, if something goes wrong with the product, you aren’t responsible for bug fixes. That falls on your software provider, who should not only take care of troubleshooting but should think about future updates, new features, and app maintenance. 

Apart from the benefits mentioned above, a white-label solution can help you:

• Grow your business without adding new tech talent to your team and radically changing your workflow
• Boost your marketing and improve brand visibility
• Focus on your business competencies and leave app development to the experts

Common concerns about using white-label apps

Despite these great benefits, there are certain disadvantages to using white-label software for your business. Understanding them can help you evaluate if you need white-label software or if it’s better to go with a custom solution.

You don’t own the software

When you use a white-label product, you can’t update it, add new functionality, or make any changes to it. The only thing you can do is leave feedback expressing your wants, needs, and thoughts on how to improve the app.

You have limited customization options

You can benefit only from what’s provided by the vendor. White-label products usually focus on covering the needs of a wide audience, offering basic functionality. If your business has specific software requirements, standard capabilities of white-label software may be insufficient. Also, white-label software typically comes with limited visual templates that may not suit your needs.

Scalability can be an issue

Not every white-label app satisfies scalability and performance requirements. You can’t always be sure this type of platform will perform well given a sudden increase in traffic. Therefore, check if a white-label app can scale to meet demand while maintaining a positive user experience. 

Code quality can be doubtful

It’s important to choose a reliable provider, as buying white-label software from an unreliable provider can result in security vulnerabilities, crashes, and poor quality. To differentiate between a reliable vendor and an unreliable one, analyze a company’s online presence, years on the market, popularity, and website. Customer feedback and ratings are no less important. Reviews from past clients can help you find out the pros and cons of working with different providers. 

We also suggest you ask for a product demo to understand if the product does what it says. This will also allow you to ask questions and raise any concerns.

Using a white-label app vs developing a custom app

The buying vs building decision is crucial and shouldn’t come down to a coin toss. Your decision will impact your restaurant’s future. Therefore, be data-driven, assess alternatives, and focus on the results. 

Below, we compare white-label and custom development to help you understand what’s right for you.

White-label apps for restaurants

Because there are a lot of white-label apps with different feature stacks on the market, you can find a white-label app for almost every type of business:

• Restaurants and cafes
• Medical clinics
• Retailers and local stores
• Flower shops
• Pharmacies
• Beauty shops
• Clothing stores
• Pastry shops

Though white-labeling isn’t limited to one industry, the restaurant and healthcare industries have been the most disrupted by the white-label economy. Speaking of healthcare, white-label telemedicine apps are quite common. This kind of app helps clinics, pharmacies, and home caregivers give patients personalized care and grow their businesses while maintaining brand consistency. As for restaurants, white-label delivery apps are the most popular. 

Our white-label mobile ordering app for restaurants

We recently developed a white-label delivery solution that helps restaurants power up their digital identities. Our app provides multiple benefits for restaurants and customers. Restaurant owners can use it to get more returning customers, market their restaurants locally, arrange pick-up, and use their loyalty programs more effectively. Customers can use the app to get quick access to user-friendly menus.

The app’s major features include:

• An Onboarding wizard that helps you get started.
• Menus with categories, dish descriptions, pictures, and prices so users can easily find the items they’re looking for
• A cart so users can select items and see the total price
• Pick-up and delivery options so users can place orders for pick-up and delivery depending on the services your restaurant provides 
• Payment functionality so users can pay after filling out delivery/pick-up details

In addition, our white-label restaurant solution is connected to a content management system (CMS) so you can instantly update or change content without any help from developers. 

Want to start your own online ordering service with Steelkiwi?

In these tough times, food delivery is a must for your restaurant. If you haven’t built your restaurant’s delivery model across digital channels yet, it’s now or never.

Whether you decide to develop a white-label online ordering system or go with custom app development, we’d be happy to help. Message us for a demo of our white-label app or a free consultation with our sales experts. 

In the meantime, make sure you follow the digital trends shaping the restaurant industry:

• How to Build a Food Delivery App for Your Restaurant
• Top 4 Ways to Increase Table Turnover at a Restaurant
• Tips and Tricks for Restaurant Website Design