Online Food Delivery App Business Marketing Plan

Executive Summary

Aller-Go food delivery app provides customers with a platform to order healthier allergy-free foods. Our value proposition offers an exceptional customer experience that focuses on our customer’s more beneficial food needs without allergies. Our target customers consist of millennials with the technical know-how on modern technology who have allergies. Using the ADIA model, we develop customer awareness through actively being on social media. We create customer interest and desire through a compelling message about the Aller-Go app. We call the customer into action by offering “early bird” discounts. Our customer relationships include promotions, such as discounts and special prices for millennials who order food for special events. Our distribution channels have the Aller-Go app and the business website, where customers can access information about the app itself and our allergy-free meals. There are four customer segments in our business model, including consumers who have allergies, consumers who find it unsafe to eat at restaurants due to allergies, consumers who order food from their homes, and consumers attempting to stay healthier. Our key activities are kitchen management to ensure organization and cleanliness and inventory control; app and website management to provide our customers with the latest features, and rider management to provide our customers with an exceptional and personalized experience. Our essential resources include the Aller-Go app and company website, algorithms, and free ingredients from suppliers, which help deliver excellent services. The main costs of the business include:

• Rider and chef salaries.
• App and website development.
• Kitchen rent.
• Maintenance expenses of both the app and website.

We derive our revenue from transaction fees for food and delivery services and costs for rush orders. Our key partners are Amazon Prime and Netflix as media service providers and restaurants inspired by the allergy-free food business model. Also, Gnewt provides us with an electric delivery service.

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Introduction

Food delivery is one of the services consumers are often concerned about, from calling into a restaurant only to encounter poor customer service. The restaurant staff has been having a busy day to the hassle of having to hold on the line when there is a long waiting list. Aller-Go food delivery app provides a solution to these food delivery challenges. The app is an on-demand delivery application for allergy-free food to consumers who are concerned about allergens. Many food consumers complain of experiencing irritation or dangerous reactions to their immune systems after eating certain foods. This problem persists in society because most restaurants do not prepare foods by considering allergic responses to consumers. In most cases, restaurants and food delivery apps rely on consumers informing them to decide which foods to take that do not result in allergies. However, the food delivery app provides consumers with the alternatives of having to only choose non-allergic foods from the menu on the Aller-Go app.

Marketing Objectives

The marketing plan has the following goals:

• To introduce a food delivery app that offers customers a convenient way of fast food ordering and delivery
• To provide consumers with a pre-determined menu that considers their allergic concerns
• To create awareness of the new food delivery app to millennials with allergies
• To promote food that considers the health and well-being of consumes

Marketing Audience

The Aller-Go food delivery app targets millennials who have allergies. This population group consists of individuals of the generation born between 1981 and 1996. Currently, these individuals are aged between 24 and 39 years. Generation Y (Gen Y), most millennials are either tech-savvy or have basic knowledge about modern technology. The knowledge possessed by Gen Y ranges from the use of computers to mobile applications.

For this reason, Gen Y will find it beneficial to order and get food delivered via the Aller-Go food delivery app. Most millennials prefer ordering products and food online due to the convenience associated with this method with no need to wait to go for food at physical food stores. As a result, the Aller-Go food delivery app provides the best food ordering alternative. Also, a significant section of Gen Y consumes readymade food.

Value Proposition

Aller-Go food delivery app provides our customers with a platform for getting allergy-free food of their choice from favourite restaurants delivered to the customer’s door. We assure our customers a trustable allergy-friendly food that helps solve the eight most frequent allergies. As such, we provide specific menus for particular allergies. Besides, our customers get customized menus according to their food preferences. Customers can provide details on their preferred cooking methods, and select ingredients and our highly qualified chefs will provide personalized services while considering our customers’ allergy-free food needs. Our riders and delivery partners are highly efficient in delivering our customer’s allergy-free food orders promptly. Our customers can also get speedy deliveries at a small additional fee. As part of our eco-mindedness and sustainability practices, our customers can recycle via the Aller-Go app.

Competitors

Although the business model is unique and provides an exceptional value proposition to address millennials’ allergy-free food needs, there are competitors that the business must consider. Recognizing competitors is critical to developing strategies to counter competition in the food market. Our principal competitors are companies that provide food based on healthy planning models. Nurture Life, a meal delivery company founded in 2015 and based in Chicago, is one of our two main competitors. Nurture Life offers freshly made meals for kids and families by delivering them to the customer’s door. The company has dietitians that develop nutritional requirements for growing kids and concentrates on organic food and whole grains (“Menu for All Ages,” n.d.). Although Nurture Life offers freshly made organic food, it does not differentiate between allergic and non-allergic food. Even if it does prepare allergy-free food, customers must request them. In this regard, our business has a competitive advantage because it saves customers the trouble of informing us of their allergic issues.

Another significant competitor is HelloFresh. Founded in 2011 in Berlin, Germany, HelloFresh commands a vast meal-kit provision in the US (“Meal Kit Delivery Service,” n.d.). HelloFresh prepares ingredients necessary for specific diets and delivers them to customers who then prepare their dishes through the company’s aid of recipe cards. Customers can choose from among the company’s 1153 recipes (“American Recipes,” n.d.). HelloFresh delivers a wine service based on a subscription. In many markets, HelloFresh offers Rapid Box meals which customers take about 20 minutes to prepare. HelloFresh offers its services through its food delivery app as well as the company website. Customers can place orders online, and the company delivers them to their convenient locations. Customers are also allowed to cancel orders but through a predefined process. Our business has a competitive advantage because of two main things, namely readymade meals and allergy-free diets. For the most part, HelloFresh provides recipes for customers to cook, which means that customers may have trouble cooking.

In contrast, our business prepares and offers readymade meals; hence, we save the customer the risk of having to cook. Another competitive edge that we have is that we provide allergy-free food. This market niche is critical because many people are either worried about getting allergies from food or have to explain to meal providers about their allergic problems. Therefore, we eliminate the stress from customers by providing freshly made non-allergic meals.

Customer Relationship

Our customers are the most valued stakeholder and partners in our business. Accordingly, we do not exist without our customers. To establish mutually beneficial relationships, we regularly provide our customers with promotions, including special discounts and gifts. We also demonstrate our food products’ quality through free samples to help customers have a test of our products before actually purchasing. We will also offer special prices for customers who order food for special events. Due to customers’ tastes and preferences, we offer customized allergy-friendly food for customers who prefer to have specific ingredients. We also provide allergy-friendly food cooked according to particular methods as per the specification of our customers.

Additionally, through our Aller-Go app and staff, we offer friendly customer assistance, whereby we listen to our customers and provide timely feedback for our customer’s inquiries. As a business, we are committed to providing exceptional customer service through our app and our personnel’s help to enable millennials to enjoy the benefits of modern technology, including timeliness and convenience. Our customers can also always be part of our cooking process as we prepare their customized meals. This customer relationship strategy provides customers with a personalized experience.  

Distribution Channels

The business will use two platforms: the Aller-Go app and the business website to reach the target customers. The app will have unique features to provide an extraordinary customer experience. The app will, for instance, have a module with information about our menus. It will also have a module for ordering and paying for food. The module for orders will have an option for customers to choose if they would prefer customized food. Customers can then fill in the details of the food they want us to customize. Using the app, customers can also book a fare for future events and get special discounts. Another channel that will help reach our target customers is the business website. The website has information about our core business to help customers understand our activities. It has all the features found on the app. However, the website provides an additional channel for customers who may choose to visit the website and make food orders. The app and website are vital to the business’ distribution strategy because online transactions form a significant proportion of our business transactions.

Customer Segments

Market segmentation involves dividing broad groups of customers into sub-categories based on shared characteristics. The first customer segment consists of millennials who have moderate to severe allergies. This group experiences an unpleasant reaction after consuming certain foods. As a result, they need a diet guaranteeing them that they would not have allergies after eating. Accordingly, we will provide allergy-free food for this particular consumer group. These customers will choose their favourite dishes from a variety of allergy-friendly foods. They can also order customized food according to their specifications. The second category of customers is those who cannot safely eat food at commercial restaurants. These are customers who get allergies not because of the food they take, but due to eating at places with other people eating allergic foods. Many individuals experience allergies because of coming close to where there is allergic food. As a result, they would find it more comfortable ordering food via our Aller-Go app and take the food to their convenient places, such as home, office, and many other places. A third segment is a group of consumers who order food from home. This group consists of people who prefer to eat readymade food, and they are allergic to specific allergies. Consumers at home also comprise those who may not have the appropriate skills to prepare allergy-friendly menus. The forth consumer segment consists of those who are attempting to be healthier.

Although allergies are common, sometimes they can be life-threatening. As a result, we provide a healthier diet for those threatened by allergies. By consuming our allergy-free food, these customer segments can generally live without worrying about their health. These consumer group also consists of millennials who are concerned about healthy eating. Increased information among consumers has led to extensive awareness of healthy eating (Liu, 2018). Therefore, in addition to our dishes being non-allergic, they are also healthy foods rich in nutritious ingredients. Consumers benefit from our menus by both avoiding allergic foods and getting an opportunity to eat a diet that boosts their health. The organic food market is one of the fastest-growing markets internationally (Nechaev et al., 2018). The US has the most significant portion of the global organic food sales at 43%, followed closely by the European Union at 38% (Nechaev et al., 2018).

Key Activities

The first business activity is kitchen management. We believe that whatever goes on in the kitchen determines the success of the business. This activity involves managing the kitchen well so that customers get delicious food and an exceptional experience. Kitchen management involves effectively managing inventory to ensure that the kitchen runs smoothly. The business has to ensure that it orders what it needs on time and restocking the kitchen in line with the sales and inventory reports. The company also performs constant inventory audits to assure accurate stock levels. Inventory management also helps ensure that the kitchen is stocked with necessary ingredients to prepare allergy-free foods. Closely related to inventory management is menu management. The items to order and when to call them relies on the business menu. The business deals in dozens of foods requiring more inventory and more focused dishes that have many shared ingredients. Thus, managing inventory for the kitchen’s proper function and assurance of high-quality food is a necessary activity for the business.

Kitchen management also entails the organization and general cleanliness. As part of our value proposition of providing healthier allergy-free food, the business ensures that the kitchen is highly organized and clean all the time. We ensure cleanliness as part of our compliance obligations, but because it is the core of our business model of providing healthier meals. The organization ranges from coding and labelling items in stock to help identify expired foods. A well-organized kitchen also frees up valuable space for food preparation activities and reducing risks of injuries. Cleanliness, on the other hand, ensures that the food prepared is of high quality. Kitchen management also provides that there is a well-defined system for transporting food through the kitchen. This also includes training staff on proper ways of handling kitchen equipment and ensuring that foods are prepared using high-quality standards, including busy business days. Therefore, every kitchen staff must be given a specific duty to ensure there is no confusion regarding kitchen responsibilities—guidelines in the kitchen show what kitchen staff must do at all times.

Another business activity is the management of the Aller-Go food delivery app. It involves managing the whole lifecycle of the app from its installation to updating. It also encompasses managing the licenses of the app and configuration requirements. Besides, the description of app policies is part of the app management activities, including limitations to the data on which the app works. The business IT administrators are responsible for managing the Aller-Go app and ensuring that it runs on the latest version with the best features for exceptional customer experience.

Rider management is also a critical activity in ensuring that our customers have an excellent experience. Riders are in charge of delivering food at customers’ convenient locations. The riders require continuous training to ensure they can provide food on time. Riders are also trained on how to handle food while transporting it to customers hygienically.

Customer management activities involve maintaining good customer relations and proving excellent customer experience. This includes providing timely feedback to customers whenever they make any inquiries. Customer management also includes providing customers with timely information on the latest menus to enable them to have a variety of foods from which to choose.

Allergy and quality control activities are vital to the business since they form part of the value proposition. The company ensures that all ingredients sourced from suppliers are of high quality to prepare non-allergic foods. This way, the business helps allergic customers consume their favourite dishes without worrying about allergies.

Key Resources

The primary resources of the business are essential to its activities. The Aller-Go food delivery app is a significant resource for the company. This app is the core of the business model, which provides a platform for customers to order allergy-free food, from where the business makes food to the customer’s preferred location. Other essential resources are the algorithms, including a camera for the kitchen to monitor activities in ensuring operations run smoothly. Also, the business significantly relies on free ingredients and items from suppliers, including Bosse-Interspice (spices), Booja-Booja (desserts and ice cream), and Coconut merchant (main ingredients). The business also has its kitchen equipped with modern equipment. The kitchen provides a conducive and fully supplied environment for preparing healthier allergy-free meals, to be delivered to our customers.

Cost Structure

The table below shows the business’ cost structure.

Revenue Streams

The business has two sources of revenue, including transaction fees and rush order fees. Transaction fees include amounts paid for food orders, inclusive of delivery fees. Each food item sells at a specific price. The information about each food price is found on the Aller-Go food delivery app and website. Rush order fees include the delivery charges for orders that customers request to be delivered urgently, unlike ordinary demands.

Key Partners

The business recognizes the significance of partnership in achieving its objective of providing allergy-free food to millennials. As a result, the company engages media service providers, including Amazon Prime and Netflix, that offer video streaming services. The business also collaborates with restaurants inspired by the allergy-free menu. These restaurants include Subway, which mainly sells salads and sandwiches, Five Guys (Fast Food), Nandos (Chicken), Le Pain Quotidien (Breakfast), and Paul (Bakery), among others. The business will engage the services of Gnewt to deliver distant orders using its electric cars. Suppliers are also significant partners of the company. They supply the industry with essential ingredients for preparing allergy-free foods for customers.

AIDA

The AIDA is a marketing or advertising model that outlines the stages that begin with a customer becoming aware of a product until customers decide to buy the product (Hassan et al., 2015). Since most customers understand certain brands through advertising and marketing mechanisms, the AIDA model describes how marketing engages customers in choosing a given product. As such, we apply the AIDA marketing framework to our marketing and advertising strategies to effectively influence our customers to use our Aller-Go app to order our allergy-free foods.

In our Awareness creation, we seek to create an impression on our consumers by enabling them to come across the Aller-Go food delivery app. Since our target audience is the millennials, we prioritize being extensively active online on social media relative to print advertisements. Most millennials are intensive social media users. Therefore, we can create more awareness of the app on this platform. In our Interest creation approach, we ensure that our Aller-Go app has meaning for our customers or is adequately captivating. To do so, we deliver a mind catching message that reads “Just a click and Aller-Go app delivers your favorite allergy-free dish at your door before you even respond to that friend request.” This message not only attracts the millennials but also assures them of their healthy food needs. As a result, consumers will go to a different stage to see how the app benefits them. In our Desire generation, we communicate to the audience why they need the app and the service it offers. We achieve this by highlighting features that the millennials would not get in other apps. These features include an eco-friendly food delivery app that targets millennials with eight most common allergies. Finally, in our Action strategy, after creating a cheerful disposition on the customers toward our brand, we influence them to buy or try it through our “early-bird” discounts.

References;

• American Recipes. Hellofresh.com. (n.d.). Retrieved 13 March 2020, from https://www.hellofresh.com/recipes/american-cuisine.
• Hassan, S., Nadzim, S., & Shiratuddin, N. (2015). Strategic Use of Social Media for Small Business Based on the AIDA Model. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 172, 262-269. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.01.363
• Liu, S. (2018). The Food Industry Responds to Consumer Demands. Aiche.org. Retrieved 13 March 2020, from https://www.aiche.org/chenected/2018/11/food-industry-responds-consumer-demands.
• Meal Kit Delivery Service. Hellofresh.com. (n.d.). Retrieved 13 March 2020, from https://www.hellofresh.com/.
• Menu for All Ages. Nurture Life. (n.d.). Retrieved 13 March 2020, from https://www.nurturelife.com/menus/.
• Nechaev, V., Mikhailushkin, P., & Alieva, A. (2018). Trends in demand for the organic food market in European countries. MATEC Web of Conferences, 212(07008), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/201821207008

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