3 Easy Ways to Build an App for Your Restaurant - Without Coding

Running a successful restaurant means juggling countless priorities—from managing reservations and handling takeout orders to building customer loyalty—and the idea of adding "build an app" to that list can feel overwhelming. Traditional app development requires hiring developers, learning complex programming languages, and investing months of time and thousands of dollars, putting custom mobile solutions out of reach for most restaurant owners.

Fortunately, modern no-code platforms have changed the game entirely. Adalo is a no-code app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms. AI-assisted building and streamlined publishing enable launch to the Apple App Store and Google Play in days rather than months. This means you can create a professional restaurant app tailored to your specific needs without writing a single line of code.

Why Adalo Is Perfect for Building Your Restaurant App

Adalo is an AI-powered app builder for database-driven web apps and native iOS and Android apps—one version across all three platforms, published to the Apple App Store and Google Play. This makes it the ideal solution for restaurant owners who want to create a professional app without hiring developers or learning to code.

Having your restaurant app available in both major app stores means customers can easily find and download it, whether they use iPhone or Android. Plus, with native app capabilities, you can send push notifications to remind diners about reservations, promote daily specials, or announce loyalty rewards—keeping your restaurant top of mind and driving repeat business.

In today's article, we'll present three easy ways to craft and tailor your app to your restaurant. You'll have enough app-building know-how to get your app started immediately.

Before You Build: What Will Your App Help You Accomplish?

First, you need to develop a vision for your app.

On a piece of paper, write down a few ideas about your current challenges and how an app might help you solve them. Writing down your challenges and what you think needs to be done to solve them will give you a rough idea of what you want your app to do.

Pick up your phone and search the app store for your competitors. Looking at the apps your competitors are offering will give you a good idea of the features you need to include. If all your competitors provide loyalty programs, you should include a loyalty program, too. If none of your competitors have online booking, stand out by including it in your app.

Listening to customers and understanding their needs is another tactic that can contribute to devising your app. Ask yourself questions like the following:

• Are several customers calling your restaurant for booking purposes, and are many experiencing busy signals because of high call volume?
• Do you get a lot of takeout orders?
• Do customers want to order food before entering your restaurant but still enjoy an in-restaurant dining experience?
• Do some customers have a seating preference—near a TV, a window, or in a quiet booth—and would like to reserve a table in their preferred area before they enter your restaurant?

A restaurant app can contain functions that solve each one of those problems. Solving these problems will improve the overall customer experience; customers will likely continue to show up, and you'll build a loyal customer base. Ask yourself any question from your customer's point of view and if a custom-made app can improve the customer experience.

1. Use an AI-Powered App Builder Like Adalo

Adalo is an AI-powered app builder that enables you to create your own custom app to uniquely reflect your restaurant and brand. It's built with non-coders in mind, so you need no prior technical experience.

The platform's Magic Start feature generates complete app foundations from a simple description. Tell it you need a restaurant app with online ordering and reservations, and it creates your database structure, screens, and user flows automatically—what used to take days of planning happens in minutes. Once your foundation is set, Magic Add lets you add features by describing what you want in plain language.

Choose a template from Adalo's extensive template library that matches your restaurant's theme and style. The platform makes it easy for you to tinker with the different settings and find the ones that match your intended design and tastes. Adalo's agnostic builder lets you publish the same app to the web, native iOS, and native Android, all without writing a line of code or rebuilding. If your plan is mass distribution through the app stores' vast marketplaces, then this is a great option versus many of the vibe-coding builders out there today.

After you decide on your app's colors and design, implement your app's features. Here are just some of the customer-experience-enhancing functionalities you can create:

• Menu Display: Upload your menu, categorize items, and add descriptions and prices. Seamlessly change items or menu design; add seasonal dishes or even daily specials.
• Ordering System: Integrate an ordering system into your menu that allows customers to place direct orders.
• Payment Integration: Adalo is compatible with payment systems like Stripe, Square, PayPal, and more, meaning you can enable customers to pay for their orders in advance.
• Reservation System: Include a feature for customers to make table reservations. You can allow customers to choose where they sit in your restaurant—near the TV for the big game or in a quiet booth, tucked away from all the noise.
• Loyalty Program: Reward regular customers with discounts or limited-time offers.
• Push Notifications: Set up notifications to alert customers about new dishes, limited-time offers, changes in business hours, or events.

With the Adalo 3.0 infrastructure overhaul launched in late 2025, apps now run 3-4x faster than before. The platform's modular infrastructure scales with your app's needs, supporting restaurants that grow from a single location to regional chains with millions of monthly active users. Paid plans include unlimited database records—no caps on how many menu items, customer profiles, or order histories you can store.

Once you've designed your app, test it to guarantee everything works properly. Let your employees use it for a week or two before releasing it. They'll most likely answer clients' questions about the app once it's up and running, so they'll need to know all its ins and outs. Adalo's X-Ray feature identifies performance issues before they affect users, helping you catch potential problems during testing.

Adalo conveniently lets you make your app available for free download on your website, the Apple App Store, and Google Play Store. This ability makes it easy for customers to get your app.

You can get a limited version of Adalo for free. Their paid plans, which come with upgraded options, unlimited usage, and no record limits, start at $36/month—with no usage-based charges that could cause bill shock as your restaurant grows.

2. Hire a Developer

If you don't have time to create your app, do it the old-fashioned way: Hire a developer to design and build it.

You can find a freelance developer by searching on a freelancer platform like Fiverr and Upwork, using LinkedIn, or combing through Facebook Groups. The advantage to tapping a freelancer platform is that you can refine your search results to find app developers with a specific skill set catered to developing restaurant apps.

Hiring a freelancer who's developed apps for restaurants will likely be a good choice, as they'll most likely deliver slick, professional-looking, restaurant-centered apps. Developers usually charge between $20 to $60 per hour, depending on their experience level.

It's a good idea to contact a few developers before making a hire. Follow these points to hire the right developer:

• Determine a budget and how much time you'll anticipate the project to take.
• Search for developers and pay attention to their past work, price per hour/project, and years of experience.
• Narrow the list to a handful of developers whose work, price, and experience you like.
• Request to meet them on Zoom or Google Meet. Interview them, and inform them of the app you want to develop. Ask them if they would add anything to make the app more effective.
• After discussing terms, hire the right person to fit your needs.

Ensure that your developer communicates development progress to you at regular intervals. This way, you'll know the anticipated launch date and be able to deal with issues that pop up. So, plan accordingly.

Keep the developer on so they can help you fix any issues, like bugs or glitches, that may arise immediately after launch. When inevitable menu or operational changes occur, you'll want to get them repaired quickly—and the developer who created the original app will know how to make changes on the fly.

Choose your developer wisely and develop a strong working relationship with them.

3. Hold an App-Design Competition

A unique way to design and implement an app for your restaurant is to get developers to come to you. You can do this by initiating a competition that challenges developers to create an app for your restaurant. Follow these steps to get started:

1. Publicize and promote your app design competition on social media and your website by advertising with a few banners in your restaurant. Include information such as the registration deadline, the features apps must include, and, importantly, the prizes available.
   Make sure to reward the winner with a few thousand dollars in cash. As you know, app development is expensive, so the reward needs to be serious.
   It's also a good idea to let everyone know that the winner will get to help implement the app and have the chance to work with you to make future changes and updates.
2. When you've got your contestants, it's off to the races. Ensure everyone knows the event deadline.
3. Choose the apps you like the most, and award prizes to the top three. Award the winner a lucrative cash prize, like a few thousand dollars. The runners-up can receive meals and a few free drinks.
4. The winner will help you implement the app. You'll need to make the prize big enough so the winner will continue to help you with glitches and bugs. Consider paying the winner for performing updates, changing app features, or resolving glitches.
   Although you're sacrificing the control that comes with hiring your own developer, you can potentially get the app you want at a much cheaper price. If your winner doesn't meet your standards, you can always hire help to update the app or add more features.

Build the App of Your Dreams With Adalo

Want to offer your customers online booking, payment, and seating reservations through a simple app? Use Adalo to build it.

Adalo has tons of customizable templates, so you can craft your app to any design you have in mind. If you lack coding experience and technical skills, then Adalo is your perfect fit—the platform uses a sleek, drag-and-drop interface that's been described as "easy as PowerPoint" for accessible app building. With over 3 million apps created on the platform, restaurant owners are already using Adalo to simplify their operations and connect with customers.

When your app is dialed in, make it available for download on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. One codebase, three platforms—web, iOS, and Android—all updated simultaneously.

Start building your restaurant app for free.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Why choose Adalo over other app building solutions?	Adalo is an AI-powered app builder that creates true native iOS and Android apps. Unlike web wrappers, it compiles to native code and publishes directly to both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store from a single codebase—the hardest part of launching an app handled automatically.
What's the fastest way to build and publish an app to the App Store?	Adalo's drag-and-drop interface combined with AI-assisted building through Magic Start and Magic Add lets you create complete apps in days rather than months. The platform handles the App Store submission process, removing the technical barriers that typically slow down app launches.
Can I easily build a restaurant app without coding experience?	Yes, with Adalo's AI-powered app builder, you can easily create a professional restaurant app without any prior technical experience. The drag-and-drop interface and customizable templates make it simple to add features like menu displays, ordering systems, reservation booking, and loyalty programs tailored to your restaurant's unique needs.
What features can I include in my restaurant app?	With Adalo, you can include menu displays with categorized items and descriptions, online ordering systems, payment integration with Stripe, Square, or PayPal, table reservation systems with seating preferences, loyalty programs, and push notifications. These features help improve customer experience and drive repeat business.
How much does it cost to build a restaurant app with Adalo?	Adalo offers a free version with limited features to get you started. Paid plans with upgraded options, unlimited usage, and no database record limits start at $36/month—significantly more affordable than hiring a developer who typically charges $20 to $60 per hour, and with no usage-based charges that could cause bill shock.
What should I consider before building my restaurant app?	Start by identifying your current challenges, such as high call volumes for reservations or managing takeout orders, and how an app could solve them. Research competitor apps to understand industry standards, and consider your customers' needs like seating preferences or pre-ordering capabilities to create a vision for your app.
How do I test my restaurant app before launching?	After designing your app in Adalo, test it thoroughly to ensure everything works properly. Let your employees use the app for a week or two before the public release—they'll be answering customer questions about the app, so they need to understand all its features and functionality. Adalo's X-Ray feature helps identify performance issues before they affect users.
How long does it take to build a restaurant app?	With Adalo's Magic Start feature generating complete app foundations from descriptions, you can have a working prototype in hours rather than weeks. Full development with testing typically takes days to a few weeks depending on complexity, compared to months with traditional development.
Can my restaurant app handle growth as my business expands?	Yes. Adalo's modular infrastructure scales to serve apps with millions of monthly active users, with no upper ceiling. Paid plans include unlimited database records, so you won't hit storage limits as your customer base, menu items, and order histories grow.