How To Develop A Cooking, Food Recipe Mobile App: Cost & Features

Enjoy cooking different cuisines! But if you are new to cooking, don’t worry; we’ve got you covered. Whether you are a noob or a professional cook searching for the right recipe on the Internet may take a lot of time. Along with it is the issue of saving it or putting it down in a new place. 

So, to overcome this issue, recipe apps are the best solution, as they are incredibly helpful in cooking. They contain a lot of features, such as providing detailed recipes along with videos; therefore, they are in high demand among users. Moreover, it makes sense to consider recipe app development and invest in this. 

Sounds Interesting? Then, it’s the right time to get the ball rolling in the article to learn how to make a recipe app, the processes involved, features, and the app ruling the market for reference. So let’s dive in to know! 

Why Invest In Developing A Food Recipe Mobile App?

There are multiple reasons why one should invest in a cooking app. Here, we will see the importance of the 

59% of 25- to 34-year-olds head to the kitchen with either their smartphones or tablets.

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• The global Recipe app market size was valued at USD 534.02 million in 2022. 
• The market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 13.21% during the forecast period by USD 474.19 million by 2022-2027. 
• According to a Statista survey, it is found that 43% of worldwide internet users in the Boomer and GenX generations got inspiration for their meals from recipe websites or apps compared with 38% of Gen Z and Millennials. 
• Around 44% of GenZ and Millennials found meal inspiration from recipes by family. 
• Along with all these, around 15% of respondents aged between 16 and 38 years got their cooking ideas from online videos. 

What Is The Need to Build Recipe Apps In The Times Of Food Delivery Apps?

Passion for cooking drives many to seek recipes online, easily found on platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Google. However, a food recipe app simplifies this search, providing instant, accurate answers to culinary queries. These apps, covering everything from recipe selection to cooking methods, offer a convenient, comprehensive solution, making them an appealing business alternative to food delivery services.

What Kind of Food Recipe App Can You Consider Creating?

There are a number of food recipe apps available out there in the market, so how can you build your recipe app idea stand out among this crowd of apps. So, the idea that can really help is surprising your users with something exclusive instead of developing an app that simply comes with standard features. After all, there is nothing unique about the standard apps, as there are already so many available in the market, so why would people download yet another app if it is offering just the same results as other apps. Hence, choose a unique type of app that you can create to serve your audience.

Also, no matter what app idea you are choosing for customization, ensure that you have an app home screen encouraging the users to get engaged with the app for a long amount of time. Like, throw in the search bars on the homepage attracting users to search for a broad recipe choice, mark their favorites, and really engage with the app. If the content available on your app fails to satisfy the users or keep them engaged, then ultimately they will get bored and leave the platform as they could not connect with the app.

Here, we mention the types of Recipe Apps that you can consider developing:

Benefits of the Recipe App For the Businesses

Developing a recipe app can offer multiple benefits for any business. Here are some key advantages. 

1. Revenue Generation 

The business can make multiple revenue models, such as subscription models, advertising, affiliate marketing, and in-app purchases. The business can also add additional feature that can be only accessed once subscription is done by a user. 

2. Customer Engagement and Loyalty 

The recipe app provides direct access to the items to a larger audience. There are multiple features that are put in the app, such as personalized recipe recommendations, social sharing, cooking guide videos, and many more that help the user to get the best results and be a part of a loyal customer list. Regular updates and bonuses enable the users to come again and again, increasing the app’s popularity along with the revenue. 

3. Cross Promotion Opportunities 

If the business owns more than one app or business in the same fields, such as cookware brands, food blogs, or restaurants, then the app can be used to cross-promote these services or products, resulting in an increase in overall sales. 

4. Global Reach 

Unlike the traditional stores, the app is not limited to a particular area. It can be expanded all over the globe and accommodate more users with multiple new features that help the app get the appropriate data in one place. And as the demand in users increases, the ROI of the company automatically increases as they are directly proportional to each other. 

What All People Can Benefit & Invest In A Recipe Mobile App?

Well, there are a number of people that can invest in a recipe mobile app, and these could be:

• Chefs
• Nutritionists
• Health Coaches
• Foodies
• Startups

How To Monetize A Recipe Mobile App?

Now comes one of the most crucial aspects of creating an app, which is how to monetize it. After all, the idea behind any app is to make money through it, right? Hence, it is vital to well understand the monetization strategies that work for the Recipe mobile apps. Here we present some idea to monetize your recipe app:

1. Subscription

This is one strategy that works for a number of apps available in the app stores. The subscription model allows the users to use the app for a specific period of time, and once the subscription period expires, the users can again subscribe if they liked the app.

2. In-app Advertisements

Everyone knows the importance of advertising for a business, and today more than any other ads, digital ads are reining in the global market. And why not? After all, they are ubiquitous and are there on mobile apps as well. By using the in-app ads in the recipe mobile app, as an app owner, you will be able to advertise your affiliate’s product or service. So, as the users click on the advertisements or interact with the advertisements, you will get the money.

3. Freemium

To benefit from this particular revenue mode, you are required to have a second, premium version of the app. Like, if the users have installed a free version of your app, they are more likely to be downloading the paid app version with extra features. Here, the ad-blocking feature that helps the app owners to make more money.

4. Sponsorship

So, imagine your recipe app become a big hit in the market, then you can consider approaching a sponsor, offering them to design your app to match the sponsor’s brand. This way you have the monthly sponsorship fee or maybe you can choose to split the revenue with your sponsor.

Top Recipe Mobile Apps Across The World

1. Kitchen Stories: Recipes 

• Price:- Free
• Rating:- 4.5
• Downloads:- 1M + 
• In-app purchases:- $4.99 – $24.99 per item

If you like watching video tutorials and cooking, Kitchen Stories is the perfect app. In this app, every recipe comes with step-by-step guides with images and video tutorials. The in- house chefs of the kitchen story has created a vast range of recipe archive that can be accessed by anyone. User can also save their favorite recipes and comment on them to get the appropriate tips on the same with the other users. It is one of the best options for free apps that do not contain any subscription to a premium version. 

Key Features of Kitchen Stories App

• Find diverse recipes for cooking 
• Articles and tips for cooking 
• Community section for uploading pictures of food you prepared
• List generator that can export to phone’s reminder 

2. Tasty 

• Price:- Free
• Rating:- 4.7
• Downloads:- 10M + 

• Price- Free
• Rating- 4.7 
• Downloads- 10 M + 

The app allows the users to express their views on different recipes present in the app. It is basically designed for community interaction because it’s the self-proclaimed globally one of the largest food networks. There is also my recipe [age available that can make your own mobile cookbook and an innovative search tool that allows you to filter the ingredients, cuisine, and social occasion that you want to make at any moment according to mood. 

Key Features of Tasty App

• Step-by-step instructions to cook the recipe 
• Watch the videos of multiple latest recipes. 
• Personalize according to preference Vegetarians can go for preference, and then this app will not show any non-veg recipes. 
• Like to save the recipes
• Get recommendations as per the time of day, week, or major holidays. 

3. BBC Good Food: Recipe Finder App

• Price:- Free
• Rating:- 3.2
• Downloads:- 1M + 
• In-app purchases:- $4.99 – $27.99 per item

This is one of the ultimate cooking apps. There are multiple skill videos, baking ideas, cooking recipes, meal plans, and expert tutorials available in the app. It is also an ad-free app. There is also a subscription available in the app that provides the user with a brand-new recipe every month. 

Key Features of BBC Good Food: Recipe Finder App

• Meal plans for every user
• More than 15,000 recipes 
• Videos and tutorials available 
• Put questions to the experts 
• Can keep the recipe in the Cook- mode, which enables one to be on-screen. 
• Ad- free podcast series 

4. Food Network Kitchen 

• Price:- Free
• Rating:- 4.8
• Downloads:- 5M + 
• In-app purchases:- $4.99 – $24.99 per item

With the help of this cooking app, you can get on-demand cooking classes with the best experts, best-selling cookbook authors, popular chefs, and many more. There are more than 80,000 recipes available on the app for different cuisines and occasions imaginable. You can save the recipes in the app to access them later. 

Key Features of Food Network Kitchen App

• Save and access anywhere in the world
• Meal planning can be done easily with the meal planning tool
• Make the grocery list 
• Free to register and download the app

5. Yummly Recipes & Cooking Tools

• Price:- Free
• Rating:- 4.4
• Downloads:- 5M + 
• In-app purchases:- $4.99 – $24.99 per item

It is a smart recipe app that is designed personally for a user. The app suggests the recipes with the help of the AI. The more you use the app, the more it will grasp the old and new data and become more helpful day by day. You can set your diet preferences and receive recommendations from the app. You can also provide the details of food to exclude that you are allergic to. 

Key Features of Yummly Recipes & Cooking Tools 

• AI-driven personalized recommendation 
• More than 2 million recipes 
• Search by the ingredients present in your kitchen
• Smart Shopping List 
• Create your own digital cookbook

What Are The General Features Required to Make a Recipe App?

User Panel Features in Food Recipe App

• User registration & profile management
• Advanced search for recipes
• Personalized recipes
• Manage subscription
• View recipe lists
• Check nutrition facts
• View video tutorials for recipes
• View photo gallery
• Save & print food recipes
• Calculator to find accurate ingredient quantity
• Make personal notes to food recipes
• Social sharing of food recipes
• Give Rating & Review
• Upload pictures & videos
• Community for sharing
• Plan meals and create diet charts
• Read content related to cooking recipes
• Push alerts & notifications

Admin Panel Features in Recipe App

• Secure Login
• Manage Users/Chef/Cooking Experts
• Manage Cuisines/Recipe Categories
• Manage special consideration
• Manage subscription packages
• Add new recipes & video tutorials
• Manage Reviews & Ratings
• Manage Community
• Manage Payments
• Upload eMagazines for recipes
• View earnings & reports
• Content Management
• Push Notifications

Advanced Features To Consider Integrating Into A Recipe Mobile App

1. Social Login/Signup

This feature allows the app users to easily signup into the app using their social networking accounts, either Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

2. Auto-Lock Screen

This is a crucial feature for this kind of app, as it allows the users to cook without any kind of distraction as often the users require to constantly wake up their phone screens as they cooking using step-by-step cooking tutorials while cooking.

3. Cooking Video

This functionality allows the users to easily view the step-by-step cooking tutorial videos with clear and simple cooking descriptions.

4. Voice Assistance

This feature can be integrated into the recipe app so while cooking, the users can directly get their queries answered through voice assistance without having to use their hands.

5. Efficient Backend CMS

This is one feature that is constantly required to keep the app content updated and reviewed. It allows the app owners to manage updates to keep people engaged with the app.

6. Smart Search & Filters

In this feature, the user has to simply search by entering in the name of a dish or an ingredient. In the case of ingredients, the app presents the list of dishes where this mentioned ingredient is among the main ingredient. The Smart Search feature also shows autosuggestion and is able to search recipes by characteristics (such as low-carb, sweet, gluten-free, etc.)

7. Sharing

This feature allows the users to share their favorite recipes that they tried making online. So, the app can integrate a social button to people can share from the app and this also increases user engagement.

8. Plan Meals

This functionality allows users to plan a meal each day and add recipes for the next meal they plan to prepare.

9. Community

Your app can bring the users together by providing this option so they can interact with one another with the community option. Also, the users can communicate by asking questions or sharing ideas.

10. Manage Payment

Users can use this functionality to pay for subscriptions (weekly/monthly/annually), make purchases on the app store, or more.

11. Reading Recipe Instructions Aloud

This new feature allows customers to cook while listening to the recipe instructions being spoken out loud. This enhances the cooking experience by providing step-by-step guidance in real-time, helping you follow along and cook with confidence.

What Tech Stack Is Needed To Make A Recipe App?

How Much Does It Cost To Create A Recipe Mobile App?

Food recipe application development cost depends on several factors, such as features, app sizes, the number of platforms the app is developed for, and much more. Hence, it is clear that there is no standard cost to create an app, and a rough estimate can be gathered depending upon the most critical aspects that drive the final app cost. And if you choose to add more features and add to the app complexity, the app price will also keep going higher.

Then app platforms affect the app pricing, like developing an app for iOS is comparatively more expensive than Android, and developing the app for both the platforms doubles the cost as then two teams would be required to develop the cost, and so the cost doubles as well. Then the app development cost even varies as per the developers’ location, expertise, and skills. Usually, the app development team should consist of:

• Project Managers
• iOS Developers or Android Developers, or both
• Front-end & Backend Developer
• UI/UX Designer
• Quality Analysis Experts
• Marketing Team

And ultimately, considering all of the various factors, the average cost to create a simple app with basic features and for a single platform should cost around $50000-60000, whereas the app with advanced features, more complexity and for both the iOS and Android platforms might cost around $100000-$120000.

Why Employ Us To Develop Your Cooking App?

The one question that arises to most businesses when thinking of this app is how to build a recipe app. The answer is simple with the help of top software developers, but it can become complicated when one is unaware of all the facts. The recipe app has to be made as per the requirement of the market and how to make it different from the apps available in any other app. 

We at Emizen Tech, a leading mobile app development company, have a team of expert developers in diverse fields that can fulfill your requirements and help you gain the success you are looking for. We focus on working on the latest technologies and tools to give the best outcome. We ensure on-time delivery along with taking care of all the client’s needs, putting them in a loop throughout the process. 

If you are also looking for a top company, think no more and contact us today to get all the details from our experts.

Conclusion

Making a recipe app is very much in trend this year and we can expect more and more people to come around and experiment with this genre as the recipe app is a brilliant idea for startups. And all you need is to get in touch with the right app development company that can turn your idea into a reality.