Saudi Arabia’s restaurants and coffee shops sector is witnessing a fast-paced digital transformation. This growth is backed by the Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to boost reliance on technology.
Research shows the number of registered restaurants in the Kingdom reached 70,000 restaurants in 2023. In terms of sales, restaurants and cafés recorded SAR 23.96 billion in sales in the second half of 2024. This marked a 30.6% increase compared to the same period in 2022, according to the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA).
This digital transformation in the F&B industry has raised the level of expectation, prompting a growing interest in personalized experiences. Consumers expect smooth ordering, personalized food menus, loyalty programs, among others, all available through easy-to-use, intuitive mobile apps.
In this new reality, restaurants are required to cater to these needs. They need to adopt digital innovation not just to stay open, but to improve their competitiveness in a cut-throat market.
In this article, we’ll explore what a restaurant or coffee shop needs to launch a mobile app. We’ll highlight some local success stories and how they are using their restaurant mobile app to boost loyalty and revenues.
The Saudi appetite for smartphones and convenience
Increased smartphone adoption has significantly shifted Saudi customer behavior in recent years, with smartphones becoming central to communication.
Saudi youth, aged 30 and under and who represent 63% of the Saudi population, are at the forefront of the nation’s growing smartphone usage. They have also led this behavioral change as they use their smartphones everyday particularly for ordering food online.
Separate research shows there are nearly 48.1 million cell phone users in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi delivery apps market size is estimated at $8.33 billion in 2025. This figure is expected to surge to $17.05 billion by 2030, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.4% between 2025 and 2023, according to Mordor Intelligence.
The food delivery apps segment alone dominated the Saudi delivery apps market, recording a 69% market share in 2024. The Saudi Vision 2030’s focus on digitization has made the Kingdom’s restaurant sector a leading example of technology adoption.
Riyadh & Jeddah lead the Kingdom’s restaurant digitization
Amid this fast-paced digital transformation and the rising number of cell phone users in the Kingdom, more restaurants and coffee shops are turning towards mobile apps. Both local and global brands seek to cater to changing consumer needs, improve the customer experience, and build powerful brands.
Mobile apps help customers perform various operations, including finding the nearest branch. They can also make online food orders for delivery or pickup and pay for their orders. But that’s not all. Mobile apps have had a positive impact on restaurants, from speeding up deliveries to reducing wait times, especially in crowded cities like Riyadh and Jeddah. These restaurant mobile apps are different from those of food aggregators like HungerStation, Jahez, and others.
A coffee shop or restaurant mobile app is designed for a single brand name. It offers different features from aggregator apps, including the ability to add a customer loyalty program, rewards, and personalization.
Coffee shop and restaurant mobile app success stories in KSA
Here are a few success stories for quick service restaurants (QSR) and coffee shop brands from around the kingdom.
Shawarmer
Riyadh-based shawarma quick-service chain, Shawarmer’s mobile app, available on iOS and Android, is a standout success in KSA’s QSR sector. With an average rating of 4.6 across 85,000 app store ratings, Shawarmer’s mobile app offers ordering for delivery and pickup, along with a loyalty program.
Customers who order through the app earn loyalty points for each purchase, which they can later redeem for discounts on future orders. Shawarmer also pushes weekly deals and exclusive offers to its mobile app users, increasing digital customer engagement. Other features include menu exploration and a store locator.
The strong uptake of the Shawarmer app, especially in Riyadh, reflects how a local chain can successfully drive customer loyalty via mobile tech.
ALBAIK
Saudi fast-food chain ALBAIK has a popular mobile app, available on iOS and Android since 2021 to meet the brand’s high demand. Famous for its fried chicken, ALBAIK’s chain has exploded beyond Jeddah and Riyadh.
Using the app, customers can make online orders, track the status of their orders in real-time, browse the chain’s menus, among others. ALBAIK also offers in-app payments and choosing items (with options like spicy or regular).
Owing to its devoted customer base, ALBAIK’s app has quickly grown popular among its users. When Riyadh had no local ALBAIK outlets, fans would travel to Jeddah for the brand. Now, the app’s convenient ordering helps attract those eager Riyadh customers as ALBAIK opens there. The app has a rating of 4.3/5.
Starbucks Saudi Arabia
Operated by Alshaya in the Middle East, global coffee chain Starbucks launched its mobile app in Saudi Arabia in late 2022.
Available on iOS and Android, the app’s main goal was to launch the Starbuck Rewards loyalty program in the kingdom. Customers can collect points, called ‘Stars’ for every purchase of food or beverages in any Starbucks outlet.
For every SAR 10 spent, customers get 4 stars. They can redeem their stars for free beverages (every 250 stars = a free drink), upgrades, and other rewards.
If a customer hits 750 Stars in a year, they reach ‘Gold’ status and get a birthday drink and exclusive offers.
To use the Starbucks loyalty program, customers scan their app’s QR code in-store to log their purchases. Although the Saudi Starbucks app doesn’t support mobile ordering or in-app payments, unlike the US version, it was widely received when the brand launched its rewards program in the kingdom.
Starbucks held promotional events in KSA and noted that Saudi consumers are very tech-savvy and eager for personalized digital experiences.
Further reading: Opening a Coffee Shop: Business Plan and Key Steps
Why should restaurants build their own apps?
The decision to launch a restaurant mobile app is often a strategic one. The aim is to improve customers’ experience and turn new customers into frequent, loyal ones to boost business growth and profitability.
Here are a few more reasons why restaurants and coffee shops should consider creating their own mobile apps:
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Owning customer data
Mobile apps help restaurants own and control the data they collect from customers. They can use this data, known as first-party data, in their marketing campaigns. Business owners can collect this data directly from customers when they sign up and make online orders.
Customer data can include preferences and favorite foods, which helps restaurants tailor offers and improve the guest experience.
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Increase profits and reduce commissions
One of the benefits of using food aggregator apps is it allows restaurants to expand their geographical footprint and reach more customers. However, these aggregators often take hefty commissions, reaching up to 30% of the total order value. This negatively impacts restaurants’ profits.
That’s why an important benefit of restaurant mobile apps is it helps concepts reduce the commissions associated with aggregators and other third-parties. This, in turn, translates to higher profit margins. As the number of orders via the restaurant’s or coffee shop’s mobile app increases, so do their profits.
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Clear branding and loyalty strategy
Your restaurant mobile app helps you build your concept or chain’s visual identity. You can also use the app to offer a loyalty program to incentivize customers to buy more from you and benefit from app-only offers and rewards.
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Improves direct marketing campaigns
Another benefit of restaurant mobile apps is that they improve your direct marketing campaigns through instant push notifications and messages. These allow you to market special events and offerings instantly and effectively.
Push notifications can also boost customer engagement and responses, compared to email and other traditional forms of communication.
Further reading: Should You Build a Restaurant Website, Mobile App, or Both?
How to launch your restaurant’s mobile app
If you’re considering creating a mobile app for your restaurant, then you need to plan ahead to ensure the app’s success.
Here’s what you need to know about how to create a restaurant mobile app.
First: Conduct a competitor analysis of your direct competitors in the market and study your target audience and their needs.
Second: Explore the costs associated with building an app. This includes knowing the cost of hiring mobile app developers or software development companies or agencies. Based on this information, you can set a budget for building and launching your app.
Third: Determine the timeline needed to develop the app. Launching an app usually takes 6 to 12 months.
Fourth: Determine your customers’ needs and what this will look like as features in your app. Features can include online ordering, booking tables, a loyalty program, among others.
Fifth: Be sure to integrate your restaurant mobile app with your point-of-sale (POS) system and other restaurant software like your inventory management system and accounting software.
Sixth: Make sure your app’s user interface (UI) is easy, simple, and supports multiple languages and operating systems.
You can save all this time and effort by using Foodics Online, which provides you with a comprehensive solution to build a mobile app. Foodics ensures a seamless app and ordering experience for your customers. It also supports various payment methods via your mobile app including Visa and Mastercard.
Foodics also lets you add online ordering and delivery features, integrates with inventory solutions, POS systems, and kitchen display systems (KDS), among other restaurant management systems.
The smart step for restaurants ready to scale
In a constantly evolving and fast-paced world, it’s imperative you consider the future of your business and its operations.
Mobile apps are considered a long-term investment that’s in line with customers’ tech-savvy needs. They also improve operational efficiency, allowing restaurants and coffee shops to remain open and profitable for years, despite growing competition.
We invite you to explore mobile apps for restaurants and coffee shops as a strategic step towards building a sustainable future for your business.
Need help launching a no-code mobile app for your restaurant or coffee shop? Get in touch with Foodics. We’ll help you build a mobile app, including the top features needed, with integrations with POS and loyalty programs in days not months or years.
