A restaurant's own app — the menu stays in the guest's phone

The problem

Orders arrived through aggregators and Instagram. In both cases the guest belongs to the platform rather than the restaurant: winning a repeat order means paying to reach them again, and announcing an offer is only possible through paid advertising. On top of that, every menu change — a price, a seasonal item, something sold out — had to be updated separately in several places.

The approach

We built the app as the restaurant's own channel: once installed it stays on the phone, so a repeat order costs no new ad budget. The menu is wired to Firebase — a price or an item changes and it shows in the app immediately, with no new store release to wait for. Offers and new items go out as push notifications. React Native + Expo is again a cost decision here: one codebase ships to both iOS and Android.

What shipped

• A single React Native + Expo codebase for iOS and Android
• A Firebase-backed menu — prices and items update in real time
• Push notifications — offers and new items straight to the guest
• Published on the App Store and Google Play, through both stores' review
• A TypeScript codebase with a consistent Tailwind-based design system

Technologies