Case study
Delyt: Building a Cross-Platform Restaurant Delivery App with Flutter
Cross-Platform Restaurant Delivery App
Role
Mobile engineer — end-to-end Flutter delivery
Timeline
Design through production release and iteration
Platform
iOS & Android
Framework
Flutter
Category
Flutter
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Overview
Delyt is a restaurant food delivery app built for iOS and Android from a single Flutter codebase, connecting customers with local restaurants for browsing, ordering, and real-time delivery tracking.
The goal was to ship a polished, native-feeling experience on both platforms without maintaining two separate native codebases — while still hitting the performance and UX bar users expect from category leaders.
The problem
The product needed to launch on both iOS and Android with a focused budget and timeline, which ruled out parallel native teams. At the same time, restaurant ops required more than a customer storefront — venues needed review, approval, and top-up flows once orders started coming in.
- A restaurant browsing and ordering flow that felt fast and native on both platforms
- Real-time order tracking with live delivery status updates
- Architecture that could grow as more restaurants and order volume joined the network
- Customer ordering plus manager-side review/approval from day one
Why Flutter
Single codebase, dual platform
One team could ship and maintain iOS and Android in parallel, cutting development time roughly in half compared to two native builds.
Performance
Flutter compiles to native ARM code rather than relying on a JavaScript bridge, which mattered for smooth scrolling through restaurant menus and cart interactions.
Custom UI at speed
Delyt’s design called for custom card layouts, animated cart transitions, and branded components — Flutter’s widget system made this faster to build consistently on both platforms than coordinating two native UI teams.
Architecture & tech stack
Flutter presentation layer for customer and manager experiences, with clear separation between UI, order-domain logic, and API data access. Order status and tracking screens subscribe to backend updates so both sides of the marketplace stay in sync without rebuilding the whole app on every change.
| Category | Tools / tech |
|---|---|
| Framework | Flutter |
| Language | Dart |
| State management | Feature-scoped app state around catalog, cart, checkout, and order status |
| Backend / APIs | API-backed menus, carts, orders, and status services for customer + manager apps |
| Maps & tracking | Map SDK integration for delivery status / location-aware order tracking |
| Payments | Checkout integrated into the ordering flow (gateway configured per deployment) |
| Push notifications | Order-status and ops alerts for customers and restaurant managers |
| CI/CD / release | Store builds for TestFlight / Play testing through production release |
Key features
Restaurant discovery & menu browsing
Customers browse nearby restaurants with filters for cuisine, price, and delivery time, then drill into detailed menus with item customization (add-ons, sizes, special instructions).
Cart & checkout
A persistent cart with real-time price updates, promo code support, and a streamlined checkout flow designed to minimize drop-off.
Real-time order tracking
Once an order is placed, customers see live status updates — confirmed, being prepared, out for delivery, delivered — with a map view for the rider’s location in real time.
Order history & reordering
Full order history with one-tap reordering for repeat customers.
Restaurant / manager operations
Paired restaurant-side flows for reviewing incoming orders, approvals, and order top-ups so venues can run the service day to day.
Engineering challenges & solutions
Challenge
Keeping order tracking useful without turning the app into a battery drain
Solution
Status updates were driven by order-lifecycle events and lightweight location refreshes instead of continuous high-frequency polling. Tracking UI updates when the backend signals meaningful progress, so customers see movement without constant wakeups.
Challenge
Smooth scrolling through image-heavy restaurant and menu screens
Solution
Menus and restaurant cards use lazy lists, cached images, and rebuild-conscious widgets so dense catalogs stay responsive on mid-range Android and iOS devices.
Challenge
Keeping customer and manager apps aligned from one Flutter codebase
Solution
Shared models and API clients power both experiences, while navigation and permissions stay role-specific. That avoided duplicated order logic without forcing a single cluttered UI for two different operators.
Results
- Shipped a dual-surface product: customer ordering plus restaurant manager approval/top-up flows
- One Flutter codebase covering iOS and Android instead of two fully separate native apps
- End-to-end path from browse → cart → checkout → status tracking in production use
- Documented as a portfolio case study with a companion blog summary for Flutter delivery work
What I’d do differently
- I would lock the order-status event contract earlier — mapping “confirmed / preparing / out for delivery / delivered” once saves rework across customer and manager screens.
- I would extract more of the catalog/cart domain into shared modules sooner so manager and customer apps stay easier to evolve independently.
- Flutter was the right call for this dual-platform launch; I would only split into native later if a single platform needed deeper OS-specific delivery features.
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