Many people turn to food delivery apps to satisfy their cravings — even the weird ones you might not want others to know about.
But what happens on Uber Eats doesn’t always stay on Uber Eats.
Uber released its fifth annual Uber Eats Cravings Report, revealing the most popular, the weirdest and the most unpredictable special requests of 2023.
Customers rely on the delivery service to get pretty much anything they think of, from toilet paper to vodka to flowers and, of course, food. They also depend on the app to meet their expectations for special delivery requests — no matter how unusual.
One person asked that a restaurant put her order into a box rather than a circular container, declaring: “I refuse to eat any food if presented in a circle container. Please don’t ruin my meal for me.”
Another picky eater demanded her food to be swimming in sauce: “Please drench the whole bowl in white sauce with a spiral of red sauce!!!! Thank you so much!!!! Just do what I ask.”
Some consumers put a sense of humor into their requests.
“Hello angel family! Long time no order! Breasts please! Please fry me up some big ‘ole breasts! Thank you, so excited!” one wrote.
“Extra cheese sauce please :) I’ll pay for it. I’m also drunk asf so if you load it up you’d make me the happiest drunk girl ever,” someone with the drunchies — a k a “drunk munchies” — requested.
Speaking of drunchies, college campuses had quite a few late-night (12 a.m. to 4 a.m.) orders on Uber Eats, with Penn State University taking the lead, followed by the University of Iowa, University of Illinois and Texas A&M University.
And even regulars at certain places had their requests: “Hello again wonderful dreamy pizza makers! Can I please get tons of green olives and mushrooms?”
“Please fry my chicken VERY hard. Very very crispy. Almost burned!” another very, very excited person said.
“I’m very serious about my spice so please make it super super super hot, fire spicy. Like make me cry ???? ???? hot!!! More ???????????????? Please make me hurt! Let’s get as spicy as possible. Hotter the better!!!”
Some people made sure to look out for their loved ones, with requests such as: “My cats think your chicken is crack, so this is for them!” or “Could you please write a note on the coffee saying ‘Hope you have a great day Jojo, I’m proud of you <3.’ It’s for a girl I really like. Thanks a lot!”
Others channeled their inner food writer and decided the request box was a good place to write a novel.
“Life isn’t all lighthearted laughing and good times, life is sometimes really messy. As I kicked off my shoes and decompressed from the hourly shit show I call a career, I pondered where I would get my dinner. I went and made my order and when that order came into my home, my fortress of solitude, my day was saved. Gone was the stress, hunger and curmudgeonly attitude I was harboring,” one wanna-be best-seller wrote.
Another confessed: “Every so often, a meal not only tantalizes your taste buds but also transports you – and the offerings here managed to do just that. This wasn’t just a meal; it was a celebration of Caribbean culture and culinary artistry. Thank you for delivering a slice of the Caribbean right to my doorstep.”
Uber’s report revealed some of the most bizarre food combos people ordered this year, including steak and jelly, cottage cheese and mustard, condensed milk and avocado, seaweed and pasta sauce, and butter and pickled onions.
Not everyone was so experimental with their food, though.
The most popular combos were a burrito bowl and cheese, french fries and salt, a chicken sandwich and shredded lettuce, a cheeseburger and mustard, and wings with ranch dressing.
The most ordered items of 2023 consisted of french fries, garlic naan, pad thai, miso soup and California roll, while the most popular delivery requests in the U.S. included no onions, dressing on the side, ranch, extra soy sauce, spicy, sauce on the side, no lettuce, no jalapeños, extra gravy and no cole slaw.
The top choice for delivered dessert was the all-American apple pie, with 2 million orders nationwide.
Uber also took a look at food lovers’ manners and discovered that those in San Francisco, California; Richmond, Virginia; Detroit, Michigan; Bakersfield, California, and Charleston, South Carolina, are the most polite, writing “please” and “thank you” in their requests — and Olympia, Washington; Asheville, North Carolina, and Bismark, North Dakota, were the most generous tippers.
And people are being mindful of others when placing orders, especially those returning to the office, by removing onions from their orders to avoid bad breath.