The IT Nerd

It’s the most wonderful time of the year—Uber Eats’ fifth annual Cravings Report is here!

To get Canadians into the holiday spirit, they’ve baked some festive surprises into this year’s report. They’ve highlighted the cities that order the most eggnog and the top last-minute Christmas Eve orders. In keeping with tradition, they’ve also shared a snapshot of the most popular, most unique—and in some cases—most unusual delivery requests received over the last year. 

Check out all the sweet and savoury Eats trends from 2023:

• 🎅Santa’s midnight Eats: Traveling the world in one night is hard work, and Canadians take the task of keeping Santa fueled seriously. The most popular last-minute food orders were milk, cookies and brownies on Christmas Eve. 
• ☃️All about that ‘nog: This holiday drink tends to be a divisive treat, but Vancouverites can’t get enough. It’s the top ranking city for eggnog orders, followed by Calgary and Edmonton.
• 🙏Feelin’ tips-y: While all Canadians enjoy a reputation of being polite, some cities take it a step further. Prince George scored the top spot with the most generous tippers this year, followed by Ottawa and Halifax.
• 🍸Keeping the libations flowing: When Canadians run out of their favourite liquid spirits at their events, they turn to Uber Eats to keep their bar cart stocked. This year, vodka, beer and whisky topped the list of most popular alcohol orders.
• 🍽️Go big at home: Nothing wrong with balling out and treating yourself (and those around you) to a boujee meal every once and a while. In November 2023, a Toronto resident took the top spot for the most expensive order totaling $1,729 from Gusto 101. They ordered 20 pizzas, 30 pastas and 71 appetizers. 
• 😳Giving the ick: Don’t blame the people, blame the taste buds. Some cities have been proven to be pickier than others when it comes to placing orders. The city who was the most particular about their orders was Moncton, NB.
• 🌎A world of flavours: In a country full of different cultures, Canadians have access to an array of cuisines right at their fingertips. This year’s most ordered were American, Japanese, Indian, Chinese and Italian.

Here’s some more details:

*Data results are weighted to control for population differences. 

Santa’s midnight snack: The most popular orders on Christmas eve

The man of the hour needs fuel to make it through his biggest night of the year.

1. Chocolate milk
2. White chocolate chip cookies
3. Chocolate fudge brownies
4. 2% milk 
5. Chocolate bars

All about that ‘nog: The cities that order the most eggnog

The most eggs-cellent time of year for eggnog lovers across the country. 

1. Vancouver
2. Calgary 
3. Edmonton
4. Lethbridge 
5. Victoria

Keeping the libations flowing: The most popular alcoholic beverage orders

Keeping the bar cart stocked without leaving the house.

1. Vodka
2. Beer 
3. Whisky 
4. Pinot Grigio 
5. Margarita cooler

Feelin’ tips-y: The cities that tip the most

Top tippers from coast-to-coast 

1. Prince George
2. Ottawa
3. Halifax
4. Hamilton
5. Toronto
6. Edmonton
7. Kamloops
8. Windsor
9. Calgary
10. London, Ont

Eating their greens: The cities where adults order the most cannabis edibles

Gummies, anyone?

1. Toronto
2. Vancouver
3. Victoria
4. Kitchener-Waterloo
5. Kingston
6. Ottawa
7. Peterborough
8. Hamilton
9. Niagara Region
10. London, Ont

Snack game on point: The most popular convenience store items

A snack a day keeps the hunger pains away

1. Hot dogs
2. Taquito 
3. Slurpee 
4. Chocolate milk 
5. Chips
6. Ice cream 
7. Popcorn 
8. Pepperoni pizza
9. Candy 
10. Brownies

The key ingredient: The most popular grocery item orders

Behind every good chef is a full pantry

1. Bananas
2. Cucumbers
3. Strawberries
4. Tomatoes 
5. Eggs
6. Cilantro
7. Raspberries
8. Avocados
9. Green onion 
10. Bottled spring water

A world of flavours: The most popular cuisines in Canada

Take a trip around the world with your tastebuds.     

1. American        
2. Japanese        
3. Indian
4. Chinese  
5. Italian

Celery-brate wellness: The cities that order the most healthy food

These cities are glowing from the inside out

(based on restaurants labelled “healthy” in the app)

1. Montreal
2. Ottawa
3. Kingston
4. Toronto
5. Vancouver

It’s what is on the side that counts: The top requested sides

No meal is complete without a complimentary side dish

1. French fries
2. Garlic Naan
3. Poutine
4. Miso soup
5. Hash browns

Giving the ick: The pickiest cities 

Are they picky or do they just know what they want?

1. Moncton
2. Kelowna
3. Red Deer
4. Greater Sudbury
5. Halifax
6. Regina
7. St. John’s, NL
8. Nanaimo
9. Winnipeg
10. Victoria

If one thing can be said about Canadians, it’s that we really know how to part-EH! With Halloween just around the corner, Canadians will be revving up to hit the town and BOOgie on one of the biggest partying nights. That’s why Uber Canada is releasing its annual Nightlife Index, revealing what Canadians have been getting up to during their nighttime escapades throughout the year.

It seems that Londoners in Ontario have solidified themselves as the wildest night owls in the country, taking the top partying city spot for a second year in a row. To recover from a night out, the top food order is a classic cup of coffee, followed by some hashbrowns to soak it all up. And if you’re curious about what Canadians are shopping for in the late hours, a Unicorn pillow takes the top spot as the most unexpected item.

As Canadians revel in their city’s nightlife, we also want to share an important message that just because you drove to the party, it doesn’t mean you are capable of driving home. No matter how you get home, Uber and MADD Canada are supporters of all rides that get you there safely. Alcohol and cannabis can stay in your system as long as the next day, so don’t drive to pick up food and take advantage of getting it delivered right to your doorstep with Uber Eats. 

Party city – Top 10 Partying Cities in Canada: 

*based on the average # of late night trips (10PM-2AM) riders in each city take every month

1. London, Ontario
2. Toronto
3. Winnipeg
4. Halifax
5. Kitchener-Waterloo
6. Regina
7. Edmonton
8. Vancouver
9. Ottawa
10. Kingston

Best days to get down on the dancefloor – Top 5 biggest partying nights across Canada 

*based on volume of rides between 10PM and 2AM 

1. New Years Day
2. St Patrick’s Day 
3. Canada Day 
4. Halloween 
5. May long weekend 

Food to soothe the soul and the scaries – Top 5 hangover foods across Canada

*based on volume of orders between 9AM and 1PM on Saturdays and Sundays 

1. Coffee 
2. Hash browns
3. Bagels 
4. Bacon, cheese, egg breakfast sandwich
5. Donut 

The largest hangover food ordered through Uber Eats in Canada was placed on Saturday, May 13, 2023 in Winnipeg, MB for $995. One–or more, no judgment–hungry eater ordered 10 spaghetti and meatballs, 5 chicken and mushroom fettuccine, 15 bolognese penne, and 13 “create your own” pasta dishes. 

In the mood for a midnight snack – City that orders the most Uber Eats deliveries between 10PM and 4AM

1. Windsor 
2. Kingston 
3. Niagara Region 
4. London 
5. Kitchener-Waterloo
6. Thunder Bay 
7. Winnipeg 
8. Saskatoon 
9. Sault Ste Marie 
10. Toronto 

Confessions of a late night shopaholic – Most unexpected late night order (not food related)

1. Unicorn pillow 
2. Instant pot 
3. Digital food steamer 
4. Nintendo switch 
5. Wooden rat traps

To celebrate, Uber Canada is sharing consumer data trends that shed light on Canadians’ sexual health and wellness. 

Over the past two years, more pharmacy and convenience store merchants have joined Uber Eats. It’s no surprise then that almost half (44%) of Canadians reported using delivery apps to order everything from snacks to essential items in the last year. Sexual wellness products—including condoms, emergency contraceptives, lubricants, vibrators and more—have become a popular category in people’s online shopping carts.

The latest data drop reveals the most popular sex products purchased by Canadians across the country and ranks the cities that are the most prepared for sexual adventures, based on the volume of sexual health products they’re purchasing on Uber Eats. 

Emergency contraceptives and pregnancy tests top the list of the most popular sexual health products ordered on Uber Eats along with lubricants and vibrators. This year, Kitchener-Waterloo jumped from #10 in the city rankings to the #1 most prepared city for safe sex, as the biggest consumers of sexual health products and contraceptives. You can see where your city ranks and what products are trending across Canada below. 

Top 10 Canadian cities that are the biggest consumers of sexual health products

*results weighted to account for pop. differences 

Top 5 Most Popular Sexual Health Products Across Canada

Uber is also celebrating cities that are ordering the most of a particular sexual wellness product. Check out the ‘23 winners:

• Hamilton takes the title of “The Slickest City,” as Hamiltonians are by far the biggest consumers of sexual lubricants on Uber Eats
• Londoners are the “Most likely to have you covered,” with London being the city that purchases the most condoms 
• Torontonians are the “Most likely to pass a vibe check,” since Toronto consumes the most sex toys/vibrators on Uber Eats

Starting today, Uber is launching Uber Reserve for UberX and UberXL in select cities across Canada. Uber is known for being on-demand – push a button, and get a ride. Now, you can push a button and plan your ride, giving riders even more certainty and extra assurance. Uber Reserve is perfect for trips to the airport, train stations, other cities, business meetings or planned events, so riders can enjoy a stress-free ride.

Here’s what riders need to know: 

• Plan ahead: Uber Reserve allows you to request a ride up to 90 days or 30 minutes in advance, at any time and on any day of the year. You can also Reserve a trip with multiple stops to pick up friends and family along the way. 
• Save 30% this summer by planning ahead: Enjoy 30% off your next Uber Reserve trip (up to $30) in selected geos in Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa. Valid for pickup time until 11:55pm local time on Sept 19, 2023.
• Reliability on time: Count on your ride to be there when you need it with Uber Reserve. Our technology matches drivers for your trip ahead of time and helps them arrive on time for a stress-free ride.
• No rush to meet your driver: You have extra wait time built in so you can double check you’ve got everything before hitting the road. 
• Flexible cancellation: Change of plans? No problem. Uber Reserve lets you cancel up to 60 minutes before your requested pickup time with no extra fees. If you cancel less than 60 minutes before your reservation, you will be charged a cancellation fee for your driver’s time. You can view the cancellation fees in the app before and after scheduling your trip.
• Tailored for you: Ride options for every budget and occasion, and prioritized matching with your Favourite Driver! Favourite Driver allows you to select specific drivers whom you’d like to be matched with when requesting Reserve rides. You can add them to your Favourite Driver list during the rating process.

Here’s how it works: 

• Request a ride up to 90 days to 30 minutes in advance, at any time and on any day of the year.
• Once the rider requests a reservation, we start looking to match that reservation with a driver ahead of the pickup time. 
• Riders are notified once a driver has been assigned. 
• Riders will receive another notification when the driver is enroute.
• 5 minutes of wait time is built in depending on the product, so riders can take their time.
• Riders can cancel up to 60 minutes before your requested pickup time with no extra fees. 

Uber Reserve is already live in Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton on most of Uber’s products. 

Starting today, Uber Reserve for UberX and XL are available in the following cities:  

• Vancouver
• Montreal 
• Ottawa 
• London 

Today, Uber Reserve is live for UberX and Comfort in below cities and riders will be able to Reserve Uber XL as well starting today. 

• Kitchener-Waterloo
• Winnipeg
• Halifax
• Hamilton
• Niagara Region 
• Saskatoon 
• Regina 
• Quebec City 
• Windsor 
• Red Deer 

Today, Uber Eats is now available for teen accounts—meaning parents and guardians now have one less thing to worry about. Whether their teen needs a meal to refuel after practice or brain food to help them through a study session, parents and guardians can relax knowing their teen has a way to feed themselves, even if they’re not around. 

How Uber Eats for teens work: 

• Deliveries from highly rated delivery people: Orders through teen accounts will always be delivered by highly rated delivery people. 
• Teen-friendly view: Age-restricted items like alcohol will be filtered out.

Here is what a regular account view looks like:

Here is what a teen account view looks like:

• Live tracking and real-time alerts: Anytime an order is placed through a teen account, the parent or guardian will receive real-time status updates from pickup to drop off. 
• Support at your fingertips: If for whatever reason something goes wrong, the parent or guardian and the teen will be able to submit a support ticket in the app. 

Teen accounts enabled by parents and guardians will now provide access to Uber Eats and Uber Rides.  Launched earlier this year, teen accounts with Rides are designed for families on the go with safety features built into the experience for parents/guardians, teenage riders, and drivers. When a teen requests a trip, parents/guardians will be notified, can watch the trip right in their Uber app, and contact their teen or the driver. In addition, Uber safety features – like audio recording, live trip tracking, and PIN Verification to help make sure your teen is getting in the right car – will be mandatory. Only highly rated, experienced drivers will be able to receive requests for trips with teens, and drivers can always choose to stop receiving these trip requests. In case of an emergency, parents/guardians will have the ability to call 911 directly from the trip tracker screen. 

Starting today, all drivers on the Uber platform with an iPhone will now have the ability to use the Uber driver app directly from their dashboard while using Apple CarPlay. 

This means drivers will be able to see demand heatmaps, accept trips, and view navigation right from the dashboard screen in their car.

Uber’s goal is to be the best platform for flexible work in the world, and they’re excited to add support for Apple CarPlay to make using the Uber driver app on iPhone even more comfortable and convenient for drivers.

National Ice Cream Day is coming up on Sunday, July 16th, serving up some much-needed cool amidst the record-breaking heat. To celebrate, Uber Canada is sharing some chill trends revealing how Canadians are getting their ice cream fix, from top flavours and the largest ice cream orders to which cities have the biggest sweet tooth.  

• Getting straight to the pint: Halifax, NS takes the title of the Canadian city with the biggest sweet tooth, with eaters ordering ice cream more than in any other city in the country. Hamilton and Ottawa take second and third place, followed by Toronto in fourth. 
• Moo-ve over dairy: Ottawa, ON residents search for dairy-free ice cream more than anywhere else in the country.
• Legen-dairy ice cream orders: London, ON had the largest ice cream order in the last year consisting of nine boxes of milk chocolate ice cream bars with nuts—because one is never enough.
• The inside scoop on top flavours: When it comes to the most popular flavours, Canadians stick to the classics, including chocolate, vanilla and berry, but are also sampling mango, coffee and taro.

And for the cherry on top, we’re also sharing exclusive ice cream deals on Uber Eats in honour of everyone’s flavour-ite holiday. Baskin Robbins is offering a BOGO for their 3 Take Home Sundae flavours when you order for delivery through the Uber Eats app. 

Check out some highlights from Uber’s National Ice Cream Day trends:

Top 10 cities in Canada that order ice cream the most:

1. Halifax 
2. Hamilton 
3. Ottawa 
4. Toronto 
5. Kingston
6. Kitchener-Waterloo
7. Vancouver 
8. Edmonton 
9. Calgary 
10. Montreal 

Top 10 flavours in Canada

1. Chocolate 
2. Vanilla 
3. Berry 
4. Caramel 
5. Peanut butter 
6. Cherry 
7. Hazelnut 
8. Mango 
9. Taro
10. Coffee

I became aware of an Uber Eats scam via a post on Mastodon. And after doing some investigation, I found it worth my while to publish a story on the scam for two reasons. First, let’s start with the scam which is detailed here by Landon Epps who was a victim of this scam:

As mentioned above, a Washington Post reporter by the name of Chris Dehghanpoor was scammed twice. And he has a detailed summary of this scam here. That brings me to the second reason why I have decided to post this, Uber Eats was of no help in dealing with the scam that this reporter tripped over. In fact, they stopped responding to his DM’s for assistance. That reflects poorly on Uber Eats as you would think that they would want to protect their brand by getting rid of scams like this. But clearly that isn’t the case.

Uber Eats has a serious problem here, but until they choose to address it, I would recommend that you reconsider the use of this food deliver app as it seems like if you get hit by this scam, the company has decided that they not only won’t have your back, but they don’t seem to care that this scam exists.

Consider yourself warned.

This morning, Uber is hosting Go Get Zero, their first-ever sustainability product event introducing new products and features to support their march to zero-emissions. One of the products is coming to Toronto later this year—Uber Carshare—the newest way to rent affordable cars from people right in your neighborhood. 

With Uber Carshare, getting behind the wheel will be:  

• Convenient: You can find cars right around the corner to instantly unlock and drive.
• Flexible: Enjoy hourly options so you only pay for the time you need.
• Affordable: Browse a wide variety of quality cars to find the best fit for your needs and budget.

If residents are interested in being one of the first borrowers or owners with Uber Carshare, they can sign up today to be notified of launch details at this link. 

Just because you need a car sometimes, doesn’t mean you need to own one. Uber believes that car sharing is one of the most affordable and sustainable ways to access a car. Uber Carshare allows customers to pick up a nearby car and drive it themselves. Together with Rides, public transportation, riding a bike and walking, this means that you no longer need to own a car to get where you want, how you want. 

Most cars sit idle and are unused the majority of the time, so by putting them into shared use – optimizing utilization of existing vehicles on the road – it means fewer cars are needed to move more people. Research shows that carsharing can support car-free or car-lite lifestyles and even lead active users to reduce or “shed” the number of cars they owned before.

Since recently acquiring Car Next Door in Australia – and rebranding to Uber Carshare – Uber has seen the platform grow significantly, which has given them the confidence to launch this product in Toronto and Boston later this year. Uber Carshare is a perfect example of how we’re continuing to identify, innovate and scale the products that are meaningful to consumers and our business.

This is part of their sustainability commitment to provide sustainable, shared alternatives to the personal car. Other innovations that empower Canadians throughout the country to choose green include: 

• Uber Comfort Electric: It’s as simple as tapping a button and getting a ride in a premium EV. This is now available in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. 
• Uber Green: The most widely available on-demand mobility solution in the world for no- or low-emission rides.
• Transit: We’re partnering with local transit agencies around the world to add real-time transit information and ticket purchase directly in the Uber app.
• Bikes and scooters: We’ve integrated Lime bikes and scooters into the Uber app across 55+ cities globally, with plans to expand micromobility options.

Today, Uber officially expanded its ridesharing platform in British Columbia to Victoria, Kelowna, and Chilliwack, offering residents and visitors a safe, affordable, and reliable transportation option at the touch of a button.

In over 140 municipalities in Canada and over 10,000 cities globally, Uber users rely on the app to access transportation options whenever they need them. Whether it’s a ride across town to run errands, to get to work or school on time, or a late-night ride home after an evening out, Uber helps riders get where they want to go. 

To meet the expected demand for rides, interested drivers can visit driver.uber.com to learn more about driving with Uber. New drivers in Victoria and Kelowna who complete their profile and take 20 trips within the first 14 days of Uber’s launch will get an extra $1,000 promotion that will be added to their regular earnings.

For service area information and maps in each city, please click the following links: Victoria, Kelowna, Chilliwack.