An SF Uber Eats customer spent $1,200 on the year’s biggest order

San Francisco’s delivery habits have been revealed, according to some recently released insights from Uber Eats — but the city’s priciest order was particularly stunning, featuring 3 gallons of hummus, a gallon of baba ganoush and over 120 chicken drumsticks.

Uber spokesperson Zahid Arab told SFGATE that the city’s largest Uber Eats order of the year came from Middle Eastern chain La Méditerranée and cost $1,215.90. Vanick Der Bedrossian, who owns two locations in the city, told SFGATE the haul was sold in April, to a customer who ordered the feast off the catering menu at the Pacific Heights location on Fillmore Street. 

La Méditerranée also has locations in the Castro and Berkeley, as well as an outpost in North Beach that only does catering and delivery.

The restaurant had just a few hours to prepare the food, Der Bedrossian said. Along with the dips and pomegranate chicken drumsticks (which he called a “signature dish”), the customer got salmon kebabs and “lots” of falafel. The owner said it was likely enough food for about 80 people.

Because items like the three-hour-braised pomegranate chicken are cooking ahead of time, the restaurant is well-positioned for rush jobs, Der Bedrossian said. Sudden orders of this size have come in before: Der Bedrossian remembers pitching in on an order for a 100-person wedding whose caterer had fallen through, and La Méditerranée once supplied food for a 400-person holiday party at a club, after getting the call at noon the same day. 

Still, Der Bedrossian said it’s unusual for such large orders to come in through delivery apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub. Customers do use the apps for daily office orders; each morning, La Méditerranée fields orders asking for 10 to 20 boxed lunches, with about 30-minute turnarounds, Der Bedrossian said.

The rise in food delivery apps like Uber Eats and its competitors Seamless and DoorDash was accelerated during the pandemic. The gig-working platform has become a key part of the company’s business — and an expectation for local restaurants to accommodate.

The dish most often ordered in 2023 in San Francisco, according to Uber, was a burrito bowl from Chipotle. The firm’s yearly wrap-up also listed the cities most likely to say “please” or “thank you” in their orders. San Francisco and Bakersfield both made the top five.

Hear of anything happening at Uber or another tech company? Contact tech reporter Stephen Council securely at [email protected] or on Signal at 628-204-5452.