‘How is this allowed?’: Colorado Uber Eats driver picks up order from Sonic. Then they look at the Sonic shake

Is getting food delivered too expensive? Yes. Is the quality of food usually worse after being transported from the other side of the city? Also yes. Would it probably be healthier, cheaper, and generally more productive to meal prep at home, or at least to physically patronize a local restaurant? Indubitably.

But… food delivery is just so darn convenient. That's one reason why more people are relying on food-delivery apps for everyday meals.

Consumers often lose something when they go the delivery route. Sometimes, that “something” can be their sense of personal safety. One delivery driver is going viral for calling attention to a health and safety risk in the form of a delivered drink.

‘Thank God I'm a trustworthy driver'

In a video first posted on April 30 that has gotten more than 70,000 views, a delivery driver, who posted on her account dedicated to her pet Saint Bernard, Negan (@neganthesaintbernard on TikTok), called out “America's Drive In,” better known as the iconic fast food chain Sonic.

“I am doing an Uber Eats order from Sonic and how is this allowed?” the driver asked. She pointed her camera toward the middle console of her car that had two cup holders. The front seat of the car, which had multiple delivery bags, had a small cup holder with a Sonic shake in it.

The shake was completely unsealed with the top open to the air. There was no box or bag, no sticker and no sealant.

“I asked him, I said, ‘Do you have a sticker?' ‘No,'” the driver said, referencing a prior conversation with a Sonic worker. “‘Do you have a drink carrier?' ‘No.'”

The driver then expressed real concern for the recipients of drinks like these.

“I mean, thank God I'm a trustworthy driver, but how many trustworthy drivers are out there?” the driver said. “No, thank you, Sonic. Do better.”

Commenters express outrage with the unsealed drink

Multiple viewers echoed the driver's outrage in her comment section, with one person writing, “If you brought that to me, I wouldn't eat it.” The driver responded that she agreed, saying that she herself “would never order delivery” and any unsealed drink “would go straight in the trash,” as “drinks are the easiest things to mess with.”

“That used to annoy me so bad about sonic,” commented a fellow delivery driver. “I purchased stickers myself to use in these situations bc that's unacceptable.”

In a TikTok direct message to Buzz News, the driver said this “isn't the first time” she has delivered an unsealed Sonic drink. She has actually raised her concerns with her local Sonic to no avail.

“This is a reoccurring incident that I have talked to sonic about and they just don't care so I figured I'm gonna make a video at this point,” the driver wrote. “I live in Colorado Springs and a few of the Colorado Springs locations have closed and I can kinda understand why because the hygiene practices are nasty.”

The driver praised the way her local McDonald's bags delivery orders, urging other chains to “follow suit.”

“Another issue is a lot of these restaurants make the delivery drivers make the drinks for the orders and I have seen delivery drivers do some pretty nasty stuff,” the driver wrote. “So I've been trying to get that address through our health department here locally and I have made complaints, but that falls on deaf ears as well.”

Sonic drink delivery: Why do customers want drinks sealed?

There are no federal laws in place mandating that restaurants seal drinks before sending them off to customers. So why were commenters so concerned about the Sonic shake?

It's an issue of consumer safety and trust. Some customers say they throw away unsealed drinks delivered by third-party services like DoorDash or Uber Eats. According to one food packaging company, “79% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a brand that prioritizes safety in its packaging,” as “visible tamper‑proof features show that [businesses] care about [consumer] health and wellbeing.”

There's also plenty of precedent for sealed packaging. By 2021, states like California had passed laws making “tamper-evident labels … required on all third-party delivered food.”

Buzz News has also reached out to Sonic via email.

@neganthesaintbernard #sonic ♬ original sound – Negan

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