Have you ever sat bored in a drive-thru, just staring at the menu not sure of what you want to eat? Well instead of being indecisive about your order, you should try ordering what the person in front of you ordered, along with thousands of other people on social media. Ordering what the person in front of you ordered is a trend that you can find all over TikTok, which originated from YouTube. It’s a fun way to turn a routine food run into something unexpected. Sometimes it leads to exciting surprises—or major letdowns. Recently, we decided to take on this challenge. We chose three spots: Starbucks for a drink, Chick-fil-A for an entrée, and Dunkin’ for dessert. Here’s how it all went down. 

Dunkin’: 2/10

Pulling up to the Dunkin’ drive-thru, there were no cars ahead of us. Not ideal, but we improvised and asked the worker if we could get whatever the last person had ordered. The total came out to $2.67, small price, big hopes. Maybe a donut? A sweet treat? Nope. A small black coffee. Just straight-up, no sugar, no milk, no fun. Our challenge was off to a rough start. 

Starbucks: 7/10

Next up, Starbucks. This one had potential. With a long line ahead, we knew we were in for a surprise. We asked the drive-thru worker if we could have exactly what the car in front of us ordered. She paused before asking, “Do you want just the drink or everything?” We hesitated before saying, “Everything,” and instantly regretted it. The screen lit up, and there it was: 4 brownies and a venti vanilla bean frappuccino with extra caramel drizzle. Are we kidding?! $23.83 later, we had a sugar overload waiting to happen. The frappuccino was ridiculously sweet, but admittedly delicious. However, the four brownies felt excessive. This order definitely wasn’t necessary for a smaller group like us. We each had a brownie and still had extras to spare. Starbucks definitely brought chaos to this challenge. 

Chick-fil-A: 9/10

Last stop—Chick-fil-A. At this point, we were hoping for something solid to balance out our sugar rush. The car ahead of us ordered a 12-count nugget meal, including fries, with a bottle of water. Finally, something normal. While the nuggets and fries were solid as always, the meal itself was a little underwhelming. No sauce? Just plain nuggets and water? It felt like the most normal Chick-fil-A order possible. A little sauce could have taken it to the next level, but hey, at least it was edible.

Final Thoughts

Dunkin’ was underwhelming, Chick-fil-A was tasty but unexciting, and Starbucks was absolutely chaotic. The randomness of this trend is what makes it so fun, you never know if you’ll hit the jackpot or end up with a major fail. If we had to pick though, Starbucks was definitely our favorite. Who wouldn’t enjoy a bunch of brownies and a frappuccino? 

Would we do this again? Maybe, but next time, we’re crossing our fingers for a little more excitement (and something better than a plain black coffee).