Equine eats: horse-riding Chinese man incurs wrath of food delivery platform despite warm welcome on streets of Sydney
- Uber Eats blocks man from delivering food by horse in Australian suburbs
- Online pressure sees ban lifted as locals rally behind meals-on-the-hoof
A Chinese-Australian man who plied his trade on horseback has been banned by a food delivery platform despite his unusual service being warmly welcomed by the community in which he works.
A short video of 23-year-old Stanley Chen wearing an Uber Eats jacket and carrying a delivery backpack as he rides a black horse through the streets of suburban eastern Sydney has gone viral online.
The clip was viewed 3 million times in the four days after it was uploaded by a pedestrian on the social media app TikTok in the middle of April, according to the news outlet 7News.
“Definitely a lot of head turns. A lot of dropped jaws and people wanting to pat the horse as well,” Chen was quoted as saying about the response of people he met.
However, despite the popularity of his equine delivery system, Chen had his access to the Uber Eats platform blocked.
Questioning the use of animals, the company told Chen: “We’ve recently received some concerning feedback from one of your orders that you may have been making deliveries on an animal.”
Chen, who is also a blogger on TikTok, jokingly defended himself by saying that his horse, Laylani, is not an animal but “a queen” and should not be removed from the food-delivery platform.
He has asked his TikTok followers to contact Uber and ask them to reverse its decision.
“If you want to see me and Laylani do more Uber delivery orders, go message Uber and tell them to revoke the ban,” he said in his video.
In a short time, Chen’s account on the food-delivery platform was unfrozen.
When back in business, he chose to deliver food using another unorthodox method, a bizarre bike, according to his new videos.
However, many people online prefer the equine delivery service.
“If my order was delivered on a horse, I would give you a huge tip,” one person said on TikTok.
Another online observer said: “I would order food every day from the horse.”
“Coolest Uber I have ever seen. Who cares if the food is cold when it gets there, all that matters is how it got there. Love it,” another chimed in.
People on social media in China also left hilarious comments.
“It’s not bad, at least it does not need electric recharging. The horse would at most eat some leaves on the road,” said a person on Weibo.
But another said: “I would be starving if I ordered food to be delivered by this horse.”
