Surprisingly revealing gecko and cockroach hair! Why is the milk tea industry trapped in "food safety"?, Let's change it into half a cup. Brand | Service | Production | Promotion | Store | Consumer | Question | Milk Tea

"There's nothing unhappy in this world like a cup of milk tea being uneven. If there are, then just two cups."

"Milk tea is my 'happy water', and with it, I can achieve instant full blood resurrection."

"I want the first cup of milk tea in autumn."

……

As one of the most popular fast-moving consumer goods in recent years, modern tea drinks have frequently become a hot topic on the internet. With the continuous expansion of the milk tea market, the brand concept is also constantly strengthening. The latest news indicates that at least six Chinese milk tea chain stores are considering overseas IPOs. At the same time, negative information about milk tea has always accompanied the development process of this industry, with issues such as service and quality emerging one after another, becoming a hot topic in public opinion.

On July 25th, the release of a report confirmed this point. The "Public Opinion Analysis Report on Domestic Milk Tea Consumption Rights Protection" jointly released by Beijing Sunshine Consumption Big Data Research Institute, Beijing Business University New Business Economics Research Institute, and Consumer Network shows that from May 2022 to June 2023, there were at least 31000 pieces of public opinion data related to milk tea consumption rights protection. Among them, there are more than 24000 pieces of data related to food safety issues, accounting for 78.17%; There are over 3600 pieces of data related to service issues, accounting for 11.68%; There are over 3100 pieces of data related to promotional issues, accounting for 10.15%.

Let the milk tea stand for a while and turn it into half a cup

Surprisingly revealing gecko and cockroach hair

The report shows that in the relevant data on food safety issues, data related to hygiene and safety issues account for 54.20%, data related to quality and taste issues account for 23.42%, and data related to management and safety issues account for 0.56%; In terms of service issues, data related to service quality issues accounts for 1.75%, data related to after-sales issues accounts for 2.21%, data related to order accuracy issues accounts for 1.68%, and data related to price issues accounts for 6.04%.

The well-known "internet celebrity" brand Cha Yan Yue Se, known to milk tea enthusiasts nationwide, has once "overturned" in terms of quality.

On February 27th of this year, # Cha Yan Yue Se responded to the hot search on Weibo that a full cup of milk tea has changed from half a cup after being left for a long time. Originally, it was a customer from Hunan who purchased Cha Yan Yue Se milk tea and later found that a cup of milk tea was missing one-third. The customer expressed confusion about this, as the full cup of milk tea had already turned into half before taking a sip, and they had to use tea jelly to increase the amount. It is recommended to replace it with a transparent cup to see the capacity clearly. Cha Yan Yue Se responded that when the drink was first made, there was foam on top, and if left for a long time, it would disappear on its own, resulting in a half cup situation. Customer service stated that Cha Yan Yue Se has no intention of changing to a transparent cup at the moment, but will provide suggestions to relevant departments. Tea jelly can enhance the taste of milk tea. When ordering, you can choose to add it to the milk tea or pack it separately.

This news has sparked heated discussions among netizens. "There's too much foam too!" "I've just experienced it. It's green, fat, red, and thin, without cream. The top is full of bubbles, and there's only half a cup of milk tea." "I also think the amount is too small, just as much as there is. The cup itself is not big, and there's only half. If you directly promote it to the public, it's only 300 milliliters of milk tea+200 milliliters of foam, that's not a problem."

If cutting corners is still tolerable, then the presence of foreign objects in milk tea and the unhygienic environment in which milk tea is made are unbearable.

On July 26, 2022, a netizen posted a video showing that they placed an order for Guming's takeout and drank a gecko while drinking it. At the same time, the consumer also issued a surveillance self certification at the time of the incident. At that time, she felt a foreign object in her mouth. After using her hands to remove the foreign object from her mouth, she was startled and bounced out of her seat. Houguming responded to media reports that the store immediately closed for self inspection and immediately retrieved public videos of the beverage production process. No geckos were found to have entered the process of making milk tea from the video. In the sealing process, the instantaneous temperature will reach 180 degrees Celsius, and the possibility of geckos entering is extremely low. At the same time, all Guming stores will conduct self inspection and strictly follow the standard for making beverages.

In addition to Gu Ming, it has also become a hot topic on the internet for reports of drinking big cockroaches in Honey Snow Ice City and suspected hair in Heytea.

The unhygienic environment for making milk tea is a common problem. For example, in the special action of "guarding the bottom line, identifying hidden dangers, and ensuring safety" on food safety launched in Hangzhou, Zhejiang in June last year, it was found that many "Diandian" milk tea shops had incomplete opening and scrapping times for their milk tea. At the Ba Wang Cha Ji Milk Tea Shop, it was found that the water pool inside the shop was very close to the box storing ice cubes, and dirty water from cleaning splashed directly onto the ice cubes.

In terms of food safety issues, management safety issues are also an important aspect that triggers public opinion on milk tea, mainly involving non-standard production processes and unauthorized changes in shelf life.

In February this year, some netizens reported that drinking three label papers in Yihetang milk tea caused acute enteritis, which attracted attention. Afterwards, Yihetang posted an apology on Weibo and promised to further strictly control food safety. After the incident, Yihetang immediately established an investigation team. After investigation, the reason for the problem was that the employees involved in the store did not strictly follow the product production process and did not carefully inspect, resulting in the label paper being left in the cup. Yihetang also stated that the company has imposed penalties such as suspension of work training and business rectification on the employees and stores involved in accordance with relevant rules and regulations and regulatory requirements.

High price and poor service questioned

False advertising has gained momentum

The report states that the issues with milk tea services mainly involve poor employee service attitude, difficulties in after-sales processing, errors in order production, and unreasonable prices.

In November last year, several tea beverage brands, including HEYTEA, Naixue's Tea, Chabaidao, Guming, Miyue Bingcheng, Shuyi Shaoxiancao, etc., successively cancelled the full discount on delivery platforms, and changed the full discount to 50 minus 1, 70 minus 1, or directly cancelled. The topic of "multiple tea beverage brands boycotting takeout discounts" has become a hot topic on Weibo, sparking discussions among netizens. This has caused many consumers to "roast" on the Internet. "Now that milk tea takeout is fully discounted, it's like nothing else." "I can't afford milk tea anymore." "It just helps me quit milk tea." Some netizens have questioned whether this is a disguised price increase. ".

The issue of publicity mainly involves false advertising, etc. Lele Tea has been punished multiple times for this issue.

On April 6th this year, the Tianyancha app showed that the main company of Lele Tea, Shanghai Letian Catering Management Co., Ltd., was fined 5000 yuan by the Yangpu District Market Supervision Bureau of Shanghai for false or misleading promotion of goods or services. According to the administrative penalty decision, on October 21, 2022, the party involved mentioned "LeLeLecha * Harada Zhi Joint Limited" and other details in the product introduction when selling hot cakes and fresh milk tea products on the "Ele.me" delivery platform. As for the above promotional content, the parties involved acknowledge that some of the products received by consumers on October 21, 2022, such as the hot real cake and fresh milk tea, were not co branded with Haruhiro Harada. After the incident, the parties involved took the initiative to correct the above promotional content. However, the illegal gains obtained by the parties involved in illegal propaganda cannot be calculated.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time Lele Tea has encountered similar problems. According to the Qichacha App, Lele Tea was fined 14000 yuan by the Jing'an District Market Supervision Bureau of Shanghai in March 2020 for plagiarism of product names, packaging, etc. In 2019, Lele Tea was fined 4000 yuan for using similar labels and packaging to the "Big White Rabbit" milk sugar product name in its store price list, which constituted confusion.

Chen Xuhui, Data Director of Beijing Sunshine Consumer Big Data Research Institute, told the Legal Daily that overall, food safety issues are currently the most significant issue in the milk tea industry, accounting for the vast majority of all types of problems. The service issue needs improvement. Service issues mainly manifest in the quality of service, accuracy of orders, after-sales issues, and price issues, with price issues being the most prominent. Currently, with the expansion of the milk tea market, more and more high-end brands have emerged, but their prices are difficult for consumers to accept. Of course, issues related to service quality, after-sales service, and order accuracy cannot be ignored, such as the "penalty station queuing for pick-up" at Chayan Yuese Milk Tea stores.

Chen Xuhui also believes that there has been an increase in publicity issues. "Propaganda problems mainly include violations of marketing regulations and false advertising. False advertising problems mainly include subjective advertising problems and objective advertising problems. Subjective advertising problems refer to businesses intentionally misleading consumers, including misleading consumers to purchase or boycotting purchases, while objective advertising problems include consumer misunderstandings caused by personal negligence during advertising."

All parties need to work together

Promote industry standardization and standardization

Why did the milk tea industry encounter the above-mentioned problems? Professor Zhou Qingjie from the School of Economics at Beijing Business and Technology University and Executive Dean of the New Business Economics Research Institute at Beijing Business and Technology University analyzed the reasons for this:

The relevant supervision is insufficient, and the milk tea industry has a large scale, numerous brands, and relatively weak regulatory efforts. Some milk tea stores and practitioners have relaxed their requirements due to regulatory deficiencies, leading to continuous problems in milk tea production.

The industry standards are not unified, and the milk tea industry lacks a standardized service management system and standardized operating procedures, resulting in inconsistent standards and uneven service levels among practitioners, making it difficult to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of consumers.

The market demand is too high, and the milk tea industry is constantly developing. Due to the improvement of social and economic conditions and changes in consumer attitudes, the market demand is also increasing. However, some brands and stores neglect consumer safety and experience in pursuit of economic benefits.

The quality of employees is not high, and some employees lack corresponding standardized training, which makes them prone to laziness and other situations in their work. The production of milk tea and the cleaning of store hygiene are not in place.

Consumers lack sufficient information, and due to the numerous milk tea brands and diverse types of milk tea, it is difficult for them to judge whether the production process of each milk tea brand or store is standardized.

In order to ensure the long-term stable development of the milk tea industry, all parties need to work together to promote industry standardization and normalization. Only in this way can we bring consumers a better experience. Therefore, Chen Yinjiang, Deputy Secretary General of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, suggests:

For government departments, it is necessary to improve relevant laws and regulations. Supplement the current legal and regulatory system, strengthen top-level design, and clarify the production, sales, and service standards for milk tea products. These regulations can involve aspects such as raw material selection, processing procedures, labeling, and hygiene requirements. Develop strict regulatory policies and standards for the milk tea industry to ensure product quality and safety. Regulatory agencies should strengthen inspections and spot checks on milk tea shops, and punish and rectify products and shops that do not meet standards. Increase publicity and education. On the one hand, it is to increase publicity and education for milk tea brand institutions, enhance the sense of responsibility of milk tea stores and staff, and strengthen moral education. On the other hand, it is to strengthen the promotion and education of consumers, and enhance their awareness of protecting their rights.

For milk tea brands and stores, on the one hand, food safety should be given top priority, and attention should be paid to the selection and quality control of raw materials to ensure the use of fresh, safe, and high-quality raw materials to make milk tea products. Store owners should strictly abide by food safety and hygiene management regulations, ensuring a hygienic environment and operating standards in the store. On the other hand, milk tea brands and stores should pay attention to employee training, including food safety knowledge, hygiene operation standards, etc., to improve the professional competence and service quality of employees. It is also possible to design more standardized reward and punishment systems to enhance employee work seriousness and cultivate their sense of responsibility.

"For consumers, it is necessary to enhance their awareness of safeguarding their rights. In the process of consumption, if problems are found, they should be reported to the store staff in a timely manner. If they cannot be solved, they can also complain to regulatory authorities and use legal means to protect their legitimate rights and interests." Chen Yinjiang said.