Why are street coffee shops refusing commercial photography?

More cafes have begun posting notices stating they do not host commercial venue visits and do not accept commercial photography without a fee. The change follows a rise in professional shoots and store-visit blogging that turned contentious. Owners report bloggers taking payment for false promotion, then using their follower counts to demand free drinks, and threatening negative reviews when a shop refuses.

The friction extends beyond promotion. Some commercial photography teams pay no venue fee, order a single drink or nothing at all, and occupy public seating for hours with bags of professional equipment, disrupting other customers. What began as a mutually beneficial arrangement between venue-visit bloggers and businesses has soured, so owners now use posted rules to protect the in-store environment for paying guests.

In recent years, the trend of professional venue visits and commercial shoots has intensified, forcing many cafés to publicly declare that they do not accept unpaid commercial photography or venue visits. What was originally a mutually beneficial relationship between venue-visit bloggers and businesses has now soured due to tactics such as false promotion, using follower counts to extort free drinks, and malicious negative reviews. Some even order just one drink and then occupy public space for hours with bags upon bags of equipment, severely disrupting other customers' experience. Café owners, suffering greatly from these disturbances, have been posting notices to protect their in-store environment. This article will delve into the causes of this phenomenon, the real experiences of café owners, and their efforts to preserve a peaceful atmosphere in their cafés.

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As professional venue visits and commercial shoots become increasingly prevalent, many cafés have recently issued statements or posted notices explicitly stating that they do not host commercial venue visits and do not accept commercial photography without venue fees.

Faced with such rules, many owners are left speechless, their hearts full of grievances…

As for professional venue visits, originally, the relationship between venue-visit bloggers and businesses was supposed to be mutually beneficial ~ and attracting people for commercial shoots was considered a good thing for cafés, as it meant their space design was recognized. However, at some point, various disturbances began to appear frequently…

More and more venue-visit bloggers are operating in a gray area. On one hand, they take payment to do false promotion for businesses; on the other hand, they flaunt their "big V" status, using "helping with promotion" as an excuse to demand free drinks, or even asking for promotion fees—otherwise they publish negative reviews or videos.

Meanwhile, more and more professional commercial photography teams pay no venue rental fee at all, ordering just one drink—or not consuming anything—and entering with bags upon bags, various professional equipment, and boxes after boxes of clothing, causing restrooms and some public areas to be occupied for extended periods.

Regarding the posting of public notices or signs, I spoke with some café owners. Some had just opened, others had been in business for years, and all felt utterly helpless about today's venue visits and commercial shoots. Most owners said: "When customers see malicious negative reviews online, or see people posing for photos the whole time in the café, they don't dare come in…"

- Maruko

Several owners mentioned that venue visits have lost their original meaning. Some would call first, claiming to be influencers, and offer to write reviews and provide brand exposure in exchange for free drinks and meals.

Even more absurd, some show up uninvited, order a coffee, and then claim to be venue-visit experts, demanding free drinks with an account that has only a few hundred followers… Some even threaten negative reviews when refused, and businesses have no way to appeal certain malicious negative reviews.

When it comes to commercial shoots, many owners become emotional, tearfully recounting their experiences, because many commercial photography teams act as if they've committed moral kidnapping after buying just one drink…

Because they've made a purchase, the business cannot ask the commercial photographers to leave.

But if you don't stop it once, it will trigger more and more similar incidents, even attracting more different groups to come for commercial shoots, as if a group of people are sharing with each other where you can avoid paying venue fees…

-侃侃 kent

Some, when asked to pay a venue fee, say they aren't booking the whole place, and claim that paying a high venue fee just for a few photos is extortion… Some even confidently say the café has few customers so it doesn't matter, they are consuming after all, and they can bring lively atmosphere to the café.

No owner can accept such arguments, because they have severely affected other customers' in-store experience. Many customers come to cafés for peace and quiet, or for a social place to chat with friends.

-卡酱bagel

But often, upon seeing the "big guns" inside from the doorway—harsh lights flashing—they turn around and leave… Some customers who arrived earlier also feel disgusted by the commercial photographers moving back and forth and posing, and these customers are almost never seen again.

How to stop these people from coming has become a massive headache for café owners. Although posting such notices may be seen as petty, more and more cafés are explicitly refusing such behavior.

- Sin

Nowadays, more and more venue-visit articles wildly praise a café or its products, raising people's expectations, but the final product indeed falls short of what everyone imagined, which has also led consumers to be wary of venue-visit recommendation articles and videos.

The commercial photography trend has also become increasingly taken for granted. Originally, commercial shoots were a diversified income for shops, better supporting a café's long-term development. But ultimately, it has developed into not only no extra income, but also the loss of more customers.

- Lydia生活杂

Difficult, truly too difficult.

Image unrelated to text; source: internet.

The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.