Why did a chain of coffee shops face a hygiene scandal?

A franchise store of South Korean coffee chain The Venti was exposed after a store manager soaked and peeled dead skin off their feet in the store, then made drinks for customers without changing gloves or washing hands. The consumer photographed the scene and asked the head office for a refund, which was refused. The incident spread online and drew wide criticism.

The Venti later issued a formal apology on its website and pledged stronger hygiene training. The case has renewed public scrutiny of food safety practices across the chain of coffee shops, where glove changes and handwashing between tasks are basic requirements. For coffee for coffee shops, staff routines and store supervision are now under closer review by customers and regulators.

Recently, a franchise store of the South Korean coffee chain brand The Venti was exposed for a serious food hygiene issue: the store manager soaked and peeled dead skin off their feet in the store, then without changing gloves or washing hands, directly made drinks for customers. After witnessing the entire process, the consumer took photos as evidence and called the head office to demand a refund, but was refused. The incident quickly went viral online, sparking widespread attention and heated discussion. The Venti subsequently issued a formal apology on its official website and promised to strengthen hygiene training. This "foot skin coffee" incident not only made consumers uncomfortable but also triggered deep public reflection on hygiene management in the food and beverage industry.

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Recently, according to South Korean media reports, the South Korean coffee chain The Venti was exposed for a food hygiene issue, where a consumer witnessed the store manager soaking and peeling dead skin off their feet in the store, and then without washing hands, went directly to make drinks! The consumer saw this scene, posted the photos online, and called the head office to demand a refund, but unexpectedly was refused?!!

The incident began when a netizen posted text and images on social media, saying that they recently visited a franchise store of the chain coffee shop The Venti for consumption. After ordering, they unexpectedly saw the store manager, who had been soaking and peeling dead skin off their feet in the back, suddenly come out and start making coffee, still wearing the gloves from just now when peeling foot skin, immediately feeling their stomach turn.

The person involved also said: "Although I tried hard not to care, because I saw that scene, I just couldn't bring myself to drink that cup of coffee, feeling like foot skin was going to fall into the coffee..." 🤮

Actually, when this netizen first arrived at the store entrance, they saw the store manager soaking and peeling dead skin off their feet, and at that time had already taken out their phone to take a photo intending to report it. Moreover, since there were other staff in the store, they thought the coffee would be made by another employee. Unexpectedly, after placing the order, the store manager who had been in the back soaking and peeling foot skin came out and made them a cup of "foot skin coffee."

Angered, they immediately called the head office to explain the situation and demanded a refund for the coffee! But unexpectedly, the head office responded: "We will strengthen hygiene education, but unfortunately we cannot refund."

And precisely because of this, the post quickly spread online, attracting the attention and heated discussion of many netizens, who spoke up for the consumer:

"Just reading the title makes me not want to read further," "This kind of store should go out of business," "Why not refund? It's not even much money," "The head office's attitude is so bad, actually refusing a refund?" "My first reaction upon seeing it was to want to throw up" 🤮......

As the matter escalated, the controversy grew larger, and only then did The Venti respond to the incident, issuing a formal statement on its official website, saying: The company will conduct active and thorough training to raise hygiene management awareness, while apologizing to customers and promising to take follow-up measures to resolve the incident.

It is understood that many franchisees of The Venti coffee shops were shocked and surprised by this matter, saying: " The Venti comes every month to conduct hygiene education and recipe education, and has always been committed to building a hygienic brand"...

Another franchisee worried about being implicated by this matter: "I hope the more than 1,000 stores nationwide won't suffer losses because of this one store."

By the way, if this "foot skin coffee" incident had happened domestically and been exposed, I believe that within a day, the quality supervision bureau, health bureau, and various food safety supervision and management departments would immediately ask the business to return to assist in the investigation. If the situation is true, not only would they be fined, but in serious cases, their hygiene license would also be revoked.

Food safety issues are important to everyone; a slight negligence may directly involve life and health. Food safety can be described as a matter of "life and death," and such matters must not be careless and cannot be careless!

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