How did coffee shop business split during Golden Week?

During the October Golden Week holiday, formed by the overlap of Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day, independent coffee shops in China reported sharply different results. Some shops were overwhelmed with orders, with baristas working nonstop and at least one electrical box tripping under the load. Others saw foot traffic fall: a scenic-area store sold only 19 drinks in a full day, and shops near office buildings were even quieter.

The holiday produced the surge many food and beverage operators expected, but it was unevenly distributed. Owners shared their experiences online, describing packed seating, supplies consumed batch after batch, and strong closing totals at busy stores. The contrast points to pressure on the coffee industry once the holiday consumption peak passes, as operators weigh staffing, supply, and location against unpredictable demand.

The super-long holiday formed by the overlap of Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day brought a long-awaited wave of enthusiasm to food and beverage consumption, yet the operating conditions of independent coffee shops presented two starkly different sides. Some stores saw a surge in popularity, with orders coming in one after another, baristas so busy they barely had time to breathe, and in some cases the electrical box even tripped due to excessive load. At the same time, another group of coffee shop owners were complaining online that their foot traffic had actually declined instead of increased — a scenic-area store sold only 19 drinks in an entire day, while shops near office buildings were even more deserted. During the same Golden Week, the joys and sorrows of coffee people were not shared alike. This article will present the real operating conditions of these two types of stores and explore the operational pressures and challenges the coffee industry may face after the holiday consumption peak passes.

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With Mid-Autumn Festival falling together with National Day, during this October Golden Week, surely many food and beverage professionals have been waiting for a long-anticipated consumption boom~ From the first day of the National Day holiday, which was also Mid-Autumn Day, whether it was updates posted by peers on WeChat Moments or baristas greeting each other on Xiaohongshu, one could directly sense that foot traffic at some independent coffee shops was rising rapidly.

"Washing cups non-stop, clearing table after table" "The extraction handle is about to spark from all the wiping" "Too much electricity usage, the electrical box burned out and the power went straight off" "Just finished the rush, finally can take a break" "Even though we worked until dawn, in such tough times, having overtime at the boss's shop is a good thing"

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From these shares, it's not hard to see that coffee shops with explosive order volumes were by no means isolated cases. Not only were all seats full, but the originally quiet space became noisy and lively, supplies were consumed batch after batch, and before the previous customers' drinks were even finished, new guests kept pushing through the door. After closing, when they tallied the accounts, the numbers were quite impressive. Overall, during this long holiday, the food and beverage industry, including coffee shops, did indeed usher in one of the few high-traffic periods of the year.

However, on the other side of the overall market upturn, a considerable number of coffee industry professionals were not optimistic about their business. Some independent coffee shop owners posted online one after another, describing the desolate conditions of their stores: after entering September, business had already shown a noticeable decline, and by the National Day holiday, there was simply no scene of "long queues" — revenue had only slightly rebounded.

One owner who operated as usual during National Day posted that although it was the double-holiday period, foot traffic at their coffee shop in a scenic area had not increased at all — in an entire day, they only made 19 drinks, and even the landlord advised him to just close the shop and go play mahjong. In the comments section, many peers felt the same way. They had thought National Day would bring more customers, but instead foot traffic was sparse — not even as good as Labor Day, no different from an ordinary workday. It seemed they had been overly optimistic before.

It wasn't just small shops in scenic areas — independent coffee shops near office building districts also had pitifully low cup output. While others were "packed to the brim" during October, their shops next to office buildings saw customers basically go elsewhere whenever long holidays like National Day or Spring Festival came around.

Similar situations were not uncommon in coffee shops in other cities. On Xiaohongshu, anxious "shop-watchers" took turns chatting online to pass the time. Some read novels, some played games, some cleaned while waiting for customers — "so idle I could fly," "watching the shop, no need to have met before" — some owners even mocked themselves as "customer-watching stones."

Perhaps because operating costs such as rent, equipment, and ingredients keep rising, many baristas chose to stay at their shops rather than travel during the long holiday, hoping National Day would bring a good wave of income, only to find reality so stark. "October" is a key consumption milestone. If overall performance remains sluggish after October, then the "harsh winter" coming in the next few months will likely be even harder to endure.

Image source: Internet

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