How Do Age Limits Affect Barista Origin and Hiring?

A job seeker was reportedly rejected by Mixue Bingcheng at age 26 for being too old, and some stores hire only workers aged 16 to 19. Headquarters customer service says recruitment ages are set by individual stores, while stores stress physical stamina and stability over age. The debate now spreads from baristas to the wider tea beverage service industry.

Job seekers over 25 describe real difficulty entering the sector, and one first-tier city store said applicants over 20 get lower pay. Since barista origin is not tied to any single country or age group, strict cutoffs narrow the pool for no clear reason. Age anxiety is growing among older applicants as stores keep favoring younger staff.

Recently, a netizen claimed that when applying for a job at Mixue Bingcheng at the age of 26, they were rejected for being too old, sparking widespread attention. In fact, age limits for staff in the tea beverage industry are nothing new; some stores even only hire young people aged 16 to 19, and those over 25 find it very difficult to enter the industry. Headquarters customer service responded that recruitment ages are decided by individual stores, while stores place more emphasis on employees' physical stamina and stability. This wave of age anxiety is spreading from baristas to the entire tea beverage service industry, leaving many overage job seekers feeling helpless.

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I believe many friends have made this joke: when the day comes that I don't want to work anymore, I'll go shake milk tea!! But dear friends, these days milk tea isn't something you can just shake whenever you want. Before quitting, you might want to ask yourself: am I still young enough?

According to media reports, a netizen recently posted on social media about going to Mixue Bingcheng to inquire about recruitment, only to be told that at 26 they were already considered too old.

Similar situations are not isolated cases. Not long ago, another netizen posted that Mixue Bingcheng does indeed have age restrictions when hiring. "What? Even Mixue's recruitment age is limited to under 25?" As can be seen from the picture, on a Mixue Bingcheng recruitment poster, the age limit had been altered and supplemented with a marker to read: 16-25 years old.

A staff member at a store in a first-tier city revealed that their store has even stricter age requirements. All employees in the store are young people aged 16 to 19. If an applicant is over 20, the store has to deliberate, and they bluntly added: "If you're over twenty, the pay won't be very high either."

Is Mixue Bingcheng's age requirement for store staff really that absurd? In response, headquarters customer service staff said that the age requirements for store staff recruitment are decided by each store independently, and headquarters generally does not interfere.

In the comments section, netizens from all over the country shared their own experiences. Not every Mixue Bingcheng favors hiring younger staff, and the age ranges of employees vary from store to store, which corroborates what Mixue Bingcheng's customer service said. "Indeed, it should be decided by the stores themselves. The Mixue Bingcheng near my home rarely has anyone under 22, and most of them even look around 30... It must be a problem with some stores themselves."

In fact, age requirements are not uncommon in the industry, and Mixue Bingcheng is not the only one. According to observations, many tea beverage stores set certain age limits in their hiring requirements, and some milk tea shops even state directly on recruitment posters that they only hire employees aged 17-20. A netizen commented: "I don't know about other places, but in my area, a whole circle of milk tea shops like Luckin, Heytea, and ChaPanda won't hire anyone over 25. They say there's too much to remember when making milk tea, and older people can't remember it all."

Strict age limits have become a common phenomenon in the tea beverage industry, which has also made many netizens feel anxious. Some have raised a "soul-searching question": "After 26, can't you even get into the service industry?"

Coffee Workshop once wrote an article: "Is Being a Barista a Job for the Young?" I originally thought only baristas had this worry, but unexpectedly the fire of "age anxiety" ultimately spread to tea beverage workers as well. Some netizens expressed confusion: would different ages really affect the making of milk tea? Why treat people differently like this?

The aforementioned Mixue Bingcheng employee said that employers are more concerned about the issue of "stability": after the age of 22, employees may start a family and have children, and their work will not be very stable. Therefore, basically those over 25 are unlikely to get a job in a milk tea shop. This may have already become an "unspoken rule" in the industry.

On the other hand, friends who are even slightly familiar with the tea beverage industry know that tea beverage store staff do physical labor: not only do they need to stand for long periods, but when making drinks like hand-smashed lemon tea, the physical exertion is also enormous. A few years older and one may simply not be able to handle it. "Milk tea shops are super tiring; younger people have more energy and are more suitable."

When a seemingly absurd phenomenon becomes common in an industry, what we see is helplessness—we can understand the urgent need of stores across brands in the industry for employees with high physical stamina and energy, and we can also feel the helplessness of "overage" people who want such positions but cannot get them. I truly hope this situation can improve in the future! Let me have milk tea to shake in the future!

Image source: Internet

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