How to make coffee with a coffee maker: lessons from the Mixue Bingcheng 1-yuan ice cup controversy

Mixue Bingcheng launched a 1-yuan ice cup for summer demand, but the promotion triggered conflicts between customers and store staff. Buyers reported refused service, discrimination, price increases, and forced bundling, while stores and distributors said ice costs were high and profits thin or negative. The topic trended on social media and forced the brand to issue an emergency apology.

The dispute highlights the gap between low promotional pricing and store economics. Stores struggling with ice costs and labor have little room to absorb a 1-yuan item. The company now faces the task of balancing consumer expectations against franchisee profitability, and similar cases show that aggressive discount campaigns can strain service quality once demand surges past what individual outlets can handle.

Mixue Bingcheng's launch of the 1-yuan ice cup was intended to cater to summer consumption demand, but it unexpectedly sparked multiple conflicts between consumers and store employees. Consumers reported difficulties in purchasing, encountering service discrimination, actual price increases, and even being forced into bundled sales; stores and distributors complained about high ice costs, thin profits, or even losing money. This controversy not only trended on social media but also forced the brand to issue an emergency apology. This article reviews the entire incident, analyzes the cost structure and operational difficulties behind the ice cup, and examines how the brand will subsequently balance consumer expectations with store profitability.

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This afternoon, the hashtag #MixueBingcheng1YuanIceCupAngersBothGroupsOfWorkers# topped the trending searches, becoming a topic of discussion across all sectors of society.

According to Oriental Finance, after Mixue Bingcheng's 1-yuan ice cup was launched, consumers who wanted to buy the new product could not see any nearby stores selling ice cups on third-party platforms. After searching without results, they went to the stores themselves to buy one, only to encounter "discrimination" from Mixue Bingcheng employees.

Consumers said that at the first store they visited, the staff member used the excuse of an ice machine malfunction and refused to make an ice cup for them, but the next moment, that same employee opened the ice machine lid and took out ice. At the second store, as soon as the employee heard that they wanted to buy an ice cup, they raised their voice and dragged out their words, shouting as if announcing it to the whole world, "Someone wants to buy an ice cup."

There are quite a few buyers with similar experiences. Some said they were "stood up" by employees and waited more than 20 minutes without getting an ice cup, and even switching to another store still made it difficult to buy one smoothly. Those who could buy an ice cup were not happy either. They reported receiving an ice cup that was not full or a mixture of ice and water, and some even received a cup of ice water, completely inconsistent with the official promotion.

In addition to being hard to buy, Mixue Bingcheng's "1-yuan ice cup" was also complained about by consumers for price increases. The actual selling price of the ice cup at many stores was 2 to 3 yuan, while some stores bundled the ice cup with 4-yuan lemonade and did not sell it separately. This left office workers who harbored fantasies of "ice cup freedom" extremely dissatisfied, believing that the brand should not disappoint users' expectations like this.

On the other hand, distributors and store workers had quite a few complaints about the brand's launch of the 1-yuan ice cup.

In summer, sales of iced drinks surge, and many stores reported that the ice made by their ice machines was not enough. Especially during peak periods, some employees needed to borrow ice from nearby beverage shops, and borrowing several times a day also happened from time to time. Some customers' stockpiling of ice cups further intensified the store's ice consumption. According to employee feedback, some customers seemed to be "stocking up at the store," buying dozens of ice cups in one go, leaving the store with even less ice, which was already in short supply.

A distributor said that once ice at the store was in short supply during peak periods, they needed to buy ice from an ice factory at 4 yuan per jin, and that amount could only make two ice cups. Therefore, if the unit selling price was not raised, the revenue and cost of the ice cup would be completely unequal.

In addition to the cost of ice, according to the brand's prospectus disclosed in 2022, the unit prices of packaging cups, straws, and bags were 0.3 yuan, 0.11 yuan, and 0.09 yuan respectively, totaling 0.5 yuan. A rough estimate shows that for a sealed ice cup sold, the cost of packaging materials alone accounts for about half of the revenue.

If customers buying an ice cup ask for straws, spoons, insulated bags, and other items, the material cost of the ice cup will be pushed even higher, reaching more than 70% of revenue. If shared costs such as water, electricity, labor, and rent are included, the 1-yuan ice cup is, in the eyes of most distributors, a completely loss-making business with no profit to be made.

Although the "suddenly appearing" 1-yuan ice cup catered to consumers' intense current demand and won a large amount of attention and popularity for the brand, it also became a trigger for frequent conflicts between customers and stores. In response, Mixue Bingcheng issued an emergency statement in the afternoon, thanking consumers for their affection for the ice cup while also apologizing for issues such as poor service.

In addition, judging from the announcement, Mixue Bingcheng has not yet planned to remove the controversial 1-yuan ice cup from shelves, but how to ensure store profitability while also meeting consumer demand should be the key issue the brand urgently needs to solve.

Image source: Internet

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