Why Luckin Stores Are Discarding Coconut King Ingredients

Luckin Coffee stores have been destroying large batches of Coconut King series ingredients, not because they expired or spoiled, but because the limited-edition line is being discontinued. The pink liquid, normal for the third-anniversary product, confused some onlookers. Launched in April with a Pop Mart collaboration, the series initially caused a buying frenzy, but sales dropped sharply after the promotion ended and as warmer weather shifted demand toward fruit coffee drinks.

This incident highlights inventory management challenges for chain coffee brands. While Luckin is known for coconut-based drinks like Raw Coconut Latte and Coconut Water Americano, the Coconut King series failed to maintain momentum. The company chose to centrally destroy remaining stock rather than sell it past the limited run. Such practices are common when limited editions end, though they raise questions about waste and product life cycles in the coffee industry.

It is not uncommon for chain coffee brands to centrally destroy inventory due to expired ingredients or quality issues, but what Luckin recently discarded on a large scale was a batch of Coconut King series ingredients that were still within their shelf life. This pink liquid was not spoiled; it was the normal color of the third-anniversary limited-edition product. From the collaboration with Pop Mart in April that triggered a buying frenzy, to now where stores cannot sell a single cup for days, the fate of the Coconut King series reflects the harsh reality after a new product's popularity fades. Front Street Coffee has noticed that this incident has also sparked consumer discussion about product life cycles and inventory management.

▲

Click to follow | Daily specialty coffee culture magazine Coffee Workshop

For chain stores, if the ingredients used to make drinks have quality problems or expire, large-scale destruction is not uncommon. Previously, Luckin destroyed a large batch of ingredients, attracting netizen attention. Recently, a Luckin employee posted that their store was again destroying an entire box of product ingredients.

Looking at the large patches of pink in the sink in the picture, netizens could not help but speculate whether there was a product problem with this batch of ingredients. In response, the store staff explained that this batch of ingredients was for Luckin's third-anniversary limited-edition Coconut King series products, and was pink to begin with, not because the ingredients had spoiled.

The employees also denied another widely voiced guess—that the ingredients had expired. Most of this batch was produced in March, with a shelf life of 6 months, so it was not destroyed because it had expired. According to them, the reason many stores are now destroying this batch of ingredients is that the Coconut King series is being fully discontinued.

In April of this year, Luckin launched the limited-edition Coconut King series to celebrate the third anniversary of Raw Coconut Latte, and collaborated with the highly popular Pop Mart, triggering fans to snap them up. However, after the collaboration event ended, sales of this series of drinks dropped significantly. In addition, as the weather gradually became hotter, refreshing fruit coffee drinks better catered to current consumer taste demands, causing Coconut King series sales to perform even worse.

In the public impression, many Luckin drinks are associated with "coconut," such as Raw Coconut Latte, Coconut Water Americano, and so on. Most of these products sell well, especially Raw Coconut Latte, which can be called Luckin's pillar, with consistently impressive sales.

The Coconut King series, which also uses coconut as its selling point, may have a pink and tender appearance that appeals to those who care about looks, but in taste it is not clearly distinguishable from similar products. Perhaps precisely because of this, without the popularity brought by a collaboration event, the Coconut King series' sales were not optimistic.

Many stores reported that in the period before headquarters notified them of the discontinuation, Coconut King series drinks might sell only one cup every few days, and a box of ingredients stockpiled in the warehouse could not even be opened in a week. Sales could be described as "dismal." Therefore, most employees said they were "not surprised at all" by headquarters' decision to fully remove the Coconut King series from shelves.

However, many people said that these ingredients have not yet expired and could still continue to be sold. In fact, it would not be too late to remove them from shelves after stores use up all the ingredients, or to destroy them after they expire. Now, forcing every store to destroy unexpired ingredients inevitably feels a bit hard to bear. Of course, if these raw materials flowed into other channels and problems arose, Luckin would also have to bear responsibility, so this is clearly the best way to handle it.

Some netizens said bluntly that before seeing employees pour ingredients into the sink, they did not know that Luckin had launched such a new product three months ago. Now they learned about it through this method, but could no longer place an order to buy it, and could only watch as bottle after bottle of ingredients were poured down the drain, which inevitably made them sigh.

In addition, according to internal information, Luckin, which keeps launching new products, has recently not only discontinued the Coconut King series; multiple products with sales and reception below expectations will also be fully taken offline. Therefore, employees said that after dealing with the Coconut King series, other ingredients that cannot continue to be consumed will most likely also be destroyed in the same way.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

Disclaimer: Some images in this article are from the internet, and for some website content such as images, we will respect the original copyright and indicate the source. However, due to the large quantity, a few images and texts may not have been credited in time. Please forgive us. If the original author has any dispute, they may contact the website for handling. Once verified, we will correct it immediately. Compiled and edited by "Coffee Workshop." Please indicate the source when reprinting. If there is infringement, please inform us for deletion. Thank you~!

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