What Does the Coffee Maintenance Incident Reveal?

A video from a ChaPanda store in Yinchuan, Ningxia shows a maintenance worker stepping with bare shoes onto the topping counter where pearls and mochi are kept. He was repairing a malfunctioning TV mounted above the counter. The store says lids were already on the boxes and cleaning followed. ChaPanda customer service says it is verifying the matter and will penalize those involved if it is confirmed.

The clip spread on social media after August 26 and drew widespread food-hygiene complaints, with viewers noting that cardboard, film or shoe covers are standard practice around food surfaces. The company promised stronger supervision and clearer coffee standard procedures for maintenance personnel, aiming to stop similar cases. The incident highlights how equipment repair work inside a store can affect ingredient safety.

Recently, a video filmed at a ChaPanda store in Yinchuan, Ningxia, circulated online. In the footage, a maintenance worker, in order to repair a malfunctioning TV mounted high up, directly stepped with his shoes onto the small topping counter where ingredients such as pearls and mochi are placed. The soles of his shoes had no protection whatsoever, raising public concerns about food hygiene at the store. The store involved explained that the lids had already been put on the boxes at the time and that disinfection and cleaning were carried out afterward. ChaPanda's official customer service responded that they were verifying the matter, and if it proved true, the store and the maintenance worker would be penalized, and promised to strengthen supervision and standardize hygiene checks for maintenance personnel to prevent similar incidents from recurring.

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According to Oriental Finance, on August 26 a netizen uploaded a video of a ChaPanda store on social media, quickly attracting a large amount of attention.

The video was filmed at a ChaPanda store in Yinchuan, Ningxia. The footage shows a male maintenance worker, in order to inspect and repair a malfunctioning television above the counter, directly standing on the small topping counter normally used to hold ingredients such as pearls and mochi. What is more concerning is that the maintenance worker's shoes had no protective measures at all, with the soles directly touching the counter surface.

This scene shocked many netizens, who expressed concern about the store's hygiene conditions. Many believed that even when repairing equipment in high places, cardboard or plastic film should be laid on the topping counter to protect the work surface, preventing dust and debris from the soles of shoes from falling onto the counter and contaminating ingredients that might be consumed by customers.

"As long as it's during business hours, this is a serious food safety issue." "Even the technician who comes to my home to fix the air conditioner puts something down first, and this person is directly stepping on food." "This is indeed inappropriate. At the very least, wear shoe covers or lay down a bag."

In response to the matter, an Oriental Finance reporter contacted the store involved. A staff member acknowledged the situation in the video and explained that the store's television had malfunctioned that day, so a repair technician was called to handle it. Because they were eager to have the technician fix the TV quickly, and because the staff on duty may have lacked experience in handling such situations and did not think it through carefully, they only put all the box lids on and took no other protective measures, which led to the scene captured by netizens.

The staff member also said that when the repair technician stepped onto the counter, the boxes on the counter did not contain toppings. After the technician finished repairing the TV and left, all the lids and boxes on the counter were disinfected and cleaned. Regarding netizens' concerns after seeing the video, the staff member said: "If there had been anything (toppings) underneath, we would have handled it and disposed of it as waste."

On the same day, ChaPanda customer service also responded in an interview with reporters, saying that the brand was aware of the situation reported by netizens and was currently verifying with the store whether there was a problem. If the situation is confirmed, the store involved will definitely be penalized. As for the maintenance worker in the video, customer service said that if he was assigned by the company, corresponding corrective measures and penalties would certainly be imposed on him as well. Going forward, the brand will also strictly supervise the store to prevent similar incidents from happening again.

In addition, customer service mentioned in the interview that in the future they would also set requirements for the personal hygiene of maintenance personnel: "He directly came into contact with the topping counter. We certainly hope the store will have this worker undergo a personal hygiene check in advance to prevent unsanitary things from falling onto the topping counter."

Customer service also emphasized that if the topping counter is contaminated, the store will definitely be required to discard the contaminated toppings and to clean and disinfect the topping counter again before refilling it with toppings.

Image source: Internet

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