The First Coffee Machine Era and the Heytea Holiday Rush

During the National Day holiday, the Heytea original store in Jiangbianli, Jiangmen, Guangdong, topped national sales charts. Overall sales rose 210 percent versus before the holiday, and single-day sales passed 4,500 cups. Its exclusive Chee Chee Ganpu drink alone reached 3,500 cups in a day, a 550 percent increase.

Consumers posted screenshots showing waits of more than 140 minutes, and staff worked overloaded shifts for consecutive days, with some falling asleep on the spot. Heytea ran a Joyful Tour of Guangdong check-in event with limited stickers and merchandise, and Guangzhou became the city with the highest Heytea sales during the holiday. The strain recalls early coffee production by country and the first coffee machine era, when demand outstripped capacity.

During the recent National Day holiday, sales at many Heytea stores surged explosively, with some stores seeing increases of over 600%. Among them, the Heytea original store located in Jiangbianli, Jiangmen, Guangdong, became the focus: both total sales and single-store single-day sales topped the charts, with overall sales rising 210% compared to before the holiday, and the highest single-day sales exceeding 4,500 cups. On social platforms, many consumers posted screenshots of waiting in line for more than 140 minutes, while store employees worked under overload for consecutive days, with some so exhausted they fell asleep on the spot. This Jiangbianli-exclusive Chee Chee Ganpu reached a maximum single-day sales of 3,500 cups, a 550% increase compared to before the holiday. This article takes you through the real situation of this original store during the holiday.

▲

Click to follow | Daily specialty coffee culture magazine Coffee Workshop

The National Day holiday has come to an end, and office workers have returned to their desks, but for another group of workers, it instead means they can finally breathe a sigh of relief—after businesses resume operations, they can at last take a slight rest.

On October 8, the latest data released by Heytea showed that sales at stores in tourist attractions and urban shopping malls across the country climbed simultaneously, with many stores seeing increases exceeding 600%.

At Heytea stores located in core business districts of first- and second-tier cities, such as the Guangzhou Tianhuan Plaza LAB store, Shijiazhuang MixC store, Guangzhou Beijing Road Huifu East store, Beijing Livat Center store, Shenzhen Uniwalk store, Qingdao MixC store, Chengdu MixC PINK store, and Shenzhen Bao'an Happy Harbor store, all ranked among the top ten in national sales.

During this National Day holiday, Heytea, together with cultural and tourism departments in multiple regions, launched the "Joyful Tour of Guangdong" check-in event and introduced several limited-edition stickers and merchandise. Driven by both the event and the holiday, Guangzhou became the city with the highest Heytea sales during National Day, and several stores also broke into the top five.

As a tea beverage brand that started in Jiangmen, Guangdong, the Heytea original store located in Jiangbianli was listed by many netizens as a must-visit check-in spot for a "Jiangmen trip." During this seven-day long holiday, the store took first place on both the total sales and single-store single-day sales rankings, with overall sales increasing 210% compared to before the holiday and a maximum single-day sales of over 4,500 cups.

In fact, apart from the compiled statistics, the popularity on social media and the perspective of store employees can also give a rough sense of just how exaggerated the popularity of this Heytea original store was.

For example, in recent days on Xiaohongshu, many users geotagged in Guangdong posted threads with similar themes: "The Heytea original store has fallen," "Wow, waiting 140+ minutes," "Nine hundred cups is really too much to queue for." Besides being shocked by the long waiting time, some also felt sorry for the employees: "How desperate must the staff be? As soon as they start work, there are hundreds of drinks to make."

Also during this National Day period, a store employee who claimed to be a "Heytea original store workhorse" posted 5 consecutive updates on social platforms, giving everyone real-time reports on how this first store hidden in an alley became Top 1:

Before 10 a.m., the store's line had already stretched into the middle of the road, and stepping out from the counter meant facing the full pressure of the crowd; on the kitchen production line, it was all workers with heads down furiously pounding Ganpu, with each person starting at 13 hours a day; every day it was either a pile of endless, tangled label papers or pickup numbers that could never be called out completely;

Because of the order explosion, the people were stunned, and the machines were stunned too. Due to the system design, when a store exceeded one thousand cups it would hit the threshold, and the mini-program would automatically close, so the in-store order pickup display fell into an infinite loop: auto-close ~ auto-open ~ close ~ open... After finally enduring the busy rush, this worker was so sleepy they became "unconscious." The good news is: they finally made it through!

It is understood that during the event, although the store had arranged for all staff to be on duty in advance and increased raw material reserves, the event launched by Heytea and the Jiangbianli-exclusive drink Chee Chee Ganpu made many netizens from other places envious, and they went straight to the scene to check in. It is reported that, relying on this cup of Chee Chee Ganpu, the Jiangbianli store's maximum single-day sales reached 3,500 cups, a full 550% increase compared to before the holiday.

Image source: internet screenshots

Disclaimer: Some images in this article are from the internet. For some content on the website, such as images, we will respect the original author's copyright and indicate the source. However, due to the large volume, a few images and texts may not have been credited in time. Please forgive us. If the original author has any disputes, 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 reposting. If there is infringement, please inform us for deletion. Thank you~!

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