What happened to Seesaw specialty coffee stores

Seesaw, once seen as a benchmark of specialty coffee in China, is dealing with unpaid wages, owed social insurance and 19 judicial cases. Management reportedly promised to pay 30 percent of one October installment, and its last Chongqing store has closed.

Founder Wu Xiaomei and director Zhang Sai were drawn into the discussion after a social media post shared a group chat record. A new Changsha store still operates, but coffee enthusiast communities now question whether the brand can recover from its financial and legal troubles.

Recently, a post on social media about Seesaw employees being owed wages and social insurance sparked heated discussion. Chat records show that management admitted to operational difficulties and promised to pay salaries in installments, while key figures such as founder Wu Xiaomei and director Zhang Sai were also drawn into the discussion. In fact, Seesaw was already reported last year for issues such as delayed wages and suspended social insurance payments, and now it faces 19 judicial cases, with its last store in Chongqing also having closed. Although a new store in Changsha is still operating, this string of troubles has led many coffee enthusiasts to sigh: has the one-time benchmark of specialty coffee truly fallen into difficulties?

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Recently, a post on social media sparked extensive discussion among netizens. The poster publicly shared a group chat record and captioned it with emotion: "Seesaw employees are so pitiful, owed wages, owed social insurance, and then lectured in return that the money paid before was enough for you to eat, so be content."

According to the chat records, an employee openly demanded an explanation from management in the group because of being owed two months of salary. In order to ease employee emotions, a user nicknamed "Zhang Sai" responded to issues such as the company's wage arrears and social insurance, promising to first pay 30% of the second installment of October wages soon. At the same time, he also explained the operational difficulties the company is currently facing, saying that funds were being raised to resolve employees' social insurance and wages, and expressed hope that employees could be understanding.

According to people familiar with the matter, "Sally" mentioned in the chat records is precisely Seesaw's founder Wu Xiaomei, and "Zhang Sai," who spoke on her behalf, is one of Seesaw's directors. In addition, some netizens said that "Old Mao" appearing in the records was a Seesaw employee they knew, and believed that "the authenticity of this chat record is very high."

After the post was published, although some people remained skeptical about the authenticity of the chat records, many onlookers pointed out that in November last year, Southern Metropolis Daily had already published a report on Seesaw's recent situation. That report mentioned that an internal Seesaw employee revealed that the company had delayed wage payments, and that employees' social insurance and housing provident fund contributions had stopped as of June. It is worth noting that in the news report at the time, Seesaw did not give a specific response to the matter.

(Screenshot of part of the related report)

Now, Tianyancha information shows that Seesaw is involved as a defendant in 19 judicial cases, most of which are sales contract disputes. In addition, some netizens posted on social media that Seesaw's last store in Chongqing—the Guanghuan store—had quietly closed, meaning it has completely withdrawn from the Chongqing market.

Based on all the above signs, some people speculate that Seesaw is currently in a difficult situation and likely has problems with capital turnover, which has led it into deep economic disputes. In their view, it is not hard to understand that a company lacking funds cannot pay salaries on time, and they believe the chat records exposed by netizens may be a true reflection of Seesaw's internal situation.

However, some netizens do not fully agree with this view. Although in November last year Seesaw attracted outside attention because its founder was restricted from high consumption, raising concerns about the company's prospects, by the end of November the consumption restriction order against the founder was lifted. Not long after, Seesaw's first Changsha store officially opened in December and has been operating well so far, with local netizens occasionally sharing Seesaw coffee they bought on social media. Therefore, in the eyes of some users, Seesaw is not necessarily as bad as onlookers speculate.

Still, seeing one of the representatives of specialty coffee that once enjoyed great glory fall to the point of being entangled in lawsuits, many netizens are filled with lament over Seesaw's development path, sighing that what was once a white moonlight has ultimately fallen into the dust and lost the beautiful appearance it had when first encountered.

Image source: Internet

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