What the ChaPanda Avocado Drink Incident Means for Coffee and Tea Chains

A customer who ordered a ChaPanda fruit and vegetable smoothie through a delivery platform found two chunks of unpulverized avocado at the bottom of the cup, one with a dark brown, spoiled surface. The drink was from the chain's Light Kale series, which is normally blended smooth. ChaPanda apologized, refunded the order, and discussed compensation with the customer.

The case has renewed attention on ingredient quality control and staff operating standards at chain beverage brands. Former employees said stores are expected to discard produce that is no longer fresh before blending, and they advised the customer to report the matter to ChaPanda headquarters rather than settle it privately with the individual store.

Recently, a consumer exposed that they found unpulverized and spoiled avocado chunks in a ChaPanda takeout drink, sparking widespread attention. The drink involved was from ChaPanda's previously launched fruit and vegetable smoothie series, which normally should not contain noticeable fruit pulp residue. After the incident was exposed, many ChaPanda employees and netizens spoke out, pointing directly at serious dereliction of duty in store operations. Currently, the customer has received a full refund and platform compensation, and ChaPanda has also proactively apologized and discussed compensation. This controversy has once again pushed the issues of ingredient quality control and employee operating standards at chain tea beverage brands into the spotlight.

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A few days ago, a consumer posted on social media, claiming that when buying a ChaPanda drink, they discovered that the store had actually used avocado that was no longer fresh to make the drink.

The customer said that they placed an order through a food delivery platform at a local ChaPanda store. After the rider delivered the smoothie, when they drank it and tried to stir it with a straw, they found it simply would not stir, and there was obvious sediment at the bottom of the cup.

The consumer then scooped out the sediment at the bottom of the cup, and the result was astonishing—it turned out to be two chunks of avocado that had not been pulverized. What was even more uncomfortable was that the surface of the larger piece of fruit had clearly turned dark brown, obviously spoiled, and was an unfresh ingredient.

It is understood that the "Light Kale" drink the customer bought is a fruit and vegetable tea product launched by ChaPanda last year. During production, staff put fresh fruits and vegetables such as kale and avocado into a blender and crush them into a smoothie, so under normal circumstances, there should not be obvious avocado pulp in the finished product.

Because of this, when netizens saw the fruit pulp scooped out by the poster, they did not react at first, saying, "I thought it was Basque... and I was even wondering when ChaPanda started selling Basque milk tea..." and "At first glance I really thought it was garlic bread."

ChaPanda employees were even more shocked when they saw this scene, and suggested that the customer complain directly to ChaPanda headquarters rather than handle it privately with the store.

According to employees, generally when preparing ingredients, if staff find that fruits or vegetables are not fresh, back kitchen personnel will directly discard them and report them as loss. Even if bad ingredients were put into the smoothie machine by momentary oversight, during production the staff should still have noticed that the fruit pulp had not been crushed by the machine.

So in their view, the store employee handing this cup containing unpulverized spoiled fruit to the consumer was serious dereliction of duty, and even more so a food safety accident that could not be ignored.

Many netizens also spoke bluntly about the store's product, saying, "This is knowingly committing the offense. Such rotten fruit would definitely be visible. It was intentional..." "This was absolutely intentional. Such a big chunk would definitely be seen when poured out, and the avocado was already black and spoiled." "It feels too awful. Never mind that it was not crushed, the ingredient itself was bad."

Some also expressed concern, saying, "If this bad fruit had really been crushed, consumers would not know at all after drinking it," and believed that quality control at ChaPanda stores made people uneasy about buying drinks. They suggested that the poster complain to headquarters to make the brand take it seriously, impose corresponding penalties on the store involved, and at the same time warn other stores to learn from this, standardize employee operations, and strictly control the quality of fruits and vegetables in stores.

According to the poster's latest reply, after giving feedback to the store, the order has now been fully refunded, and insurance compensation from the third-party platform has also been obtained. The customer said, "ChaPanda contacted me. Their attitude was very good, they sincerely apologized, and discussed giving two drinks."

However, regarding ChaPanda's handling of the matter, some netizens believed that after consumer feedback, the store proactively negotiated and provided a reasonable and sincere solution. At the same time, many users also pointed out that the brand should strictly control the raw material quality of each store and have staff promptly discard spoiled fruits and vegetables. In addition, employee training should be strengthened to prevent consumers from once again receiving a smoothie with fruit pulp that has not even been blended.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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