What does the coffee manner debate say about closing time?

A Manner coffee shop in Haidian District, Beijing turned off all its lights at exactly 5 p.m. on closing time, prompting customers still inside to feel their way out in the dark. The incident sparked online debate between those who called the move impolite and those who defended staff wanting to clock off on schedule.

Manner did not give customers a buffer period or individual reminders before closing, unlike supermarkets and malls that announce 30 to 60 minutes ahead. The discussion reflects a wider tension in food and beverage service over handling coffee shop closing procedures versus guest experience, raising the question of how a store should courteously see customers off.

Recently, a Manner store in Haidian District, Beijing, sparked heated discussion online after it immediately turned off the lights and closed as soon as its operating hours ended. According to the poster, the staff shouted once at exactly 5 p.m. and then directly turned off all the lights. Customers in the store were momentarily stunned and had to feel their way around in the dark to gather their things and leave. After the incident gained traction, two voices emerged in the comments section: one side believed the move was impolite and that customers should have been reminded in advance; the other side supported the employees' right to clock off on time, arguing that customers who dawdle after closing are the real problem. This debate reflects the real dilemma facing the food and beverage service industry between closing procedures and customer experience, and also prompts people to rethink: beyond a cup of coffee, how should a store courteously see customers off?

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Recently, a netizen posted on social media reporting that a Manner store in Haidian District, Beijing, directly turned off the lights to usher customers out when business hours ended.

According to the person involved, the store closes at 5 p.m. That day at exactly 5 p.m., a staff member shouted "It's five o'clock, we're off work," and immediately turned off all the lighting in the store. At that time, besides the poster, there were several other customers in the store, all caught off guard by this sudden move.

The person involved said that the staff did not give a buffer period before closing to remind customers one by one, but instead made the announcement and pulled the switch the moment time was up, causing everyone in the room to suddenly be plunged into darkness, as if the scene had been paused, and it took several seconds to react before they hurriedly gathered their belongings and walked out the door.

In public perception, large supermarkets and shopping malls usually make announcements half an hour to an hour before closing, and most restaurants also inform customers before closing time. For this reason, the poster felt that Manner's approach of just shouting once and then turning off the lights was truly unusual.

After the post was published, onlookers had differing opinions. Some understood the person's surprise and dissatisfaction, believing that Manner staff handled the situation impolitely and should have reminded customers ten to fifteen minutes before closing, leaving a little time to react and gather their belongings.

However, some customers who were in the store at the time commented that Manner staff had actually given a verbal reminder more than ten minutes before closing, and they had heard it and packed up and left. It may be that due to loud noise in the store, the open space, and limited staff volume, not everyone heard the reminder, which led to the scene of a room full of people sitting in a suddenly darkened coffee shop looking at each other in confusion.

In response, many onlookers said bluntly that there was nothing wrong with employees turning off the lights and clocking off on time, and some even strongly supported the decisive switch-flipping approach: "It's totally normal, you leave when your shift ends," "It's great, not competitive at all, they just leave when they say so," "I think this is good, some people will just keep overstaying and won't leave until the staff tells them several times," "If they didn't do this, there would definitely be people who wouldn't leave."

Netizens who have worked in the service industry also shared their experiences, saying that even if customers are reminded half an hour in advance that business is about to close, some still won't get up right away and will continue sitting in the store until employees finish their closing tasks and repeatedly emphasize that they need to lock up before they are willing to leave.

Some practitioners admit that when encountering customers unwilling to leave early, they are likely forced to extend their working hours without overtime pay. Therefore, in their view, the staff at this Manner store may have seen too many dawdling customers and chose to directly flip the switch and turn off the lights to urge them along so they could clock off on time.

From this perspective, standing in the shoes of the workers, Manner employees using the direct method of turning off the lights to usher customers out so they can get off work on time is indeed understandable, and the effect is immediate.

But many netizens still believe that shouting once and then flipping the switch to turn off the lights is not friendly enough to customers still in the store and will damage the brand's image in users' minds. They pointed out that a coffee shop, beyond selling a cup of coffee, must also provide a good service experience, and should properly remind customers before closing and choose a more appropriate way to ask customers to leave based on the actual situation.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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