Is Coffee a Beverage or a Platform Pawn? The Heytea Closure

Two Heytea outlets inside JD.com's Beijing headquarters showed as temporarily closed, and a circulated internal notice said JD.com barred cooperation with Heytea and blocked its products from office areas. JD later denied the rumors, the stores resumed operations, and the closure was explained as temporary water and electricity maintenance, but the episode still surfaced tension over food delivery platform partnerships.

Social media users tied the shutdown to Heytea's delay in joining JD's delivery platform and to earlier public resistance to delivery channels. JD Plus member coupons for Heytea reportedly stopped working during the same period. For drinkers, the practical point is that whether is coffee a beverage or a milk tea, a brand's platform alliances now decide what can be ordered into an office building.

Recently, news that two Heytea stores at JD.com's Beijing headquarters had suddenly closed has continued to simmer on social media, while a circulated internal notice showed that JD.com prohibited cooperation with Heytea and restricted its products from entering office areas. The incident quickly sparked widespread speculation about the relationship between Heytea and JD.com, with some linking it to Heytea's long delay in joining JD.com's food delivery platform, and others digging up old stories of Heytea publicly boycotting food delivery. Subsequently, a JD.com insider denied the rumors, and the stores resumed operations, with the closure explained as temporary water and electricity maintenance. This perplexing business battle reflects the delicate positioning of tea beverage brands among third-party food delivery platforms.

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Recently, a post titled "Why can't you order Heytea on JD.com" on social media attracted considerable attention. The image attached to the post revealed that due to certain special factors related to the partner, Heytea would no longer operate inside the JD.com building starting that day, and food delivery orders could also not be delivered to the JD.com building.

Not only that, the chat content also advised office workers in Beijing to stop buying Heytea through food delivery channels and consider other tea beverage brands instead. Another document with white text on a blue background—titled "Notice on Prohibiting Cooperation with Heytea and Restricting Its Products from Entering Office Areas"—explicitly stipulated that all workplace departments nationwide must not establish cooperative relationships with Heytea, and all campuses were forbidden from allowing Heytea food delivery into office areas.

Afterward, multiple JD.com employees confirmed that on the official mini-program, both Heytea stores at JD.com headquarters Building 1 and Building 2 showed "temporarily closed." Some insiders posted on-site photos, in which the Heytea JD.com store was indeed dark and closed, and said there was no warning before the closure, the equipment was still left inside the store, and no employees came to work.

At the same time, some user screenshots showed that Heytea coupons in JD Plus member accounts had also become invalid and could no longer be used.

According to claims circulating online, the Heytea JD.com store opened in 2020 and was one of Heytea's top-selling stores nationwide. Now that the two stores suddenly suspended operations and terminated business, many people were quite surprised and also wondered whether there had been friction between Heytea and JD.com.

As a result, curious onlookers discussed and analyzed the situation, speculating that the reason for the rupture in relations between the two companies was very likely related to Heytea's unwillingness to launch on JD.com food delivery.

Recently, JD.com officially announced its entry into the food delivery business, successively reaching cooperation with chain brands such as Mixue Ice Cream & Tea, Luckin Coffee, and Cotti Coffee, and raising awareness of its food delivery business by issuing various discount coupons, waiving delivery fees, and other promotional measures, prompting more consumers to change their old habits and place orders through JD.com food delivery instead.

However, Heytea, as a leading tea beverage brand, had never joined the platform or cooperated with it since JD.com food delivery began operating. In response, some "internet detectives" pointed out that in 2018 Meituan invested 400 million yuan in Heytea, once becoming its second-largest shareholder, and speculated that it might be the brand's business competition relationship that led JD.com to target Heytea, which has close ties with Meituan.

But others offered a different view after "digging through history," believing that Heytea had always treated food delivery as a supplement to dine-in, and in 2022 even took the lead in publicly boycotting food delivery. Although the brand's attitude toward food delivery has softened somewhat now, it has always been quite cautious and never participates in third-party platform promotions. Therefore, in the view of these people, it was more likely that Heytea itself was unwilling to cooperate with JD.com, and its relationship with Meituan was not very relevant.

As more and more netizens joined the discussion, this "straightforward business battle" became increasingly eye-catching. Last night, a JD.com insider responded to Sina Tech, saying, "The rumor is false information. Everything is normal. Everyone is welcome to come to the JD.com campus and try Heytea." If this statement is true, then the specific reason for the closure of the two stores would be unknown to the public.

This morning, a reporter learned through Heytea's official mini-program and by calling the stores that the two Heytea stores at JD.com's Beijing headquarters had already resumed normal operations. An employee at one of the stores revealed that the previous day's closure was due to temporary water and electricity maintenance, while an employee at the other store said the reason was unclear. Nearby residents also posted on-site photos, confirming that the Heytea JD.com store had reopened to welcome customers, with a steady stream of customers placing orders.

Image source: online screenshots

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