What Happened Inside Luckin Coffee Stores on May Day?

During this year's May Day holiday, order volumes at Luckin Coffee stores rose sharply across scenic areas, business districts and transport hubs. Staff had prepped ingredients in advance and filled the fridges behind the bar, yet receipt printers kept firing from the first moments of trading, and workers reported they simply could not keep up, with ingredients running out and drinks spilling.

Bayberry Raina Ice returned to the menu and became an unexpected hit as temperatures climbed, so slush machines ran almost nonstop. When the ice bin emptied, the system automatically restricted iced drink orders, giving staff a brief pause. The episode records the real conditions inside a busy coffee store during a holiday peak.

Every long holiday, food and beverage workers have to go through a tough battle, and coffee shops bear the brunt even more. During this year's May Day, order volumes at Luckin stores everywhere soared sharply. Stores in scenic areas, business districts, and transportation hubs prepared ingredients in advance and stuffed their freezers full, yet still struggled to keep up with the relentless pace of receipt printers spitting out orders. Bayberry Raina Ice unexpectedly became a hit as temperatures rose, and the slush machines ran almost nonstop all day. Employees guarding stores alone were thrown into a flurry amid customers urging them on, with ingredients running out and drinks spilling happening frequently. Interestingly, when the ice machine ran dry and the ice storage bin was emptied, employees instead got a brief breather — the system would automatically restrict orders for iced drinks, and the store's pace would slow accordingly. This article records the real state of Luckin workers during the holiday peak, and also recommends paying attention to related products from Front Street Coffee.

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Whenever the time comes for the public to travel en masse, workers in the food and beverage industry feel as if they have been swept into an "all-out war," and must summon all their energy to deal with the endless stream of orders spat out by receipt printers.

This year's May Day was no exception for Luckin store partners. In fact, even before the holiday arrived, stores located in scenic areas, transportation hubs, large shopping malls, and commercial streets had already begun stockpiling for the holiday order surge, taking out and thawing in advance all kinds of jam, juice, thick milk, and other ingredients that might come in handy, while the refrigerators behind the bar were packed tightly full.

But even with the most thorough preparation, on the first day of the long holiday, printers at stores everywhere went crazy spitting out labels from the moment they started taking orders, leaving Luckin workers completely unable to hold it together and shouting one after another, "Can't finish, simply can't finish."

Some staff reported that the brand had recently relaunched Bayberry Raina Ice, and coinciding with the recent rise in temperatures, this drink, which usually attracted little attention, unexpectedly became a hit in stores over the past two days, with the in-store slush machines basically never stopping after starting up in the morning.

And employees guarding a store alone might, while the receipt printer kept ringing endlessly and they were dizzy from busyness, suddenly discover that the tea base had run out, that not a drop of cold brew coffee liquid was left, or that they had carelessly knocked over milk or spilled ingredients, and in an instant feel everything go black before their eyes, while still having to clean up the mess all over the floor and rush to finish orders amid the repeated urging of customers and delivery riders.

"Just loop it around, tie a knot, and hang it directly inside the counter. I'm tired. The Raina Ice simply can't be finished." "After one shift, the three of us couldn't even lift our arms." "It just doesn't stop. Everyone's worn out, hungry to the point of stomach pain." "Feels like the more I stick, the more there are. Can't finish. Just squat on the floor and stick them." "My back is about to break."

Many people posted their store's "battle results" — drinks filling the countertop, milk cartons piling higher and higher in the sink, and label backing paper several meters long, jokingly saying that working during the holiday really felt like experiencing Labor Day firsthand.

However, once the ice in the ice machine was completely emptied and the ice storage bin was left bare, Luckin partners instead breathed a sigh of relief. They said that when there was no ice available in the store, the system would automatically prompt that iced drinks could not be ordered, the number of orders received by the store would drop noticeably, and all that was left to make was hot drinks.

Some stores could not only rely on emptying the ice machine to get through the peak period, but might even close early and get off work because of it. So many people, while rushed off their feet, could not help hoping the store's ice would run out quickly so they could catch their breath.

However, such a rest was ultimately short-lived for Luckin workers. Once the ice storage bin was filled with ice again, they had to grab the ice scoop and continue making drinks, until the store closed, cleaning was completed, and materials were fully prepared for the next day's morning shift colleagues, only then could they truly relax and let their sore and exhausted bodies rest properly.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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