Why Did the Street Coffee Promo Overwhelm Store Staff?

Guming launched a summer buy-one-get-one-free campaign covering eight star products, aiming to draw foot traffic and raise revenue. Order volumes far exceeded expectations, and back-of-house staff worked long, intense shifts processing fresh fruit and whipping milk caps. Some worked 15.5 hours straight, peeling grapes until their hands cramped, while stores filled with delivery riders and waiting customers.

The campaign exposed a gap between promotion planning and store staffing and process simplification, a pattern familiar to anyone who has watched an old street coffee house handle a sudden rush. The eight items included drinks needing freshly peeled fruit pulp, such as Super A Cheese Grape, Yangzhi Ganlu, and Apple Golden Pineapple, plus milk teas with matcha cloud tops, so prep work multiplied. Frequent collaborations, delivery wars, and limited-time discounts have left staff complaining.

Gu Ming recently launched a "summer buy-one-get-one-free" campaign, with 8 star products participating, intending to attract foot traffic and boost revenue. However, after the campaign went live, store order volumes far exceeded expectations, and back-of-house staff were forced to work long hours at high intensity processing fresh fruit, whipping milk caps, and other prep work. Some worked 15.5 hours straight, peeling grapes until their hands cramped. The brand's frequent collaborations, delivery wars, and limited-time discounts have left the "farm tea workers" complaining endlessly, and have also exposed the disconnect between campaign planning and store staffing and process simplification. This article sorts out the real situation of this order surge and the voices of employees, while also offering coffee lovers a product perspective on brands such as Front Street Coffee.

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Recently, Gu Ming launched a "summer buy-one-get-one-free" promotion covering 8 popular items. When customers order through the mini program, they can choose to add an extra specified drink as needed, or claim a free-drink voucher with an expiration date.

Based on past patterns, this kind of discount inevitably brings in a large number of orders, so the "farm tea workers" who learned the news in advance stocked up on ingredients several days before the campaign to cope with a possible order surge.

But once the campaign actually began, Gu Ming store employees stared at the endless stream of new orders on the backend, their faces full of helplessness. It is said that among the 8 products participating in this campaign, some required freshly peeled fruit pulp, such as the Super A Cheese Grape, Yangzhi Ganlu, and Apple Golden Pineapple, while several milk teas required making matcha cloud tops.

So from the moment the stores opened, many staff members were "pinned" in the back kitchen, repeatedly peeling grapes, cutting mangoes, and whipping milk caps, all just to ensure that the various ingredients never ran out.

Even so, the staff's drink-making speed still could not keep up with the pace of customers placing orders. Stores hit by the order surge were packed tight with delivery riders and in-store customers, with urging voices rising one after another, and employees even had to sacrifice meal times.

"I worked from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. without a single bite of food, and peeled grapes until my hands cramped," "I worked 13 hours straight without rest and ate only one burger all day," "I worked continuously from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., took two bites of food, then kept going," "I was collapsing today too, I worked 15.5 hours."

Recently, the brand first launched a popular collaboration, then was affected by the platform delivery war, and now has rolled out a limited-time buy-one-get-one-free discount. The frequent campaigns have left store employees saying they cannot take it anymore, and the sudden order peaks often make the "farm tea workers" miserable.

Many people posted photos of the prep area after the order surge: sinks piled with unprocessed fruit peels, measuring cups that had no time to be washed, trash scattered across the floor, empty ice-draining troughs... Some remarked that every peak period felt like fighting a battle behind the bar, and only after closing was there time to clean up the messy back kitchen.

Facing round after round of Gu Ming campaigns, workers have many complaints. They believe that although the brand uses discounts such as buy-one-get-one-free to win over fans and boost store revenue, it did not add staff to stores during the campaign, leaving only one or two employees to work overloaded for long periods.

In addition, some pointed out that the new products recently launched by the brand have complicated preparation processes, and some require a great deal of time to process fresh fruits and vegetables, increasing staff workload and making it difficult for them to complete orders quickly during peak periods, forcing them to endure pressure from customers and delivery riders urging them on.

In the eyes of the "farm tea workers," it is understandable for the brand to plan campaigns to attract attention, but it should also show consideration for workers' feelings, add staff to stores or simplify drink preparation processes, rather than making employees move nonstop behind the bar like perpetual motion machines.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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