Will Luckin Coffee bring in-store ovens to every shop?

A Luckin Coffee store in Shanghai's Jiangwanli area has installed an oven that heats sandwiches and other light meals to order, according to customer posts. Consumers welcomed the service and asked for a nationwide rollout, but frontline staff raised concerns about cleaning, serving speed, and special requests. Only certain store formats, such as flagship locations, currently appear to have the conditions for heating food.

The report notes that a broader rollout is still limited by food processing qualifications, which vary by store and region. Luckin already sells breads, daifuku, and sandwiches, but has not previously offered heating, unlike Starbucks, which warms bread on request. The episode shows how bakery menus are becoming a competitive front for chain coffee stores in China.

Chain coffee brands are continuously expanding their bakery product lines, and Luckin Coffee was recently reported to have installed an oven in one of its Shanghai stores, capable of heating light meals such as sandwiches. As soon as the news broke, consumers generally applauded and looked forward to a nationwide rollout; but frontline employees strongly pushed back, worried about cleaning burdens, serving efficiency, and personalized requests. Some calm voices pointed out that currently only special store types such as flagship stores have the conditions for heating, and a nationwide rollout is still restricted by food processing qualifications. This article will take you through the full picture of the incident and the voices of all parties.

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In order to expand consumption scenarios, chain coffee brands have successively launched various breads and pastries during breakfast and afternoon tea hours to attract customers with corresponding needs to place orders. Luckin is the same: customers at its stores can buy coffee as well as daifuku, sandwiches, and other items as breakfast or afternoon snacks.

However, many consumers who frequently buy Luckin's bakery products report that after picking up their orders in-store, they often can only take the cold bread and look for convenience stores along the street to help heat it up. They mentioned that Starbucks, which also sells baked goods, will heat bread upon customer request, while Luckin has never provided food heating services, which inevitably leaves some customers dissatisfied.

However, recently, a netizen noticed while consuming at Luckin's Jiangwanli store in Shanghai that an oven was actually installed in the store's operation area. According to the picture taken by the poster, staff would place sandwiches and other baked breads into the oven to heat them according to customer orders. According to the netizen, the heated bread tasted better, and they expressed satisfaction with this new service launched by Luckin.

After the post was published, it quickly attracted the attention of Luckin fans. Many people applauded the heating service provided by the brand and suggested rolling it out nationwide as soon as possible, so that consumers who love bread no longer have to borrow microwaves everywhere just to get a warm bite.

But Luckin employees who rushed over after hearing the news immediately exploded in the comments section, waving their hands and shouting to reject this "monster": "No, no, reject, reject," "Don't come, don't come, we really won't take this on," "Begging headquarters, don't mess with workers," "Absolutely don't launch it, absolutely don't launch it, absolutely don't launch it."

At the same time, some employees even made declarations in the comments section: "If this thing is launched, I'll just throw it at the door," "If they dare to bring it, I dare to resign," "As long as they dare to launch it, I'll break it within three days," "On the first day it arrives, it won't even be powered on. I'll just seal it off and disable it," clearly taking a stance of fighting the oven to the very end.

Many workers said that based on past experience, every additional piece of equipment in a store means one more cleaning task for them. Thinking about having to clean yet another oven after closing, many people feel intimidated and say outright that they do not want another oven in the store that needs to be managed and maintained.

In addition, many staff members worry that the oven may affect serving efficiency. They said that previously they only needed to take bread out of the refrigerator and bag it up, but once the step of putting it into the oven to heat is added, they may not be able to serve orders in time, while also increasing their workload.

Moreover, some Luckin employees believe that once the brand provides bread heating services, in the future they may receive requests such as "don't bake it dry" or "I want the bread at XX degrees," which make them despair, making them even more resistant to the new equipment entering stores.

However, although some workers broke down and screamed after seeing the post, others remained calm and pointed out that currently only special store types such as flagship stores under Luckin probably provide light meal heating services. One reason most stores nationwide cannot heat bread according to customer requests is that the stores lack the relevant food processing qualifications.

They said that if Luckin does not adjust the original positioning of its stores and add relevant qualifications, it will actually be difficult to promote this heartwarming light meal heating service nationwide. Therefore, they believe Luckin employees do not need to be too alarmist.

Image source: Xiaohongshu

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