Can a Coffee Store Ban Outside Drinks From Its Seating?

A Cotti Coffee store in China drew criticism after placing a notice in its outdoor seating area that barred customers from bringing other brands' coffee to sit down, marking a competitor's logo with a prohibition symbol. Cotti responded that it had no unified requirement for such signs and would verify the situation. The debate pits store autonomy against consumers' right to choose.

Supporters say venues may set purchase-before-seating rules. Critics argue that singling out one rival brand goes beyond normal business autonomy and may conflict with consumer protection provisions barring operators from restricting consumer rights through standard-form clauses. The case has renewed attention to where the line between coffee store policy and consumer law falls.

Recently, a netizen exposed that a certain Cotti Coffee store placed a notice board in its outdoor seating area, explicitly prohibiting customers from bringing coffee of other brands to sit down, and marked the logo of a competing brand with a prohibition symbol. This practice quickly sparked heated discussion: supporters believe that businesses have the right to set consumption-for-seating rules, while opponents question whether it is suspected of excluding competitors and infringing on consumers' right to independent choice. As the topic trended on social media, Cotti officially responded that it had not uniformly required stores to use such notice boards and would verify the relevant situation. Behind the incident, the boundary between business autonomy and consumer rights has once again become the focus.

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A few days ago, a netizen posted on social media that a notice board reminding customers to consume before sitting was placed on a table in the outdoor seating area of a certain Cotti Coffee store.

According to the image in the post, this notice board guides seated customers to scan the mini-program QR code to place an order, while explicitly stating that bringing coffee of another brand to sit down is prohibited, and covering the logo of that competing brand with a prohibition symbol. This approach of directly restricting a competitor's beverages quickly sparked widespread discussion online.

In the view of some people, a store explicitly stipulating that customers may not bring beverages of other brands inside can easily be interpreted as targeted exclusion of competing brands, and the content of the notice board may also give some consumers the impression of a "dictatorial clause," which in the long run may damage the brand's own image.

In addition, some viewpoints pointed out that while it is understandable for a commercial venue to require a purchase before seating, prohibiting customers from bringing beverages of one specific brand may constitute excessive use of business autonomy, and may even conflict with the provisions of the Consumer Rights Protection Law and the Measures for Punishing Acts Infringing on Consumer Rights, which state that operators may not exclude or restrict consumers' rights through standard-form clauses.

However, a large number of netizens also expressed support for the store's practice. They believe that it is not excessive for a business to require customers entering the premises to make a purchase before sitting down, and that a rule prohibiting competing beverages is also not unreasonable, since both buyers and sellers inherently enjoy the right of free choice: "Consumers can choose whether to enter and spend, and businesses can also choose whom they serve."

At the same time, many netizens mentioned that if someone brings beverages of another brand into the store and occupies a seat for a long time, it may affect customers who genuinely intend to consume, and the beverage cups left behind after they leave also need to be cleaned up by staff, invisibly increasing the burden on employees.

Therefore, most netizens who agree with this practice said they can understand the original intention behind the Cotti store placing the notice board, and generally feel that the requirements businesses set for customers entering the store are entirely reasonable. "I think there's no problem," "Opening a store to do business is not charity; occupying seats without consuming actually leaves people who want to spend with nowhere to sit," "It's quite good; this is originally the merchant's right."

As the discussion continued to heat up, the topic once climbed onto the trending searches and attracted even more attention. On December 5, a reporter from "Jingshi Live" tried to contact the poster to ask which Cotti Coffee store the notice board in question belonged to, but did not receive a response.

On December 6, a media reporter called Cotti Coffee's official line regarding this matter. The relevant staff member replied that the company had not received any notice requiring stores to use such notice boards, nor had it distributed related materials, and had certainly not forcibly required customers not to bring beverages of other brands into the store for consumption. The staff member also said that the matter would be forwarded to the relevant department for verification, and that if consumers encounter similar situations, they can call the official service hotline to report it.

Image source: Internet

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