Why Is This Chain of Coffee Shops Sending Fruit Tools to Stores?
Luckin Coffee appears to be preparing to cut fresh fruit in its stores. Outlets in Guangdong, Chengdu, and other areas have received muddlers, cut-resistant gloves, and labels for fruit-washing zones, while internal order forms list dicers and strawberry hullers. None of these tools relate to drinks currently on the menu, and coupons for unlisted items like bitter melon fruit and vegetable Americano have fueled employee speculation about fresh-cut ingredients.
Luckin has long used fruit concentrates and quick-frozen dried fruit because its stores lack knives and cutting boards, while rival brands wash and cut produce on-site. If fresh-cut fruit enters the coffee production process, workers fear single-staffed stores will struggle under peak-hour pressure, since preparation currently demands little hands-on cutting. Employees note the company rarely distributes tools without purpose.
In recent years, beverage brands have been adding fresh fruits and vegetables to their fruit tea products in pursuit of genuine ingredients. Luckin, however, has long relied on fruit concentrates and quick-frozen dried fruit due to the limitations of its store conditions, which has made many beverage industry peers envious. Recently, however, some Luckin stores in Guangdong, Chengdu and other areas have successively received new materials such as muddlers, cut-resistant gloves, and labels for "fruit washing machine storage area." Internal order forms also include equipment like dicers and strawberry hullers. These tools have no direct connection to currently sold beverages, and the appearance of "bitter melon light-body fruit and vegetable tea" and "bitter melon fruit and vegetable Americano" — items not on the menu — in mini-program coupons has sparked employee speculation that Luckin may be introducing fresh-cut fruit. Once freshly cut fruit enters the production process, whether single-staffed Luckin stores can withstand peak-hour pressure has become the most anxiety-inducing question for workers.
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In recent years, to highlight genuine ingredients, most beverage brands have added fresh fruits and vegetables when launching fruit tea drinks. Luckin, which also sells lemon fruit tea, mainly relies on fruit concentrates and quick-frozen dried fruit for product preparation because its stores lack matching knives and cutting boards and cannot cut fruit on-site, making beverage workers who have to wash vegetables and cut fruit every day deeply envious.
Recently, however, as new materials distributed by the company have successively arrived at stores, Luckin employees have opened the packages with worried expressions, beginning to fear they will follow the same path as their beverage industry peers next door.
According to images circulating on social media, employees at some stores in Guangdong and Chengdu have already received muddlers, cut-resistant gloves, and labels printed with "fruit washing machine storage area" and "fruit washing dedicated bucket." In the internal order details employees posted, in addition to regular materials, new equipment such as "dicers" and "strawberry hullers" has been added, though no one has yet posted actual photos of these new devices.
Based on workers' experience, when Luckin officially distributes tools and materials to stores, it usually doesn't do so without purpose. Therefore, in most people's view, if these new items have no direct connection to currently sold beverages, they will most likely be put to use in the production of some new product before long.
The muddlers commonly seen in beverage shops, the dicers in order forms, the fruit washing dedicated buckets revealed by insiders, plus the "bitter melon light-body fruit and vegetable tea" and "bitter melon fruit and vegetable Americano" that appear in mini-program coupon usage rules but don't exist on the menu — these clues have given workers many conjectures.
Many speculate that Luckin providing new tools to stores may mean the company will adjust the methods for making fruit coffee and fruit tea products, such as adding freshly cut fruit cubes or freshly muddled lemon to drinks. Others believe these tools are for a new product to be launched later, rather than changing how currently sold products are made.
But regardless of which speculation is correct, Luckin's intention to possibly use fresh-cut fruit in its beverages has become quite obvious, and many Luckin workers are therefore anxious. In their view, Luckin already emphasizes work efficiency, and if freshly cut fruit needs to be added during production, the workload of on-duty staff will inevitably increase, and the store's output efficiency and quality control will also be affected to some extent.
Many Luckin employees point out that chain beverage stores basically have multiple staff on duty to ensure freshly made materials are sufficient and don't expire; while Luckin stores are mostly single-staffed, once an order peak hits, the on-duty clerk will likely be unable to handle everything, not only struggling to meet the brand's requirements but also possibly getting injured by sharp knives in the rush.
Image source: Xiaohongshu
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