Postal Service Cafe Promotion Fiasco? Which China Post Coffee is the Authentic One? The First "Post Office Cafe" Sparks Controversy!

China Post's "Post Office Coffee" Controversy: The Battle of China's First Location

Several days ago, China Post's official WeChat and Weibo accounts announced the opening of a Post Office Coffee in Xiamen's International Trade Building, emphasizing it as the first Post Office Coffee. The announcement was promoted across major media outlets. However, some users claimed that similar Post Office Coffee locations had already opened before this one, and the relevant businesses disagreed with this claim.

According to public media reports, in February 2021, China Post's Beijing headquarters began negotiations with Zhongyu Coffee representatives regarding the Post Office Coffee project. On September 1st of the same year, Shanghai Zhongyu Coffee Management Consulting Co., Ltd. was established, followed by China Post's Beijing headquarters authorizing Shanghai Zhongyu Coffee Management Consulting Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Zhongyu Coffee) to open "Post Office Coffee IP stores."

At the opening, Zhongyu Coffee claimed that the "Post Office Coffee" they opened was China Post's first independently operated coffee shop. The statement "first Post Office Coffee" in their opening press release received recognition from China Post's official WeChat and Weibo accounts. They also published the aforementioned announcement when opening the Xiamen post office location, emphasizing Xiamen as "the first Post Office Coffee nationwide."

Challenging the "First" Claim

However, after the "first Post Office Coffee in the country" promotion appeared, some netizens pointed out that before the Xiamen International Trade Building Post Office Coffee opened, similar "Post Office Coffee" locations had already appeared in Xiamen's Shapowei area, near the popular Wukang Building in Shanghai, and in the Huabai district of Zhongshan, Guangdong.

Some netizens began asking whether "Post Office Coffee" was available for franchising and questioned the term "first nationwide," asking which locations were truly Post Office Coffee. When responding to similar questions on its official WeChat account, "China Post" definitively answered: "Xiamen is the first."

Franchising Questions and Conflicting Claims

Consequently, those "Post Office Coffee" locations that opened before the Xiamen International Trade Building location faced some scrutiny. On the evening of the 18th, Xiamen Post's official WeChat account issued a statement stating that they are currently in a trial operation phase and that no "franchise center" exists.

At the same time, another WeChat account "Zhongshan Philately," certified as "China Post Zhongshan Branch," issued a separate statement claiming: "Post Coffee Post Office Coffee is the only authorized coffee-themed post office currently operated by China Post Group Co., Ltd. Zhongshan Branch." This confirmed that there were also authorized "Post Office Coffee" locations locally, which had opened as early as December of last year.

China Post Zhongshan Branch endorsed Zhongshan's "Post Coffee Post Office Coffee" and even created a dedicated video addressing several questions of concern, including: "Is this really China Post?" and "Can it be franchised?" The video provided affirmative answers to these questions, stating: "Specific franchising plans are still being urgently formulated in meetings." (Due to video platform management policies where "franchise" is a prohibited term, the video used the term "加萌" as a substitute.)

When asked by netizens, "Isn't Xiamen the first? When did the Zhongshan location open?" Zhongshan's "Post Coffee Post Office Coffee" responded: "We opened in December last year. Think about it carefully."

Clarifying the Confusion

For a time, the question of which location represents China Post's first Post Office Coffee and whether franchising is possible became an increasingly confusing dispute. Ms. He from China Post Zhongshan Branch explained that when China Post's official WeChat account stated "Xiamen Post Office Coffee is the first," it meant "the first coffee shop opened within a post office business hall." She suggested that external parties had misunderstood this expression, and that the wording in related news announcements was not precise enough.

Both China Post's official WeChat and Weibo accounts claimed that "Xiamen is the first Post Office Coffee nationwide," while previously existing "Post Office Coffee" locations also claimed to be officially recognized. It appears that "China Post" was unaware for some reason of the mishap involving multiple "Post Office Coffee" locations that had already opened.

Conclusion

Image source: Weibo video comment section screenshots

For professional coffee knowledge exchange and more coffee bean information, please follow Coffee Workshop (WeChat public account: cafe_style)

For more premium coffee beans, please add FrontStreet Coffee's private WeChat account: kaixinguoguo0925

Important Notice :

前街咖啡 FrontStreet Coffee has moved to new addredd:

FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473