Mixue Ice Cream & Tea Exposed for Serving Bug-Infested Drinks, Shop Owner: "No Problem, It's Fine"

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Mixue Bingcheng Faces Another Food Safety Crisis

Insects have been found once again in Mixue Bingcheng beverages! As the first publicly listed company in the new tea beverage chain industry, while experiencing rapid business growth, it has also been frequently exposed for food safety issues!

Yesterday morning, the topic "#MixueBingcheng exposed for insects found in drinks, merchant attitude controversial" shot straight to the top of Weibo's trending list. As of now, the topic has garnered up to 270 million views. The incident began when a woman from Xiantao, Hubei Province, reported discovering small black insects in an unopened bottle of Mixue Bingcheng lemonade. The response from the involved store was simply jaw-dropping. The store stated: "What can I do about this? I'm also not sure why insects appeared in the drink. There's no way to handle this, and it doesn't matter."

Regarding this incident, Mixue Bingcheng's headquarters customer service told a reporter from Southern Metropolis Daily that they would verify the situation with relevant staff.

Public Outrage Over Merchant's Response

Netizens' reactions to this trending topic were explosive. Many netizens expressed that if you can't take responsibility, you shouldn't run a business. They were speechless about the store's attitude, commenting: "Such an outrageous attitude. At least say sorry and offer a replacement drink! That shouldn't be difficult, right! If I remember correctly, this seems to be the several times this year that Mixue Bingcheng has trended on social media due to food safety issues. If this continues, it will inevitably go bankrupt sooner or later."

Other netizens commented: "The merchant's 'no solution' is equivalent to saying the insects crawled in themselves and I can't control it, while 'it doesn't matter' means these insects won't kill you, so drink with confidence," "How can the merchant's attitude be like this? I'm speechless. Shouldn't food businesses ensure minimum safety standards?" "With this attitude, they're still in the food service industry! To say things like 'no solution, it doesn't matter' out loud! Try drinking an insect yourself! Not even the attitude to offer a customer a replacement drink..."

Pattern of Food Safety Incidents

Indeed, as the netizens mentioned above, this is not the first time this year that Mixue Bingcheng has made headlines due to food safety issues. According to incomplete statistics, from March to November 2022, Mixue Bingcheng has appeared on Weibo's trending list due to food safety issues at an average rate of once every 15 days, attracting widespread consumer attention.

The company has been fined multiple times for using expired frozen lychee juice, expired coffee powder, and expired food products. It was also fined 12,000 yuan for insects found in lemonade, and made headlines when wooden sticks and flies were found in drinks. This August, the chain was repeatedly exposed for foreign objects in milk tea and insect eggs in tea bags...

Some screenshots from trending topics

Company Background and Expansion

Public information shows that Mixue Bingcheng was founded in Zhengzhou, Henan Province in 1997. It is a brand built around ice cream and tea beverages, rapidly expanding in third and fourth-tier cities through franchising and low-price models. After opening 22,000 stores this year, it officially went public with the highest number of stores in China's new tea beverage industry, aiming to become the "first publicly listed new tea beverage chain" on the A-share market. The parent company, Mixue Bingcheng Co., Ltd., had its A-share listing application accepted and officially pre-disclosed its prospectus on September 22, 2022.

Challenges in Rapid Expansion

Under the frantic pace of opening thousands of stores, store management has failed to keep up with expansion speed, leading to frequent appearances on trending lists due to food safety issues, with problems persisting despite repeated prohibitions. On the Black Cat complaint platform, Mixue Bingcheng has received as many as 4,139 complaints, with most focusing on foreign objects in food, poor staff attitudes, and difficulty obtaining refunds.

The Importance of Service and Safety in Food Industry

The food service industry has always operated on the principle of service first. Whether customers can have a good experience includes employee service, food hygiene and safety, as well as dining environment. If the food service industry loses consumer support and trust due to these basic principles, it essentially means losing the entire market. Only through strict management and improving product and service quality can companies achieve long-term development.

Image source: Internet

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