I didn't expect that starbucks with "thick eyebrows and big eyes" was also "not credible".
Image from Weibo
On December 13, the international chain coffee giant Starbucks was exposed by the media: the ingredients continued to be used after expiration, and the supervisors and clerks "taught by example" to tamper with the shelf life... As soon as the news came out, it quickly detonated public opinion. Topics such as "Starbucks uses expired ingredients for private ingredient labels" and "Starbucks frequently touches food safety red lines" have appeared on hot searches. Subsequently, @Starbucks China issued an apology statement, saying that it was deeply shocked, closed the store involved, and immediately launched an in-depth investigation. High price does not equal high quality, how should Starbucks give consumers an account?
Internet celebrity coffee that fell off the altar
As we all know, the price of Starbucks coffee is notoriously high in the industry. CCTV has compared Starbucks' global prices and found that it has the highest price in China. A medium-cup latte that costs less than 5 yuan is priced at 19.98 yuan in the United States, 14.6 yuan in India, and as high as 27 yuan in China.
Image from the Starbucks Applet
It is also this high price setting that makes customers who go to Starbucks feel superior. Once upon a time, ordering a cup of coffee at Starbucks and bringing a MAC or iPad to sit down has almost become the way of life of China's literary youth.
Image from the Starbucks website
Since entering China in 1999, Starbucks has opened more than 5,000 stores in more than 200 cities Chinese mainland. In 2020, the size of China's ready-made coffee market is 50.7 billion yuan, and Starbucks China's annual revenue scale is between 20 billion and 26 billion yuan, occupying half of the country, which is undoubtedly the absolute hegemon of the Chinese market. At the same time, Starbucks' revenue in the Chinese market has also achieved rapid growth, reaching $3,474.8 million in fiscal 2021, compared with $2,567.9 million in the same period last year, an increase of 35.3% year-on-year.
However, high prices do not guarantee high quality. From the end of October to the middle of November this year, a reporter from the Beijing News conducted an undercover investigation in two stores of Starbucks Wuxi Changxing Building Store and Wuxi Zhenze Road Store. Judging from the disclosed video, Starbucks does have problems with the use of expired raw materials, including chocolate liquor, matcha liquid, cream, peach pulp and other raw materials.
In addition, the staff of Starbucks stores also tore off expired raw material labels and tampered with the shelf life of raw materials. In the secret interview video, there are store clerks who say that if they do not continue to use expired ingredients, they will be wasted, "if they can't be used, even if they are scrapped, even if the money in the store is wasted, these things are spent in the store"; and the clerk revealed that if there are too many leftover raw materials, they will directly change the shelf life. The video also shows that the store's duty supervisor was also aware of this practice and acquiesced.
It's worth noting that this isn't the first time Starbucks has had food safety issues. According to the Tianyancha App, many of Starbucks stores have been punished for food problems. For example, starbucks coffee (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. Yantian Yihaicheng no. 2 branch was administratively punished by the Yantian Supervision Bureau of the Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervision Bureau for food violations, and The Changde Wanda branch of Hubei Starbucks Coffee Co., Ltd. was fined for operating expired food.
The "gold standard" of quality has been hit in the face
At noon on the 12th, Starbucks China's official microblog "Starbucks China" apologized for the matter, saying that it was highly concerned, and had closed the two stores at the first time, and immediately launched an in-depth investigation. The apology statement also pointed out that Starbucks has always been committed to implementing strict food safety standards, resolutely adopting a zero-tolerance attitude towards food safety issues, and welcoming continuous supervision by the public and the media.
Image from Starbucks China official website
The reporter saw on the official website of Starbucks China that Starbucks promised: "Based on the highest standards in the industry, we have formulated and strictly implemented Starbucks food safety 'gold standards' to ensure that from the source of supply, warehousing and logistics to store operations, from product design, manufacturing to partners (employees) to serve customers in every link, to provide customers with safe and high-quality food and beverages." ”
And the "quality door" that has been repeatedly broken is undoubtedly a loud slap in the face to Starbucks' "gold standard". In this regard, many netizens said:
"Even the basic food safety is not up to standard, is it better to sell for a high price?"
"Really disappointed! I don't want to touch Starbucks again in the last year. ”
Experts: There are serious vulnerabilities in the management process
According to the official website, Starbucks currently has more than 60,000 employees in China. In order to achieve refined management, Starbucks China implements the store manager responsibility system, and the store manager enjoys full recruitment and management rights. The store manager is directly managed by the district manager, and each district manager is responsible for 10 stores. Above the district manager are the regional manager and the regional general manager.
Yu Hua, vice president of human resources at Starbucks China, previously revealed in an interview with the media that Starbucks China has 10,000 employees promoted every year, 1 new store manager every 13 hours, 1 new district manager per week, and 1 new regional director every quarter. For Starbucks employees, she said, "customer experience is the most important metric." ”
But is this really the case? Zhu Danpeng, a Chinese food industry analyst, believes that the food safety incident reflects that Starbucks' store manager responsibility system is essentially performance-oriented, and there is a lack of food safety control: "Consumers pay high prices, but this kind of thing is intolerable." ”
Bao Yuezhong, a new retail expert, also believes that "food safety involves the survival of enterprises, and it is very undesirable and shocking for multinational companies such as Starbucks to have such problems." "This incident exposed Starbucks' lack of high attention to food safety and serious loopholes in the relevant management process.
For Starbucks, the store closure is only a basic operation, how to compensate for the harm caused to consumers? How can food safety be better guaranteed?
Zhu Danpeng pointed out that Starbucks needs to start from the management system and adjust the original store manager assessment system accordingly, "with food safety as the first weight, performance and profits behind." Only when the assessment weight changes, the thinking and behavior of employees can change accordingly. ”
At present, the rise of domestic brands represented by Luckin Coffee and Manner Coffee has also put competitive pressure on starbucks' development in the Chinese market. Time is running out for Starbucks, and if its quality "gold standard" is only on the official website, rather than in more than 5,000 stores, consumers may soon turn to other brands.
Aoyi news reporter Guan Yuhui Zhang Jieying