Starbucks, trapped by the toilet

◎ Text "Fighter" magazine all media reporter Yin Xin

"We have not received a notice at present. If the headquarters has requests, we will not rule out that we will receive a notice from the Chinese area." After the non -consumer opens the bathroom for free ", the reporter of the" Fa "and the reporter from the Starbucks Beijing store to get the staff to answer so.

As a coffee shop chain brand with a history of more than 50 years, Starbucks has announced the free toilet in 2018. Until April this year, the founder of the CEO post has changed the Starbucks CEO again. Return to the CEO position, the first thing Schultz does is to stop the company's stock repurchase plan. The second thing is to consider stopping the toilet for free. The reason given by Schultz is "safe": "Starbucks serves nearly 100 million consumers every day. As people 'increasingly serious psychological crisis', this will bring hidden safety hazards to Starbucks customers and employees."

Subsequently, Starbucks China responded in the form of answering netizens, saying that the policy of stopping the free open toilet involved only involved the US market and not targeting Chinese stores. Nevertheless, it still means that Starbucks's open -sharing corporate culture is changing.

What makes Starbucks "unsafe"?

In the European and American markets, whether Starbucks ’s bathrooms are open to non -consumer staff, the company level has not been uniformly stipulated, but in most cases, Starbucks's logo has become the hope of many tourists and passers -by of many" internal emergency ". "I traveled many times in Europe, whether it is Starbucks or Costacoffee, I have not encountered any problems in going to the toilet." Song, an international student in the UK, told reporters.

The real public announcement of Starbucks and announced the opening of the bathroom for unpaid to the outside world is an incident that is not open to the toilet in 2018. In April 2018, two black men in Philadelphia, Pentiania, USA did not enter the store. They were banned by the Starbucks employees from using the bathroom. Whether the employee is banned from using the bathroom because of his skin tone, but the reply is "this is a private enterprise, please leave." Subsequently, Starbucks employees called the police, saying that two gentlemen did not buy things and refused to leave. In the end, the two black men were arrested for "illegal break in".

After the video of this incident was released online, it caused a huge "resistance Starbucks" movement. Earlier, Starbucks' policy was only allowed consumers to use bathrooms, but the store manager had the final decision. Under the pressure of public opinion, Schultz said: "When I saw this video, my heart was like a knife twisted, as if watching the people I trusted and loved to do a mean thing." At that time, Schultz had already He is still an executive director of Starbucks.

In the end, the then Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson came forward, flew to Philadelphia to settle with two black people, and announced that they would fund them to college.

In May 2018, Starbucks announced that anyone can use the bathroom in the store, open -air or indoor seats in the store, and can be used whether it is consumed or not.

However, 4 years later, Schultz overturned the policy himself. "The psychological health crisis of this country is serious, acute, and is deteriorating, which constitutes an increasingly serious threat to employees and customers." Schultz said in the forum held by the New York Times.

In the four years of free opening of the bathroom, new problems have indeed occurred. Because there is no threshold, in addition to the normal use in the Starbucks bathroom, it also attracts homeless and "addicts". From time to time in the trash can, needles, medicine bags, etc. The safety of employees is a huge threat. Although Starbucks installed a weapon box in the bathrooms of many stores, this psychological concern was not lifted.

A survey based on US market stores found that after free to open the bathroom, Starbucks store passenger flow is 6.8%lower than competitors. Customers staying in Starbucks is also 4.2%lower than competitors. Consumers do not like the changes in the environment of an open policy to the environment in the store.

Mainland Chinese stores are not affected

Starbucks China is known as "Chinese stores is not affected", which is based on a little -known fact: China Starbucks stores, rarely have their own bathrooms, so even with US policy, Starbucks' influence in China is also affected. Few.

The reporter learned that as of the end of 2021, Starbucks had more than 5,500 stores in mainland China. Most stores in first -tier cities were "mall stores" and shared the bathrooms of malls with other merchants. Starbucks, which comes with the bathroom, only exists in the "Zhenxuan Flagship Store" located in independent buildings, and such shops only have one in Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin.

This is very different from stores in the European market. Song told reporters that although there are also large indoor shopping malls in European towns, more of them are outdoor pedestrian streets. There are few malls, and there are naturally few "mall stores". Most of the coffee shops are opened in the continuous houses on the street, and most of them have their own bathrooms.

In large cities such as Paris and London, there are also some coffee shops that only open the bathrooms to consumers. As for how to distinguish consumers and non -consumer, each has its own methods. Song said: "There are electronic password locks outside the bathroom door, and each consumer ticket has a password of one and a half or two hours on each consumer ticket. You need to ask the clerk the key. "Song told reporters that no passers -by who had" internal urgency "but did not want to consume, borrowed a small ticket from consumers," most people are willing to help a little. "Song said. The "borrowing" mall is the long -term strategy of Starbucks in the development of stores in China. However, it is little known that if you do not open the bathroom to the outside world, in fact, with the beginning of this century, the policy of advocating business places to open to the outside world in large cities in my country is departure.

Since the 1990s, the tourism industry has developed greatly in large cities in my country, but the "internal emergency" problem of many tourists has not been resolved. Except for the slow construction of public bathrooms, it is not worth the number of tourists. The place (bar, restaurant, cafe, cinema, etc.) is not willing to open the bathroom to non -consumer. It is also a major reason. As a result, Guangzhou and Beijing successively issued the initiative in 2003 and 2004 to advocate open toilet to the outside world; in order to cooperate with the Olympic Games, Beijing also proposed the construction goal of "finding toilets in the main streets of the city".

These two initiatives are supported by most operating places, especially in restaurants, bars and other places to respond positively.

"I don't understand this new policy of Starbucks." Xiao Liu, who has just finished the college entrance examination, is the loyal consumers of Starbucks. When she talked with reporters at Starbucks, she said that the problem of drugs and stray people in the American society is more serious. Starbucks is more serious. Starbucks. In order to prevent such people from disturbing the stores, it is understandable, but my country's social security is good and there is no problem with guns. Starbucks does in China too, it looks very cold. "Xiao Liu also raised a doubt, that is, the timeliness of the password lock," If I come to Starbucks to study my homework for self -study, it will be half a day. Is the drink refreshing the password? This is inconvenient. "Xiao Liu said.

Does other catering companies follow suit?

Starbucks closed the bathroom, and the discussion caused by the catering industry is greater than the society.

There are more and more 24-hour business places that appear in first-tier cities. McDonald's, KFC, 7-11, and 24-hour bookstores have largely accommodated very few homeless and unemployed. These places accommodate them. At the same time, it has not caused social harm. Such a balance has been formed. Even though Starbucks China has not followed the headquarters policy, is the catering industry's long -term open -sharing bathroom atmosphere? Is there any possibility of reversal?

A part -time employee of McDonald's in the name of his name told reporters that the positioning of Western fast -food brands such as Starbucks and McDonald's and KFC is different. Even if Starbucks' policy changes, McDonald's, KFC, etc. will not "learn". "Since entering Shanghai in 1999, Starbucks has adhered to the luxurious positioning in the early days of the Chinese market, and it can be seen from the price of coffee. Until now, Starbucks has much higher price in drinks and light food than McDonald's and KFC. The latter two have long been civilian. "

The person said that Starbucks's concept is to create a "third space", that is, other spaces other than home and the company, can be talked about, dine, or work, and coffee is "sent" to customers. " Starbucks's concept is to sell the environment, 'sending' coffee, so I care about the decoration and environment in the store. "He told reporters that many McDonald's and KFC have begun to introduce the charging treasure to the store to facilitate the use of mobile phones to charge. There is no such action, perhaps because the charging cabinet is in color and shape, which is more violated with the decoration of the inside of the store. "This is Starbucks' 'high cold'. However, no matter what Starbucks does, McDonald's, KFC and Chinese fast food will still go along the" grounding "method."

Editing ｜ Cui Xiaolin

Edit ｜ Huiningning

School pair ｜ Zhang Bo Zhang Xuehui

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