Introduction:A 26-year-old job applicant was reportedly deemed "too old" when applying to work at Mixue Ice Cream & Tea, sparking widespread discussion about age restrictions in China’s tea beverage industry. In reality, many brands prefer employees aged 16 to 25, making it difficult for those over 25 to find jobs. The company’s headquarters stated that individual stores can set their own hiring criteria, but physical stamina and job stability are the key factors. This article takes an in-depth look at the reasons behind the tea beverage industry’s age barriers and explores the current state of the industry and possible future changes.
Recently, a 26-year-old job seeker was rejected by Mixue Ice Cream & Tea due to age, and the incident quickly went viral on social media platforms. In fact, this is not an isolated case—the industry’s preference for young store staff has long been an open secret, with most outlets setting their recruitment age limit between 16 and 25. Job seekers over 25 often face high barriers.
According to multiple netizens, some Mixue Ice Cream & Tea outlets have even directly modified their recruitment posters to specify the age range as 16 to 25, showing a clear preference for younger labor. A frontline store employee in a first-tier city even admitted that they prefer employees aged 16 to 19, and those over 20 require special consideration, adding, “Once you’re over twenty, the salary isn’t very high either.”
In response to this phenomenon, Mixue Ice Cream & Tea’s headquarters customer service stated that the recruitment age is determined by each individual store, and the headquarters does not enforce mandatory intervention. Based on feedback from netizens, the actual implementation standards vary considerably among different stores—some have mostly young employees, while others have a more diverse age range, confirming the autonomy stores have in hiring.
Age restrictions are not unique to Mixue Ice Cream & Tea; many other tea beverage brands such as Luckin Coffee, Heytea, and ChaBaiDao have also been reported to have similar practices. Netizens have pointed out that many milk tea shops openly state that they only hire employees aged 17 to 20, citing reasons such as older individuals potentially struggling to remember complex preparation processes or lacking the stamina to handle long working hours.
The industry generally believes that the nature of tea shop work is physically demanding—not only does it require long periods of standing, but making drinks like lemon tea with intense muddling also demands considerable physical effort. Older job applicants may find it challenging to handle such high-intensity work, which is why stores tend to recruit more energetic young people.
Additionally, employers also take into account the issue of employee stability. Job seekers over 22 may be facing life transitions such as getting married or having children, leading to relatively lower job stability. This makes it even more difficult for job seekers over 25 to secure positions in the tea beverage industry, forming a kind of “unwritten rule.”
When such seemingly unreasonable age barriers become an industry-wide norm, we not only see the demand from brand stores for highly physical employees, but also sense the helplessness of older job seekers. It is hoped that in the future, the tea beverage industry can adopt a more flexible approach to age considerations, providing fairer opportunities to more job seekers, so that everyone who dreams of “shaking milk tea” has a chance to realize their ambition.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
