Introduction:The specialty coffee brand Seesaw has recently made headlines due to a wage arrears crisis. Employees at its Shanghai IFC store showed up for work but were unable to serve beverages, resorting to a multilingual sign to politely turn away customers. This article delves into the operational challenges behind the incident, including supply chain disruptions and labor disputes, while also presenting the real reactions from both staff and customers on-site—offering an in-depth look at how this once well-regarded coffee brand is facing unprecedented challenges.
Once seen as a representative of specialty coffee, Seesaw is now mired in an operational crisis due to severe wage arrears issues. Recently, when passersby visited the still-operating Seesaw outlet at Shanghai’s IFC Mall, they noticed a black-and-white sign placed on the counter, displaying “Closed Today” in four languages: Chinese, English, Korean, and Japanese.
According to photos taken on-site, the notice further explains in Chinese: “Due to company wage arrears, the company has not provided any deliveries to the store. All materials are lacking—no GB beans, milk, cups, etc. Orders cannot be accepted.” This announcement reveals the predicament that, although the store appears to be open, it is actually unable to provide normal coffee services due to a lack of essential supplies.
According to the netizen who posted the photo, to avoid being dismissed for absenteeism—which could affect their ability to claim unpaid wages—Seesaw employees continue to clock in daily to maintain the appearance of normal store operations. However, because the company has not provided the necessary ingredients to make drinks, including coffee beans, milk, and cups, employees can only politely refuse all customer orders and have temporarily suspended delivery services.
This incident has left many familiar with Seesaw feeling deeply saddened. Not long ago, the brand was highly praised by coffee enthusiasts for its consistent and high-quality coffee flavor, even earning the reputation as the “Whampoa Military Academy of the coffee world.” But now, due to the company’s financial crisis, employees can’t work normally, and stores struggle to maintain basic operations.
In fact, the issues Seesaw faces go beyond store operations. As early as last year, media reports pointed out that the brand had been closing stores in multiple cities across the country and became involved in several lawsuits. Moreover, the brand’s founder has been repeatedly restricted from high consumption by the courts, and the company has defaulted on both employee salaries and supplier payments, with overall business performance continuing to decline.
Suppliers have also been significantly affected. It is understood that several suppliers who previously worked with Seesaw revealed that the brand owed them amounts ranging from tens of thousands to over a million yuan. Although some suppliers chose to pursue payment through legal means and reached payment agreements with Seesaw, the brand has still failed to fulfill these agreements, leaving suppliers unable to recover the money owed to them.
Meanwhile, employees who were forcibly laid off by Seesaw face a similar situation. Some employees, after labor arbitration, received rulings recognizing the company’s unlawful dismissals and ordering the payment of overdue wages—but the brand has yet to actually make those payments. Some employees have even further applied to the courts for compulsory enforcement, though with limited success, as the unpaid wages remain unsettled.
Data from Tianyancha shows that there are over 60 economic dispute cases involving Seesaw, most of which concern failure to fulfill payment obligations on time. This has led to the brand’s founder receiving multiple high-consumption restriction orders from the courts, totaling up to 10 so far. In addition, another netizen discovered that another legal representative of the brand has also been subject to high-consumption restrictions due to the company’s failure to fulfill payment obligations as determined by legal documents.
Looking back ten years, Seesaw opened its first store on Yuyuan Road in Shanghai. At that time, with its stable and high-standard coffee products, it quickly won the love of many consumers and gradually built a brand image for specialty coffee. Many customers had high expectations for the brand, considering it one of the benchmarks of domestic specialty coffee.
However, no one could have imagined that this brand, once known as the “representative of specialty coffee,” would end up unable to operate its stores normally and even have to use signs to politely reject customer orders—all because of employee wage issues. Many loyal customers expressed regret, with comments such as: “I really used to love going there for coffee,” “No wonder delivery isn’t available anymore, that’s quite a pity,” and “The last cup of Seesaw I had two weeks ago might have been my last ever.”
Faced with this situation, many netizens have expressed sympathy for the employees who remain on the job but are forced to turn away customers. They believe that since the stores can no longer operate normally, the brand should properly address the issue of employee compensation and “end operations with dignity,” rather than putting pressure on employees to express their helplessness and dissatisfaction by refusing service.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
