Introduction:With the arrival of the bayberry season, Heytea has launched new products such as "Bayberry Yogurt Smoothie" and "Bayberry Burst Ice," each cup boasting approximately nine fresh bayberries. However, to preserve the texture of the fresh fruit, the brand requires store staff to manually remove the pits on-site, yet fails to provide appropriate tools. As a result, employees have to pit the bayberries by hand — a time-consuming, labor-intensive, and injury-prone task. This article delves into the real challenges faced by frontline staff in stores behind this wave of bayberry drinks, along with their coping strategies.
Every year during the peak bayberry harvest season, major tea beverage brands roll out limited-edition drinks to attract consumers who love sour and sweet flavors. Heytea is no exception this year, introducing two new drinks: the "Bayberry Yogurt Smoothie" and the "Bayberry Burst Ice." Their marketing emphasizes that each cup contains around nine fresh bayberries, using “real fruit pulp” as a selling point, which has successfully drawn many customers to try them.
However, for store employees, this wave of bayberry products has brought unexpected challenges. To maintain the freshness and intact pulp of the bayberries, the brand mandates that each store manually remove the pits on-site instead of using pre-processed ingredients. While this approach enhances the quality of the drinks, it also significantly increases the manpower and time costs of preparation in stores.
According to on-site employees, in addition to their routine tasks such as brewing tea and cutting fruits, they now have an extra step — pitting the bayberries. After delivery, these bayberries must first be soaked in salt water, then washed thoroughly at least twice, before the tedious process of removing the pits can begin.
Surprisingly, Heytea does not provide professional pitting tools for stores, so most employees have to remove the pits by hand. This method is not only inefficient but also more likely to damage the fruit pulp. Moreover, during the process, the juice often stains clothes and work surfaces, adding to the cleaning burden.
Some experienced employees have tried buying their own tools or improvising alternatives, such as using fruit knives, scissors, or even poking the bayberries with thick straws, in an attempt to speed up the pitting process. But even with these aids, extracting enough fruit pulp from each bayberry to make a drink remains a time-consuming and patience-testing task.
One employee admitted: “Just handling these bayberries, I might only manage to pit enough for a few cups in an hour, my fingers are all pricked.” Another shared: “I’ve already been jabbed by tools more than six times today, it’s really frustrating, and the morning shift is already overwhelming.” It’s clear that manual pitting is not only physically demanding but also mentally exhausting.
In addition, morning shift employees usually need to complete washing vegetables and fruits, cutting ingredients, and preparing toppings within a short time, while also being ready for order surges. With the added task of pitting bayberries, the overall workload has increased significantly. Many employees report that opening the store each day feels like going to war — spending hours continuously washing, cutting, and pitting under immense pressure, and now feeling even more burnt out due to the challenges of bayberry preparation.
Industry insiders point out that when tea beverage brands launch seasonal products, in addition to considering consumer taste experiences, they should also evaluate the actual operational feasibility in stores, especially regarding ingredient processing procedures and staffing arrangements. Providing professional tools or simplifying operational steps could not only improve efficiency but also help reduce the physical strain and risk of injury for employees.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
