Introduction:Luckin Coffee’s new drink, “Whole Coconut,” has sparked discussions among store employees due to its unique preparation process, which involves disassembling a frozen coconut shell and manually pouring coffee into it — a procedure that includes more than ten steps. This article details the complete operational workflow of the drink from preparation to serving, analyzes the challenges of early-shift staffing after its nationwide rollout, and offers practical preparation suggestions to help industry professionals efficiently manage the impact of this new product.
Luckin Coffee’s weekly operational notices have always been a “stress test” for store employees — the newly announced “Triple Cheese Thick Matcha,” “Coconut Trio Latte,” and the buzzworthy new product “Whole Coconut” directly challenge existing preparation routines. Among them, the “Whole Coconut” requires employees to wear gloves to take out a pre-thawed frozen coconut shell, then pour the prepared coffee into the shell through an opening. The entire process includes over ten steps such as preparation, temperature control, and pouring, which is significantly more complex than that of regular cup-based drinks.
Compared to most previous products that only require mixing espresso, syrup, and ice in a simple operation, the special container of this new product (a whole coconut shell) and the requirement for precise filling have led many frontline staff to say that “the operational threshold has risen sharply.”The coconut shell in the picture needs to be thawed 8 hours in advance to reach a core temperature above 4°C, otherwise it may affect the taste and structural stability of the drink.
Employees who were among the first to be informed revealed that the design breaks away from the brand’s traditional cup format, and they initially thought it was a regionally limited product; however, the official confirmation later stated that it would be promoted nationwide, meaning all stores must adapt to the new process simultaneously. Especially for the early shift team, they need to complete cross-tasks such aspreheating the coconut shell, thawing the ingredients for the whipped cream topping, filling the cream gun, and precooling the blenderwithin 30 minutes, which can easily lead to preparation delays when only one person is on duty.
Industry observers have pointed out that complex, composite new products like this place higher demands on store labor efficiency:It is recommended to assign at least two employees to collaborate on the pouring process of the “Whole Coconut”— one responsible for cleaning the coconut shell and aligning the opening, while the other controls the flow rate of the coffee to avoid spillage. Image source: Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book)
Notably, Luckin’s new product lineup this time includes several items that require specialized equipment support (such as the whipped cream topping for the Triple Cheese Thick Matcha), further increasing the preparation pressure before the morning rush. Industry professionals suggest checking in advance whether the cold storage capacity is sufficient to hold the pre-thawed coconut shells, and planning segmented preparation schedules to distribute the staffing load.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
