Introduction:The first day of the three-day pop-up event jointly organized by Shanghai’s renowned specialty drink brand o.p.s. and Guangzhou’s JPG at OCT in Nanshan, Shenzhen, descended into chaos due to an unexpectedly early start time and unclear number issuance rules. This article reconstructs the chaotic details on-site: the event was originally scheduled to begin at 12 PM but actually started at 9 AM; the first batch of customers who picked up numbers at 9 AM had to wait until the afternoon to receive their drinks, while most who arrived after 12 PM left empty-handed. We also provide a pop-up participation pitfall guide and highlight the flavor profiles of the featured specialty beans.
A collaboration between Shanghai’s popular specialty drink brand o.p.s. and Guangzhou-based local coffee brand JPG, this three-day pop-up event in Nanshan, OCT, Shenzhen, served as the first stop of this year’s city tour plan and was highly anticipated by coffee enthusiasts in Shenzhen. However, the first day was plagued with issues: the official poster clearly stated that the event would begin at noon, but it actually kicked off at 9 AM.
A large number of fans who arrived according to the poster time found that all the number tickets had already been handed out, leaving them no choice but to leave empty-handed. Even those who managed to get a number had to wait for their designated batch, often not receiving their drinks until 4 or 5 PM. The organizers neither issued an official notice after changing the event time nor promptly updated the public on product sell-out statuses. This much-anticipated collaborative pop-up faced widespread dissatisfaction on its very first day due to disorganized management.
It is understood that o.p.s. has been running a city tour plan in recent years, and each of its pop-up events has generated considerable buzz locally. Therefore, when o.p.s. announced that the first stop of this year’s tour would be in Shenzhen, many local coffee lovers paid close attention, curious about what kind of surprises the collaboration between o.p.s. and the Guangzhou brand JPG would bring.
On the morning of March 13th, many fans who had come specifically for the event arrived at OCT in Nanshan before it officially began, only to find a long queue already formed at the JPG store, with quite a few people already inside enjoying the experience—it seemed the event had already been underway for some time. This left many customers who had made a special trip feeling confused, and they only learned after asking the staff that all the number tickets for the day had been given out.
Customers on-site pointed out that the official poster indicated the event would start at 12 PM, but according to photos shared by some bloggers and statements from the staff, the event actually began at 9 AM. As a result, fans who arrived three hours early were able to enter the store and enjoy the experience, while those who queued up under the scorching sun after 12 PM mostly ended up going home disappointed.
Moreover, even if you were lucky enough to get a number ticket, it didn’t mean you could immediately enter the store. Customers had to enter in batches according to the time slots indicated on their number tickets. Many reported that if they got their number around 12 PM, they might have to wait until 4 or 5 PM to finally try o.p.s.’s specialty drinks.
This unexpected situation on-site and the overall experience falling short of expectations left many customers deeply disappointed. They believed that since the event time had been moved up, the organizers should have publicly announced the change through official channels. But in reality, neither of the two coffee brands issued any formal statement after altering the event time, nor did they promptly inform the public about product sell-outs through visible channels, causing many to arrive without knowing the actual situation and ultimately leave empty-handed after making a special trip.
In the minds of many coffee enthusiasts, both o.p.s. and JPG are brands with extensive event experience and mature capabilities in planning and managing pop-up events. No one expected that the first day of this limited-time collaborative event would turn out to be such a chaotic mess, leaving many customers who had been looking forward to the pop-up feeling extremely let down. Some couldn’t help but exclaim, ‘This line is just ridiculous.’
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
