Introduction:As tea beverage brands compete in the market, customer reviews have become a key performance indicator. Recently, Chagee has sparked widespread discussion due to its negative review assessment mechanism — from store grading scores to staff salary linkage — shedding light on the service pressures behind its rapid expansion. This article delves into the origins of the incident, industry practices, and explores how to strike a balance between strict KPIs and customer satisfaction.
The tea beverage market is highly competitive, and customer reviews have become one of the most important metrics for brand management. Recently, Chagee has come under public scrutiny for setting stringent standards on the number of negative reviews per store. It is reported that internally, the brand enforces a rule that no more than three negative reviews are allowed per ten thousand orders. Once this limit is exceeded, it affects the salaries and performance evaluations of all staff at the affected store, sparking intense debate over its evaluation system.
Although the brand later officially responded, stating that the related claims were not factual, the connection between store ratings and employee assessments remains a focal point of industry attention. From the ABCD store grading system to the various penalties employees face due to negative reviews, it is evident that the brand places significant emphasis on customer experience — along with the pressure it transfers onto its outlets.
Chagee stores are categorized into four grades — A to D — based on overall performance. Grade A stores may receive rewards, while lower-rated stores not only risk penalties but may also face challenges in contract renewals if they consistently fail to meet standards. Among the many assessment criteria, the customer negative review rate is just one component, yet it often plays the role of a “single veto,” having a critical impact on the overall evaluation of a store.
Under such high-intensity assessment requirements, stores often adopt various measures to reduce negative feedback — such as offering complimentary drinks or remaking orders for dissatisfied customers, or even proactively contacting them to request deletion of negative reviews. These practices have become a “standard procedure” in some stores, aimed solely at maintaining the appearance of high customer satisfaction rates.
In July of this year, an incident where “a customer was visited by a staff member due to a negative review” trended on social media. According to a man from Chengdu, he gave a negative review after being unhappy with Chagee’s Huatian Oolong flavor, and subsequently, a store employee visited him without his consent, asking him to retract the review. In response, the brand’s customer service explained that the store merely wanted to communicate with the customer in a friendly manner to understand the specific issue. However, the store manager involved also admitted that they chose to visit the customer in person because they couldn’t reach them through other means.
However, such cases are not isolated incidents. Several former Chagee employees revealed that the brand enforces strict limits on the number of negative reviews. Some stores are even allowed only three negative reviews per month, and once that limit is exceeded, all staff at the store may face penalties, including having their performance commissions reduced to zero. As a result, when negative feedback arises, employees are often forced to offer refunds, remake drinks, or even give away branded merchandise to appease customers.
Some employees also confessed that the job pressure is immense — even during peak periods like anniversaries when they are exhausted, they may still receive the lowest salary due to the impact of negative reviews. A number of staff pointed out that bad reviews not only affect individual performance but can also lead to deductions for the entire team, including customer service personnel who handle complaints and communications with customers.
On social platforms, some employees have posted appeals asking customers for understanding, stating that if there are concerns about products or services, customers can ask for a remake or simply choose not to leave a review, rather than developing biases against an entire store due to the mistakes of individuals. Additionally, some stores have been exposed for hiring external teams to handle negative reviews, highlighting the brand’s extreme sensitivity to unfavorable feedback. Some employees even believe that the current evaluation system has deviated from its original operational management goals and has instead turned into a distorted competition where “whoever deletes negative reviews more efficiently performs better.”
Faced with public skepticism, Chagee issued a clarification on September 23, emphasizing that the rumors were untrue. The company stated that it has a comprehensive operational assessment mechanism for both its stores and franchisees, with customer satisfaction being just one part of a multi-dimensional evaluation — making it impossible to make judgments based solely on the number of negative reviews.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
