Heytea supports Yeshishan, but falls short with the thousand-yuan juice.
Compiled from The Paper
Shenzhen Yecuishan previously drew attention for selling olive juice at 1,000 yuan per cup. The local market regulation authorities filed a case against the company operating the beverage shop for suspected false advertising and imposed a fine of 500,000 yuan.
Case review
In November 2021, a beverage shop named "Yecuishan · Molecular Juice," operated by Shenzhen Haolin Catering Co., Ltd., sold a drink called "Jinyu Sanian Olive Juice" priced at 1,000 yuan. According to the company's verified official account, this drink is the "signature treasure" of the shop, featuring the king of olives—Jinyu Sanian olives—originating from the Chaoshan region of Guangdong, carefully selected from trees over a hundred years old due to the scarcity of the species. Each cup of the thousand-yuan olive juice requires nearly 1 jin of Jinyu Sanian olives and undergoes eight processes, including rinsing under running water, scrubbing with salt, and triple rinsing with filtered water, taking two hours to be ready for sale, which has drawn public attention.
On November 26 of the same year, the Shenzhen market regulation authorities reported that the actual purchase prices of the store's raw materials did not match the advertised prices, and have since filed a case against the company for suspected false advertising. On the 27th, staff at the involved "Yecuishan · Molecular Juice" beverage shop stated that they are actively and fully cooperating with the regulatory authorities' investigation.
On January 29, 2022, according to the official website of the Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervisory Authority, Shenzhen Haolin Catering Co., Ltd., the company to which the beverage shop involved belongs, was fined 500,000 yuan by the Futian Regulatory Bureau of the Shenzhen Municipal Market Supervisory Authority on the grounds of “illegal advertising conduct.”
Anti-Unfair Competition Law
Article 8
Business operators shall not engage in false or misleading commercial publicity regarding the performance, function, quality, sales status, user reviews, or honors received of their goods, thereby deceiving or misleading consumers. Business operators shall not assist other operators in engaging in false or misleading commercial publicity by organizing false transactions or other means.
Article 20
If a business operator violates Article 8 of this Law by engaging in false or misleading commercial publicity regarding its goods, or by assisting other operators in such publicity through organizing false transactions or other means, the supervisory and inspection department shall order the cessation of the illegal act and impose a fine of not less than 200,000 yuan but not more than 1,000,000 yuan; if the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than 1,000,000 yuan but not more than 2,000,000 yuan shall be imposed, and the business license may be revoked. If the violation of Article 8 of this Law constitutes the release of false advertisements, punishment shall be imposed in accordance with the provisions of the Advertising Law of the People's Republic of China.
[1] The author's perspective
It is reported that the largest shareholder of the company is Heytea, which holds a 60% stake. Looking back at Heytea’s path to success, it seems that some of its shadows can also be seen in Yecuishan, mainly in terms of marketing strategy. The gimmick of waiting in line for an hour for a cup of Heytea made it an overnight internet-famous check-in spot, and it quickly became popular nationwide, with many branches opened. Since its inception, Yecuishan has always positioned itself as a high-end molecular juice experience store, which shows that this is also a new type of marketing gimmick. How impressive Yecuishan’s high technology really is, we do not know. What can be seen is simply that the prices are not cheap, and the brand marketing results are quite good.
Unfortunately, this time Yecui Mountain exaggerated the gimmick too much, seemingly forgetting that both commercial publicity and transaction prices are subject to legal constraints. Although Yecui Mountain claimed at the time of the incident that its ingredients were high-priced olives costing 800 yuan per catty and that the production process was very time-consuming, it still could not escape the penalties imposed by the market supervision administration. This shows that exploiting loopholes is not a clever tactic; instead, doing business steadily and honestly is the long-term way.
