Heytea supports Yeshishan, but falls short with the thousand-yuan juice.
Compiled from The Paper
[2] Shenzhen's Ye Cui Shan previously drew attention for selling a thousand-yuan cup of olive juice, and the local market regulatory authority filed a case against the company behind the beverage shop for suspected false advertising, imposing a penalty of 500,000 yuan.
Case review
[3] In November 2021, the "Ye Cui Shan · Molecular Juice" beverage shop 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 certified public account, this drink was the "shop's treasure," strictly selected from the king of olives—Jinyu Sanian olives—originating from the Chaoshan region of Guangdong, with trees over a hundred years old and rare species. Each cup of thousand-yuan olive juice required nearly half a kilogram of Jinyu Sanian olives, undergoing eight processes including running water rinsing, salt scrubbing, and three rounds of filtered water washing, taking two hours to prepare, thus sparking attention.
[4] On November 26 of the same year, Shenzhen market regulatory authorities reported that the actual purchase price of the shop's raw materials did not match the advertised price, and they had filed a case against the company for suspected false advertising. On the 27th, staff from the involved "Ye Cui Shan · Molecular Juice" beverage shop stated they were actively cooperating fully with the relevant regulatory investigations.
[5] On January 29, 2022, according to a notice from the Shenzhen Market Supervision Administration, Shenzhen Haolin Catering Co., Ltd., the company behind the involved beverage shop, was fined 500,000 yuan by the Futian Regulatory Bureau of the Shenzhen Market Supervision Administration for "advertising violations."
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, holding a 60% stake. Looking back at Heytea's path to success, some similarities can be seen in Yecui Mountain, mainly in marketing strategies. The gimmick of queuing for an hour for a cup of Heytea once made it an overnight internet-famous check-in spot, quickly spreading across the country and opening many branches. Since its inception, Yecui Mountain has been promoting itself as a high-end molecular juice experience store, which is also a new type of marketing gimmick. How advanced the technology of Yecui Mountain really is remains unknown; all that can be seen is 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.
