Heytea has started selling French fries, and to make the product "just right", its tea makers even need to undergo 30 days of intensive training?

Is Heytea going to sell French fries?

Some users posted that a Heytea Tea Workshop 2.0 store located in Shenzhen will launch the "Freshly Made Tea Snacks" line, and tea makers have to attend a 30-day closed training at the headquarters just to fry a perfect serving of French fries.

The new tea beverage industry has competed over ingredients, then over consumption scenarios, so what should be paired with a cup of tea?

Heytea Tea Workshop Launches New "Freshly Made Tea Snacks", Tea Makers Even Learn to Fry French Fries

Recently, some users revealed on social platforms that on the outer enclosure of the Heytea Tea Workshop 2.0 under renovation at Shenzhen Central Book City, in addition to the regular specialty tea drinks and tea ice cream, the four words "Freshly Made Tea Snacks" are prominently displayed.

What is more surreal than the new product launch is the "hell-level" training behind it. Some netizens posted to share their experience: "You even have to learn to fry French fries first when you join Heytea Tea Workshop!"

Starting from potato selection, a single potato has to go through more than a dozen procedures including fresh cutting, washing, soaking, steaming, spin-drying, powder coating, freezing, and deep-frying, which takes 5 hours in total before it can be fried.

To make the French fries fried to the "perfect" state, the tea makers were arranged to take 30 days of closed training at the Shenzhen headquarters, and finally made the standard serving of "fresh-cut skin-on French fries".

Netizens marveled at the golden and crispy skin-on French fries in the basket: "Are these Michelin-level French fries?"

As soon as the news came out, social platforms immediately exploded:

"This news feels so out of place, but I really want to try it!"

"Shenzhen residents get to eat it first, hurry up and roll it out nationwide!"

"When you join Heytea Tea Workshop, the knife skills for cutting potatoes are more sophisticated than those for making milk tea"

It is reported that this series of freshly made tea snacks will debut at the Heytea Tea Workshop 2.0 store at Shenzhen Central Book City, but it has not been popularized in ordinary stores across the country for the time being. The brand has not responded yet as to whether it will be promoted nationwide in the later stage.

From "Drinking" to "Eating", What Exactly Should Be Paired With a Cup of Tea?

Heytea's move to sell French fries is not a random idea, but a continuation of cross-border attempts in the tea beverage industry, as the brand is going further and further on the "tea beverage + snacks" track.

In late September, Cotti Coffee quietly launched "freshly tapped draft beer + freshly fried snacks" at a self-operated store in Jiejian Square, Pingnan, Ningde, Fujian. The beer starts at 7.9 yuan, and fried food is priced from 6.9 to 12.9 yuan. The store's business hours are extended to 23:00. It sells 9.9-yuan coffee during the day, and uses fried chicken and beer to cover the night social scenarios when the bar is idle.

On September 7, the official account of Bawangchaji in Shanghai announced that 7 stores in Shanghai would launch "Baiwu Hongchen Tea Eggs", which can be ordered individually for 5 yuan, or purchased at a discounted price of 2.5 yuan when buying a full-price drink, and are slowly boiled with the same tea base of Baiwu Hongchen, making "tea beverage + 1 egg" a supplementary order for the breakfast scenario.

In January 2026, Bazhugong launched "Fragrant Snail Sausage" in stores across the country, priced at 5 yuan each. The sausage is stuffed with snail meat, sour bamboo shoots, sour cowpeas and fungus, presenting the traditional flavor of old Liuzhou;

In July, it added Lipu taro grilled sausages, with fresh pork content exceeding 71%, using the geographical indication taro as a selling point, leveraging consumers' existing recognition of grilled sausages to bring extra exposure to the milk tea shop and create a second memorable brand feature.

The competition in the new tea beverage industry has long extended beyond a single cup of drink, to the depth of the supply chain and the breadth of consumption scenarios.

In the future, tea shops may not only need to serve good-tasting tea, but also have signature "tea snacks" that can impress customers.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Kamen" (ID: KamenClub), written by the Editorial Center, and published with authorization from 36Kr.