Mondays are for milk tea drinks in the Philippines, especially during the pandemic. As Macao Imperial Milk Tea continues with its free upgrade to 1-liter sizes in select drinks every Monday of August, rival milk tea chain Gong cha rolled out a one-day-only promo on August 24, 2020.
The Taiwanese milk tea chain rolled out its Buy 1 Get 1 promo to promote its online ordering system. In its promo mechanics released days before August 24, Gong cha Philippines stated that customers can buy two drinks (of the same kind) for the price of one by placing an order through its Gong cha Online Ordering System. Thus, the promo was originally set to be applicable for pickup orders only (payment through Paymaya or cash upon pickup).
However, around 11 a.m. on the day of the promo (or shortly after the opening of its stores), Gong cha PH announced that its chatbot for Facebook Messenger and website orders had experienced a hard time accommodating an overwhelming number of users. The online ordering system was totally deactivated later on, with the message to users to just visit any of Gong cha’s stores for walk-in orders and purchases.
Meanwhile, the same promo was also carried out through the Lalafood app, but as expected, an overwhelming number of online orders have also been affecting transactions. There are also complaints about some stores not accepting online orders even from Lalafood anymore for the day.
Gong cha’s 8/24 promo applies to all drinks in its menu.