For those among them who thought that McDonald’s and Starbucks are the largest food and beverage chains in the world according to the number of locations, think about it again.
It turns out that China’s largest bubble tea and beverage chain, mixing ice cream and tea, which many are not familiar with for many, offers more sockets than one of the known chains.
The company recorded more than 40 percent on Monday after its debut of 444 million US dollars at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Due to a large franchise network last September last September last September, more than 45,000 shops over China and 11 countries in overseas, including Thailand, Singapore and Australia.
In comparison, the Burger chain McDonald’s has over 43,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries, while the coffee giant has around 40,000 branches worldwide.
Modest origins, low prices
The budget -friendly chain was founded in 1997 by founder Zhang Hongchao as a small shaved ice rink with a homemade machine in the northern city of Zhengzhou. The chain has benefited the growing thirst to Bubble tea in China and elsewhere and contributes to the fact that it grows into the franchise giant that it is today.
“It is the largest brand that no one ever heard of,” said Robert Carter, analyst of the restaurant industry at Stratonhunter. “You have just exploded.”
Mixue has become a national icon among the Chinese consumers, and his catchy Jingle translated into English: “I love you, you love me, Mixue Ice Cream & Tea”, which relies in the melody of the popular American song Oh! Susanna.
O’clock | Mixue’s catchy Jingle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdunm6c59zw.
The full name Mixue Bingcheng means “Sweet Snow Palace”, according to the company of the company. Mixue is known for his playful snowmascottchen called Snow King, who wears a crown and a red cloak, and has become popular with young consumers to sell fruit and tea drinks, coffee and ice cream at a reasonable price – typically about 1 US dollar.
“You have a really interesting price strategy. You keep things very low, but your product quality is high,” said Carter. “This also made it possible for them to really grow dramatically and to get many younger consumers from this price.”
Bubble Tea is one of the few bright spots on the consumer front in China, whereby the operators of low price price cut off particularly well.
Mixing controls its own supply chain
By the end of September 2024, over 99 percent of the more than 45,000 businesses of the company became a franchise, as the official registrations of Mixue showed. Almost all shops are managed by franchisees, in contrast to Starbucks, which operates 53 percent of his business.
However, Mixue does not primarily depend on the franchise fees for the income, and the franchise fees made up only 2.4 percent of his total income in the first three quarters of 2024.
Although many consider the brand to be a traditional beverage dealer, it looks more like a raw material supplier who sells food, packaging and devices at thousands of franchisees, according to the submissions to thousands of franchisees. The majority of his income results from the sale of goods and devices to franchise transactions that are required to buy these articles from Mixue.
“You don’t make any money right on the franchise model,” said Carter. “You also do it because you control the supply chain and control the profit from the sale of the product to your network.”
Is North America next?
In his IPO registration in January, Mixue said that it was planned to continue to grow while he recognized that his strategy to expand his store network “could possibly lead to the competition both in our existing shops and against our competitors”.
Carter believes that Mixue could come to North America because it is a possibility for her.
“I would expect you to watch North America. Canada and the USA are a trillion dollar restaurant segment,” he said.
CBC News turned to the mix, but did not hear immediately outside of office hours.
“I would not rule it out … With so much immigration from Asia, this brand could have an immediate brand recognition at the right locations,” said Vince Sbabellone, an expert in food industry on the market research company Circana. “The challenge will be to meet your model with a low price.”
And although the Boba chain has more outlets than American fast food giant McDonald’s, Starbucks and Subway worldwide, Mixues Sales is still Starbucks, Inspire Brands, the owner of Dunkin ‘and Baskin Robbins and Tim Hortons, according to research companies from Singapore’s research company Works.
