Mixue has more stores than McDonald’s; investors clamor to buy its stock after hotly awaited IPO
You thought Luckin Coffee was growing fast?
The meteoric rise of Luckin Coffee — Starbucks’ chief domestic coffee rival in China — has been nothing short of remarkable, with the chain adding 17,833 stores, the equivalent of ~10 new outlets every single day, since 2019. But compared to Mixue, China’s bubble tea giant that went public this morning, Luckin Coffee’s expansion looks almost slow.
Founded in 1997, Mixue has exploded in recent years, adding more than 38,000 stores in the last five years — more than double the pace of Luckin’s expansion.
The remarkable expansion of the company’s base is unprecedented in the world of fast food and drink.
With more than 45,000 locations, Mixue, officially Mixue Ice Cream & Tea, claims to have more outlets than any other chain in the world, having surpassed the 43,477 that McDonald’s reported having at the end of 2024.
By franchising almost all of its stores, Mixue’s business model is closer to McDonald’s than Starbucks’ — but, unlike traditional franchisers, which tend to lean on franchise fees or real estate revenue, only 2.4% of Mixue’s income comes from those fees. Instead, substantially all of Mixue’s revenue comes from selling everything from tea to ice cream makers to its franchisees, per its annual report, with more than 60% of its ingredients produced in-house.
Known for its snowman mascot and low-priced drinks — which are often less than $1 once converted from yuan into USD — the chain is wildly popular in China, but has also spread to 11 other countries, including Thailand and Singapore.
With that kind of growth, it’s no surprise that the company’s public markets debut was hotly anticipated, with CNBC reporting that the domestic Hong Kong offering was 5,200 times oversubscribed, with shares rising 43% in their first day of trading on Monday.
Of course, that enthusiasm might not last forever, a lesson that Mixue’s rivals have learned. Nayuki, one of the first Chinese tea chains to go public in 2021, has already seen its stock plunge 90% since its IPO. Guming, the second-largest tea chain, went public in mid-February and saw its shares tumble on day 1 — though they’ve since climbed ~20%, partly lifted by Mixue’s market buzz.
