Translated material
This is the largest fast food in the world
Zhang Hongchao, the son of a Chinese farmer, moved to the city to study and opened a small stall with Japanese sweets, but he did not last long. For several years he tried to open various businesses, but they were not successful until once Zhang Hongchao decided to sell cheap ice cream near the school. Now his Mixue network is one of the most influential companies in 2025, and the businessman has more a state than many oil magnates. The new Chinese dream is in the material of the Cold .
In the 1990s, the son of a poor farmer began to sell cheap ice cream. Now his company has more points than McDonald's or Starbucks
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Mixue is small cafes where they sell soft drinks and desserts. In the menu you can find Milkshiki, Smoothies, Bable, as well as ice cream with Oreo cookies. The network has a logo - a smiling snowman with a crown that holds a scepter in the shape of a horn of ice cream.
In the world there are more than 45 thousand Mixue restaurants - more than McDonald's or Starbucks . This network is little familiar to Western consumers, since it is represented mainly in Asian countries - in China, Thailand, Cambodia, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan and South Korea. In Europe, the Mixue point is only in France.
In this network, low prices: drinks there are six yuan - this is less than one dollar. In China, there is so much Coca-Cola bank. For comparison: another Chinese brand Nayuki sells the same drinks an average of $ 3.8.
“Let people all over the world eat well and drink in just two American dollars,” says Mixue founder Zhang Hongchao
The Mixue cafe made it a billionaire: Zhang Hongchao's fortune has already exceeded $ 10 billion. This is three times more than the former head of Starbucks Howard Schulz .
Grandmother invested in the case
Zhang Hongchao grew up in a poor family in Henan province. His parents were farmers. They dreamed of educating their three sons and therefore sent them to the city. Zhang Hongchao entered Henan University of Economics and Law in Zhengzhou. In those years, he bred quails and rabbits, and also worked as a waiter. But once he thought about his own business, inspired by the Book of Oga Mandino, The Greatest Merchant in the World . It tells about the fate of the camel drove, who discovered his job.
In 1997, when he was 21 years old, Zhang Hongchao took $ 360 from his grandmother and opened a small stall in Zhengzhou, where he sold soft drinks and cacigoori -this is a Japanese dessert of ice with the addition of sweet syrup, which is prepared with the help of a special apparatus of Kakigoori, which relieves a piece of ice. Zhang Hongchao made this apparatus himself.
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At first, the business went well. Zhang Hongchao sold drinks with a cost of 1.5 yuan (approximately 21 centers) for 100 yuan ($ 14), that is, with an extent of almost 6600%. But soon problems began. People bought kagigoori only in the summer, and in winter the demand for dessert and soft drinks fell. In addition, the development of business was interfered with local authorities, which several times demolished the stall due to the urbanization of Zhengzhou. Zhang Hongchao restored him at least five times, but after some time he nevertheless closed the stall.
Later, when Zhang Hongchao succeeded, he said that in those days he thought about suicide. He was saved by thoughts about loved ones: he wanted to return the money borrowed to him.
Fraternal franchise
Zhang Hongchao tried several times to open stalls either with sweet drinks, then with ice cream. None of this shot until 2003, when he opened a shop with ice cream near the school. Its main clients were children and adolescents.
Mixue Zhang Hongchao registered the name back in 1999 - so he called his company. This time he tested a new model of business development: he sold everything at low prices to attract children, and invested money in equipment. Mixue corporate dessert - soft ice cream in a lug - cost only one yuan (11 rubles at the current rate).
The Zhang Hongchao network began to expand when relatives and friends joined him. They began to open new points throughout China under the Mixue brand using a franchise - this is a business model by which the head company (franchisor) allows other entrepreneurs (franchisee) to use their brand, recipe and technology for a fee. The franchisee open points under the brand of the franchisor, follow its standards, earn on this and give a percentage. So most of the McDonald's and Subway restaurants work.
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Today, more than 99% of Mixue points in Asia are franchise. Over the years, the company has simplified the requirements for its franchisee so that more and more entrepreneurs could open a business under its brand (and not just friends and relatives). Each potential owner of the Mixue restaurant, who comes to negotiate a franchise in the main office, gives a booklet with an inspiring slogan: “The starting point is never too small, and the dream is never too big.”
For the use of its brand, Mixue receives royalties. But the main income of the company brings something else: it sells franchisee equipment, as well as ingredients for drinks and sweets.
The same strategy continues to work on the network as in a cadre shop at the school: a large volume of production and low prices. Mixue milk and ice cream are two times cheaper than the nearest competitors. Because of this, the Mixue point is especially successful in small cities, where less competitive markets. About 75% of the Mixue cafe is concentrated in such places.
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The Mixue model was successful largely due to the through supply chain. This scheme works like this: the company not only sells finished products, but also produces packaging, equipment and about 60% of the necessary ingredients - milk, tea, fruit syrups and seasonings. This allows them to depend less on external suppliers.
Million profit
In 2018, Mixue opened the first foreign point - in Vietnam. In 2023, even without points in the United States and Europe, the company already became the second in the world for the production of finished drinks, losing only to the giant Starbucks (although Mixue has more establishments). In China, Mixue remains a leader, occupying 11.3% of the drinking market.
Every year the company earns more and more. In 2022, its net profit was two billion yuan ($ 278 million), in 2023-3.2 billion yuan ($ 445 million), in 2024-4.4 billion yuan ($ 612 million). The company retains 15% revenue: that is, with every 100 yuan revenue, it leaves itself 15 yuan after all the costs of taxes and salaries. This is considered a good indicator for such a business.
In March 2025, Mixue posted its shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, that is, it became public. On the first day of trading, the cost of its share rose by 47%, and the company itself attracted $ 444 million. Not everyone managed to buy Mixue securities, since demand exceeded the supply of 5258 times. Such a stir on the exchange has not been seen since 2021.
For almost five months on the exchange, the company's market capitalization has grown more than doubled and reached almost $ 24 billion
There were other Chinese drinks that became public: for example, Babble-Ti-Cafe Guming and Chabaidao. However, not everyone manages to withstand competition: Chabaidao shares fell 40% after entering the exchange, and the founders of the Nayuki Babble-Ti-Cophy network lost almost the entire condition.
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Author: Alexandra Yastrebova Photo: WindMemories /