Mixue becomes biggest F&B chain, surpassing McDonald’s, Starbucks

China’s bubble tea and ice cream brand Mixue, with 45,300 locations worldwide, has become the largest food and beverage (F&B) chain by store count, surpassing both McDonald’s and Starbucks.

Mixue’s number of stores – as of September last year – was shown in filling to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Jan. 1 as the company registered for an initial public offering there, according to Singapore-based market analysis firm Momentum Works.

In comparison, McDonald’s has 43,000 outlets, while Starbucks has 40,200. They are followed by Subway and KFC, the firm said.

In Southeast Asia, Mixue accounted for 70% of over 6,100 F&B outlets operated by Chinese companies.

However, the chain ranked fourth globally in terms of gross merchandise value, at $6.5 billion.

Starbucks led the list at $55.5 billion, followed by Inspire Brands, $14.9 billion, and Tim Hortons, $7.5 billion, Momentum Works said in a report last month.

Mixue plans to raise $500 million in an initial public offering and to start trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange early next month, Reuters reported.

Its net profit was CNY3.5 billion ($479 million) in the nine months to Sept. 30 last year, up 42.3% year-on-year, according to its regulatory filings.

It said earlier that it sold 5.8 billion cups a day.

The chain was founded by Zhang Hongchao, a businessman born in 1977 who built the brand from the age of 21. His brother Zhang Hongfu later became a shareholder.

Forbes estimates Mixue's value at approximately $2.9 billion based on business results at the end of September.

Previously, in the last funding round at the end of January 2021, the chain was valued at $3.3 billion, making both of the Zhang brothers billionaires.

Mixue’s two biggest foreign markets are Indonesia and Vietnam, with 2,667 and 1,304 stores, respectively.

It posted nearly VND1.26 trillion (US$49.5 million) in Vietnam revenue in 2023, up 2.6 times from 2022, according to data platform Vietdata.