In 1997, school school scholar Zhang Hongchao opened a small shaved-ice retailer in Henan, then one in every of China’s poorest provinces, with cash lent by his grandmother. Practically 30 years later, Zhang and his brother Hongfu, Mixue’s CEO, are price some $8.2 billion every. Zhang’s shaved-ice retailer, now referred to as Mixue Ice Cream & Tea and identified for its comfortable serve and drinks, has extra areas globally (53,000) than McDonald’s (43,500). Its IPO in March on the Hong Kong Inventory Alternate raised HK$3.45 billion ($450 million)—the fifth largest in Hong Kong within the first half of 2025—and was oversubscribed 5,000 instances. Mixue is predicted to open its first U.S. location in New York Metropolis, having reportedly signed a 10-year lease on Canal Road.
Mixue’s speedy scaling all over the world displays the energy of its provide chain, its development through a franchise mannequin, and its viral branding, but it surely additionally speaks to the outstanding endurance of Zhang’s early determination to win over cost-conscious patrons with an ice cream cone that prices simply 15 cents.
For these within the know, a Mixue retailer is immediately recognizable. Its glowing emblem and signature pink inside drew a crowd on a Friday afternoon in November in Hong Kong’s central purchasing district. In a metropolis identified for its luxurious purchasing, Mixue’s menu costs additionally stand out: a juicy grape burst for the equal of $1.67, pearl milk tea for $2.06, and soft-serve ice cream for 64 cents, cheaper even than McDonald’s $1.09 Sundae cone. On a poster, the model’s mascot, Snow King, holds a milk tea and winks. “With Mixue in hand, joy is grand,” it reads.
Mixue’s current fortunes are grand certainly. Within the first half of 2025, Mixue reported 14.9 billion yuan ($2 billion) in income, up 40% from the earlier 12 months’s interval. Its firsthalf revenue of two.7 billion yuan ($370 million) is tiny in contrast with, say, McDonald’s first-quarter revenue of $1.9 billion, but it surely represents 44% development from the 12 months prior. (Mixue didn’t return requests for remark.)
Affordability has at all times been a draw for Mixue— even when the value of its 15 cent cone has ticked up—however there’s extra to the ice cream and beverage chain than low-cost treats.
As Mixue expanded, it confronted ingredient shortages, which prompted Zhang to start out sourcing the chain’s uncooked supplies instantly from farmers and producers. In 2012 it established centralized factories and later arrange warehouses and coldchain logistics to ship components like frozen fruit pulps and recent strawberry and mango cubes to franchisees. (It now has 23,404 worldwide.) That reduces intermediary prices, serving to Mixue preserve its costs low and its merchandise recent. When Mixue went public in March, it mentioned that roughly 66% of the online proceeds from the providing can be used to widen and deepen its end-to-end provide chains.
Mixue’s shut relationship with ingredient producers and suppliers provides it a value benefit that opponents wrestle to copy. “When they open more outlets, they can immediately send out all these supplies, ingredients…So profit margins are pretty tight, and [food and beverage] brands typically find it challenging to manage this,” says Emil Fazira, Asia Pacific meals perception supervisor at Euromonitor Worldwide.
Mixue’s franchise mannequin can be a moneymaker in that it sells tools and components to its franchisees. It cites such gross sales as a driver of its 40% year-overyear income development within the first half of this 12 months.
By providing each desserts and drinks, Mixue differentiates itself from opponents that simply promote drinks. The candy deal with is among the quickest rising product classes in Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia, Fazira notes.
Whereas ice cream is normally perceived as a extra indulgent deal with, Mixue’s extra reasonably priced and accessible comfortable serve, in contrast with sit-down ice cream parlors, makes it “a bit more unique,” Fazira says.
Simply as distinctive are Mixue’s advertising and marketing ways. In China, shops turned gross sales receipts into serialized fiction, printing 20 chapters of a compelling narrative that includes its mascot, Snow King, and sparking a nationwide craze.
Overseas, Mixue is partaking shoppers with video games and presents. Andrian Lim, a online game streamer based mostly in Malaysia, joined a Mixue Instagram Reel problem in September to complete a mint lemonade in 45 seconds. The 31-year-old was amongst dozens who braved stinging mind freeze to win an unique Snow King foldable bag.
“I love to challenge myself to the limit, just for the fun of it,” says Lim, who “fell in love” with Mixue’s jasmine tea—and its low-cost worth.
Trying forward, Mixue plans to satisfy the all-day beverage calls for of shoppers by increasing its stand-alone espresso retailers and introducing beer. Mixue’s espresso chain, Fortunate Cup, which sells freshly brewed espresso for six yuan (90 cents), not too long ago entered Malaysia after establishing a foothold of 8,000 areas in China. In September, Mixue Group acquired 53% fairness in Chinese language draft beer firm Fulu Recent Beer, helmed by Hongfu’s spouse, Tian Haixia.
“[Mixue] is trying to enter new pockets of opportunity…It is interested, or at least keen to understand, that area of product diversification,” Fazira says.
And naturally, Mixue’s new beer is more likely to be low-cost. Fulu Recent sells for 7.9 yuan or $1.11 a pop.
This text seems within the December 2025/January 2026 situation of Fortune with the headline “Mixue’s hot streak.”
Asia’s booming candy deal with product class is fueling Mixue’s rise
44%
Mixue’s earnings soared within the first half of 2025 to succeed in 2.7 billion Yuan ($370 million).
53,000
Mixue’s sprawling international retailer depend now tops McDonald’s
