How $10B Mixue is Disrupting McDonald's & Starbucks
For many years, McDonald's, Starbucks, and KFC have been by far the biggest names globally in fast food chains but a seemingly unlikely contender is king of them all (albeit not yet made in revenue) when it comes to store count.
Santa Fe is a Happy Snowman Figurine. It went viral on TikTok because of its jingle. And its biggest weapon? A thirty-cent ice cream cone.
Mixue Bingcheng (or simply “Mixue” as it is typically referred to) is a Chinese chain reportedly started by the granddaughter and now boasting 45,000+ locations; more than any McDonald's, Starbucks, or KFC on planet earth.
Street pit Princeling: the Ice Cream Story :
PICTURE: Mixue was born in 1997 in Zhengzhou, Henan province. The young founder, Zhang Hongchao, comes from a poor rural family and had to borrow money from his grandmother in order to set up a tiny shaved ice stall.
He was essentially working seasonal business for nearly a decade — good in the summer and tough in the winter. The following year, in 2006, he introduced a basic item: soft serve ice cream in small cups (proudly priced at one yuan or $0.15).
It was an instant hit. Long queues formed. Word spread. Zhang launched his first store in 2007 together with his brother. Their plan was simple: drive down prices, scale fast, and control the pipe.
BFF(Backend For Frontend)
Mixue wasn't simply about selling ice cream; it set up the entire industry to sell ice cream at dirt-cheap prices.
Manufactures its own products at 26 locations with fruit grown by the company itself.
Everybody in the cold chain logistics business told us they could deliver ingredients to just about any city in China within 24hours.
The Mixue May, however, has been introduced on a franchise-first model where low entry fees are charged and most of the revenue (more than 97%!) generated through ingredient, cup, and packaging sales to its stores miniscule rather than from royalties.
This combination of high backend fees, low frontend expenses helps to keep store prices rock-bottom while keeping franchisees profitable.
Conquering Lower-Tier Cities First :
While many Western brands chased China's wealthier coastal markets, Mixue set out for the hinterlands — smaller cities and towns with fewer food choices and lower incomes.
...where a $0.30 ice-cream or a $1 fruit tea was not just cheap, it was unmissable. And in 2014, Mixue was already running a network of 1,000 stores. By 2020, 10,000. Today? More than 45,000.
A Meme, A Snowman, A Movement :
Mixue wanted its branding to be fun and welcoming at Snow King, the new face of the brand. Their jingle “我爱你你爱我，弥雪冰豆 & 喝茶” (I love you, you love me, Mixue Ice Cream & Tea) turned into an infectious earworm that spread all over China and even some parts of Southeast Asia.
Mixue played this up on social media with memes. Providing the chain with a huge organic reach, customers freely enjoyed TikTok videos, jokes, and remixes.
Taking Over Southeast Asia :
Mixue Store was born in 2018, and it is the first Mixue store in Vietnam. The reaction was explosive. Yellow Taxi by 2024 in Vietnam and Indonesia, reaching the milestone of having over 1,000 stores…and also entered Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
The formula stayed the same:
Low-cost franchise entry
Affordable products for mass appeal
Maccas modifies supply chains locally and menus (Such as halal certification)
Testing Developed Markets :
In 2023, Mixue started testing high-income countries, beginning with Sydney and Seoul, and planning to visit Japan. The challenge? Skyrocketing rents, surging labor costs, and consumers who have grown used to high-quality cafés.
This is a strategy geared toward student-heavy neighborhoods and urban centers, places where price and novelty still draw attention.
The $10 Billion Question :
Today, Mixue is worth an estimated $10 billion. This isn't a matter of playing the same game as Starbucks or McDonald's — it's of rewriting the rules entirely.
Western giants with their flagship brands and high Continental brand inescapable quality levels establishing empires, Mixue ruled through cost reduction, market saturation, building infrastructure, and education over lifestyle incentivizes buying.
Even if it just modestly moves to the developed world, it could revolutionize global food and beverage strategy.
Even a non-premium chain can be powerful
Mixue is proof that, in some cases, the most radical idea isn't new at all—it's just cheaper.
