Mixue Ice City’s global store count reaches 60,000, with a market value shrinking by over 100 billion HKD. 2,527 franchise stores have exited, facing over 11,000 consumer complaints.

Yangtze Business Daily News ●Yangtze Business Daily reporter Zhang Lu

Backed by impressive annual performance and a large number of stores, Mi Xue Group (02097.HK, hereinafter “Mixue Bingcheng”) once became a leading stock in the eyes of the capital market for ready-to-drink beverage brands.

On March 24, according to Mixue Bingcheng’s 2025 annual report, the company achieved revenue of RMB 33.56 billion for the full year, up 35.2% year over year; attributable net profit was RMB 5.88 billion, up 32.7% year over year. All core operating indicators exceeded market expectations. By the end of 2025, Mixue Bingcheng’s total number of stores worldwide reached 59,823, surpassing McDonald’s and Starbucks in scale, and firmly ranked first globally in the number of ready-to-drink beverage stores.

Yangtze Business Daily reporter research found that in 2025, Mixue Bingcheng closed 2,527 franchised stores, a substantial increase of 57.1% compared with 1,609 in 2024. The company’s overseas market experienced a first-ever annual contraction in 2025: overseas stores net decreased by 428, a drop of 8.7%. On the other hand, according to data from the platform of Black Cat Complaints 【Download Black Cat Complaints app】, as of March 29, 2026, Mixue Bingcheng has accumulated more than 11,000 complaints. In the past 30 days, the share of food safety–related complaints exceeded 70%. Issues such as foreign objects in drinks and ingredient spoilage have repeatedly drawn consumer complaints.

Since the stock set a historical high of HKD 618.5 per share in June 2025 and its market value surpassed HKD 230 billion, Mixue Bingcheng’s share price has been moving downward in volatility. As of the close on March 27, 2026, the company’s share price was HKD 286 per share. Compared with its high point, the decline was 53.8%, and its market capitalization shrank by more than HKD 100 billion.

Firmly ranked first globally in the number of ready-to-drink beverage stores

In 2025, Mixue Bingcheng, thanks to its dual outstanding performance—store scale and revenue growth—secured the top spot in the global ready-to-drink beverage industry.

The financial report shows that in 2025, the company achieved revenue of RMB 33.56 billion, up 35.2% year over year; gross profit of RMB 10.45 billion, up 29.7% year over year; attributable net profit of RMB 5.88 billion, up 32.7% year over year. Key financial indicators all exceeded market expectations. By the end of 2025, Mixue Bingcheng’s total number of stores worldwide reached 59,823, net increasing by 13,344 from 46,479 at the end of 2024; among them, there were 55,356 stores in mainland China. Its business covered 13 overseas countries. Store scale continued to lead globally, surpassing McDonald’s and Starbucks.

However, behind the impressive expansion numbers, the overseas market for the first time showed an annual contraction trend. At the end of 2024, the number of overseas stores was 4,895; by 2025 it fell to 4,467. The net decrease for the full year was 428 stores, a decline of 8.7%. According to the company’s explanation, the contraction mainly centered on Indonesia and Vietnam, the two core markets, resulting from operational upgrades and adjustments for existing stores and the closure of low-efficiency stores. Meanwhile, the company also entered new emerging markets such as Kazakhstan and the United States during the same period.

Yangtze Business Daily reporter noticed that on the other side of rapid expansion, in 2025, Mixue Bingcheng closed 2,527 franchised stores, a sharp increase of 57.1% compared with 1,609 in 2024. The diversion of foot traffic caused by store clustering, together with margin pressure under a low-price strategy, jointly drove the number of store closures to rise quickly.

From a financial structure perspective, Mixue Bingcheng relies heavily on a franchise business model of “selling ingredients + collecting franchise fees.” In 2025, revenue from goods and equipment sales accounted for as much as 97.6% of total revenue, while revenue from franchise and related services accounted for only 2.4%. The headquarters bears almost none of the operating costs for offline stores, yet it firmly controls core profits through the upstream supply chain. Franchisees, meanwhile, assume all operating risks.

For franchisees, the industry generally faces the problem of “high investment, low returns.” Initial investments such as franchise fees per store, equipment procurement, and renovations typically exceed RMB 300,000. Combined with fixed expenditures such as ingredient procurement, rent, and labor, a franchisee’s average daily revenue per store needs to reach more than RMB 3,000 to break even.

According to the company’s publicly disclosed data, Mixue Bingcheng’s average daily terminal retail sales per store fell from RMB 4,416.3 in the first three quarters of 2023 to RMB 4,184.4 in the first three quarters of 2024, down 5.3% year over year. Its single-store revenue capability has continued to face pressure. As the density of domestic stores keeps increasing, the effect of diverting customer flow per store is further intensified, squeezing franchisees’ profit space continuously. This has also become an important reason why the number of store exits has risen.

Cost-side pressure is also not something that can be ignored. In 2025, due to extreme weather in domestic major production areas and global supply gaps, prices of core ingredients such as lemons surged significantly. The lemon supply price offered by Mixue Bingcheng to franchisees was raised from RMB 200 per unit to RMB 255 per unit starting June 30, 2025, an increase of 27.5%. In the same period, the national average wholesale price of lemons rose by more than 60% year over year. Meanwhile, the selling prices of the company’s end products remained stable, and it did not fully pass cost pressure on to consumers, further compressing franchisees’ gross profit margins.

Food safety complaints keep occurring

While expansion pressures mount for the franchise system, Mixue Bingcheng’s food safety issues continue to worsen.

Yangtze Business Daily reporter reviewed data from the Black Cat Complaints platform and found that, as of March 29, 2026, by searching the platform using “Mixue Bingcheng” as the keyword, the platform’s cumulative number of related complaints reached 11,216 cases. Among them, in the past 30 days, the cumulative number of effective complaints was 178, and the average daily number of complaints was close to six. The share of food safety–related complaints exceeded 70%, covering multiple prominent problems, including foreign objects found in drinks, ingredient spoilage, and hygiene standards in stores not meeting requirements.

Looking at the breakdown of complaint types, in the past 30 days, food safety–related complaints were mainly concentrated in three areas: first, foreign objects such as cockroaches, flies, and flying insects mixed into drinks, with this type accounting for over 40%, making it the most complained-about issue by consumers; second, drinks made using expired ingredients and overnight food materials in stores, accounting for about 25%; third, poor and dirty conditions in store work areas and unstandard hygiene practices such as employees not wearing masks and gloves as required, accounting for about 15%.

What consumers are even more critical about is that after encountering food safety problems, rights protection is repeatedly obstructed. Large numbers of complaint cases show that the stores involved often shift responsibility by saying “the drink has been opened, and the source of the foreign object cannot be determined.” The brand’s headquarters customer service also only responds with “we will forward it to the relevant department,” dismissing the matter, refusing to implement the RMB 1,000 statutory compensation standard specified in the Food Safety Law.

From a regulatory perspective, it is already not a one-off case that Mixue Bingcheng’s stores have been notified and penalized due to food safety issues. In June 2025, a Mixue store in Shatin, Hong Kong, was ordered by the Hong Kong Food Safety Centre to stop selling frozen desserts and was fined due to exceeding standards: Escherichia coli group (or intestinal bacteria) counts were 70% above the limit (170 per gram, far exceeding the statutory maximum of 100 per gram), and the total bacterial count reached 75,000 per gram (statutory maximum 50,000 per gram). In August 2022, a store in Qiqihar, Heilongjiang, was fined RMB 10,000 by the Market Regulation Administration and had illegal gains confiscated due to insect-like foreign objects found in its lemonade.

Based on incomplete statistics of publicly available penalty information from the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System and market regulatory authorities in various places, between 2024 and 2025, the number of administrative penalties imposed by regulators on Mixue Bingcheng’s stores for food safety issues exceeded 30 times over two years, and there are clear gaps in food safety control.

Industry food-industry experts analyze that Mixue Bingcheng’s recurring and unremitting food safety problems have the core root cause in a complete loss of control over quality control under its franchise model. According to the company’s 2025 annual report, among nearly 60,000 stores worldwide, the proportion of franchised stores exceeds 99.94%, while the number of directly operated stores is very small. Some franchisees, to cut costs, have engaged in violations such as “using expired ingredients, simplifying cleaning processes, and not training employees before putting them on the job.” Meanwhile, to maintain its expansion speed, the headquarters has not imposed sufficiently strong penalties on violations.

The capital market’s trust crisis in Mixue Bingcheng is reflected directly in the large decline in market value. In June 2025, Mixue Bingcheng’s share price surged to HKD 618.5 per share, and its market capitalization exceeded HKD 230 billion, making it the tea beverage brand with the highest market cap globally. After that, the share price kept fluctuating downward. As of the close on March 27, 2026, the share price was HKD 286 per share, a 53.8% drop from its historical high point, and its market capitalization evaporated by HKD 121.4 billion.

It is worth noting that on March 24, Mixue Bingcheng released its annual report and also announced management changes. Founder Zhang Hongfu stepped down as CEO and became Co-Chairman of the board. The former CFO Zhang Yuan took over as CEO.

Editors: ZB

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