One can become a billionaire selling ice cream, lemonade and fruit smoothies ¡ª all for less than $1. Zhang Hongchao and Zhang Hongfu, two brothers who founded China¡¯s largest freshly made drinks chain, are making a fortune by taking advantage of China¡¯s fast-shifting labor dynamics.
Mixue Group¡¯s blockbuster 3.5 billion Hong Kong dollar ($444 million) public listing is a marvel for a difficult food and beverage industry where even the likes of Starbucks and McDonald¡¯s are revamping their operations. With its share price surging, the Zhang brothers are now richer than Starbucks¡¯ founder Howard Schultz.
Fast-growing cash cows are hard to find in this uncertain world. By number of stores, Mixue has become bigger than McDonald¡¯s. It has over 45,000 outlets after more than doubling its locations in just three years. There¡¯s no cash burn either. In the first nine months of 2024, revenue grew 21% to 18.7 billion Chinese yuan ($2.6 billion), while net profit came in at 3.5 billion yuan, a 42% year-on-year gain.
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