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Mixue Ice Cream and Tea may be unfamiliar to many of us but the Chinese firm has more outlets than McDonald’s and Starbucks.<\/p>\n
On Monday, the bubble tea chain’s shares jumped by more than 40% in their Hong Kong Stock Exchange debut.<\/p>\n
The company raised $444m (\u00a3352m) in the financial hub’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) of the year.<\/p>\n
Mixue’s popularity comes as many people in China are grappling with the country’s economic challenges – including a property crisis, and weak consumer and business confidence. It sells ice creams and drinks for an average of six Chinese yuan ($0.82; \u00a30.65).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The company was founded in 1997 by Zhang Hongchao, a student at Henan University of Finance and Economics, as a part time job to help his family’s finances.<\/p>\n
Its full name M\u00ecxu\u011b B\u012bngch\u00e9ng means “honey snow ice city”, with its stores adorned with its Snow King mascot and playing the firm’s official theme tune<\/a> on a loop.<\/p>\n According to Mixue, it has more than 45,000 stores across China and 11 other countries, including Singapore and Thailand. The firm has also said it plans to continue expanding.<\/p>\n That compares to “over 43,000 locations” for McDonald’s and Starbucks’ 40,576 outlets.<\/p>\n While it is often seen as China’s biggest bubble tea, iced drinks, and ice cream chain, it operates more like a raw-materials supplier than a traditional brand.<\/p>\n Unlike Starbucks, which operates more than half of its stores directly, almost all of Mixue’s outlets are run by franchisees.<\/p>\n Mixue’s strong market debut contrasts with smaller rival Guming, which saw shares slide on its first day of trading in February.<\/p>\n Last year, shares in the owner of bubble tea chain Chabaidao also fell on their market debut. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n