Mixue Ice Cream & Tea, the Chinese ice cream chain that has taken the world by storm with 53,000 stores, will open its first location in New York. This marks a new era in American fast food following its surprising rise, which began just in 2024. It has since become the largest fast-food chain on the planet.
The store signed a 10-year lease to occupy a 2,100-square-foot ground-floor space at 266 Canal Street, Tribeca.
This is a risky bet for Mixue, as the rent is estimated at $165 per square foot, totaling $346,500.
Mixue Bingcheng, the full name of the brand owned by Mixue Group, means ‘City of Ice, Snow, and Honey.’ It has around 40,000 stores in China and another 2,600 in Indonesia and nine other Asian countries. It also has a significant presence in Australia, operating under a franchise business model. By the end of 2024, the chain had 45,000 locations, double the number it had in 2021.
Among its most popular products, the creamy mango boba stands out. A traditional creamy ice cream mixed with chewy tapioca pearls. Also popular are the jasmine tea with oats and mango, milk tea with coconut jelly, and bubble tea. Its business model focuses on ultra-cheap products for less than $1 and a vast franchise network.
Mixue operates more like a supply chain company. Its main source of revenue comes from selling raw materials and equipment to its franchisees, rather than just charging franchise fees. In fact, the cost for using the brand is considerably low.
So far, there has been no official announcement regarding the opening date of this first New York store.
Mixue’s Rapid Global Expansion
Mixue was founded in 1997 as a single beverage kiosk by university student Zhang Hongchao in Zhengzhou, China. The company grew to be included in Time’s 100 most influential companies list in June of this year, with an estimated brand value of over $10 billion.
With its expansion, it has already surpassed McDonald’s and Starbucks as the world’s largest chain in terms of number of stores in 2024. Currently, Bloomberg estimates that the combined fortune of Hongchao and his brother and partner, Zhang Hongfu, who joined the business around 2007, is about $8.1 billion as of February this year.
Image: DiarioNY
