Chinese Bubble Tea Chain Mixue Plans Expansion to 500-1000 Stores in Brazil by 2030

Mixue opened its first store in Brazil last month at an upscale shopping centre on São Paulo’s Paulista Avenue, where dozens of customers queued for ice cream priced below one dollar. The company, which remains little-known outside China, operates more stores globally than McDonald’s with a total of 60,000 outlets, the majority on the Chinese mainland.

Its bubble tea and milk tea products are now sold in cities including New York and Singapore. A customer at the new Brazilian location said he believed the brand would succeed in the market. Mixue’s cut-throat pricing and efficient supply chains have challenged established western brands such as Starbucks in China, where demand for affordability has grown during a slowing economy.

The company’s international expansion extends that model to additional markets, joining other Chinese chains such as Luckin Coffee that are also expanding overseas. Mixue launched in the United States last year with its signature king cone priced at $1.19.

The company closed a net 428 international stores in 2025, many in south-east Asia, but has developed supply chains in the region and is entering new markets including Kazakhstan. It maintains seven logistics warehouses across four south-east Asian countries, following its first overseas opening in Hanoi in 2018, and plans to build a factory in Brazil to supply stores across the Americas.

The company is aiming for 500 to 1,000 stores in Brazil by 2030. A franchising consultancy chief executive said other Asian brands operate in Brazil as franchises but lack Mixue’s stated level of ambition in unit numbers and investment. Mixue was founded in 1997 as a shaved ice stall in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, and later expanded into beverages including coffee.

In China its franchise model has grown rapidly on demand for affordable products during the economic slowdown. The company now has more than 55,000 stores on the mainland, mostly in smaller cities. Total stores have increased sixfold since 2020 and are around a third higher than the figure disclosed before its Hong Kong listing in March 2025.

and Financial Performance

Prospective franchisees visited the company headquarters in Zhengzhou last month. One prospective franchisee from Fujian province said people in his hometown of Nanping, a city of 2.7 million, are not especially well-off and that the only branded beverage outlet there is a coffee chain.

He estimated it would cost 300,000 yuan to open a Mixue outlet with a two-year break-even period. The company’s low prices, with an ice cream cone available for as little as 2 yuan, are supported by bringing much of its supply chain in-house. At its headquarters it displays its own cow and lemon farms along with a logistics system of 29 warehouses serving hundreds of cities.

A consumer analyst at HSBC estimates more than 60 per cent of its ingredients are self-produced, lowering procurement costs. Last year Mixue’s revenue rose 35 per cent to 33.6 billion yuan while net profit increased by a third to 5.9 billion yuan. Its shares have fallen about 30 per cent this year since the Hong Kong listing.

The company received inquiries from nearly 300 prospective franchisees for the Brazilian market and plans to add 60 to 100 franchisees this year. A consultancy founder said industries in China have a history of overexpansion followed by contraction and stabilisation.

Store closures in Indonesia and Vietnam were described as part of a restructuring process, with some early franchisees no longer meeting updated requirements on location standards and operational capability. The company’s overseas supply chain integration lags behind its operations in China.