Hong Kong Stock New Tea Beverage Companies 2025 Annual Report Wrap-up: Franchise Expansion Accelerates Rapidly, Direct-operated Transformation Faces Difficulties and Challenges

Ask AI · How can franchise models achieve a profit surge by tapping into lower-tier markets?

【Global Times (Global.com) report】As the five Hong Kong-listed new tea beverage companies—Mixue Bingcheng, Guming, Chabaidao, Hushang Ayi, and Nayuki—have all released their 2025 annual reports, the industry’s annual performance landscape has been officially set. Brands that focus on lower-tier markets with a franchise model are seeing a dual explosion in both scale and profitability, while brands that rely mainly on company-owned stores are still adjusting amid losses. Differences in business models and supply-chain efficiency have become the key factors behind the widening gap.

Performance Polarization

In 2025, leading new tea beverage companies showed clear tier differences. Franchise brands as a group pushed forward aggressively, while company-owned brands faced pressure on their own. Mixue Bingcheng ranked as the industry leader with revenue of 33.56 billion yuan and net profit of 5.93B yuan, supported by nearly 60k stores worldwide, creating a scale moat that is difficult to replicate. Both revenue and profits have maintained steady growth. Guming became the biggest “dark horse” of the year, with revenue of 60k yuan and net profit of 12.91B yuan. Year over year, revenue and net profit grew by 46.9% and 108.6%, respectively. Its deep focus on lower-tier markets has paid off significantly, with the share of township stores rising to 44%.

Chabaidao and Hushang Ayi formed a steady second tier. Chabaidao reported revenue of 3.12B yuan and net profit of 821 million yuan, growing by more than 70% year over year, and achieved a major profit rebound even as revenue growth slowed. Hushang Ayi posted revenue of 5.4B yuan and net profit of 501 million yuan, up 52.4% year over year, and successfully entered the “10,000-store” brand cohort.

By sharp contrast, Nayuki became the only one among the five companies to see revenue decline and continued losses. Full-year revenue was 4.47B yuan, down 12% year over year, with a net loss of 243 million yuan. The number of stores decreased from 1,798 to 1,646, putting the company into an active phase of contraction and adjustment.

From the perspective of profitability itself, top franchise brands are no longer traditional tea beverage retail companies; they have effectively become B2B supply-chain businesses under the new tea beverage sector. Revenue mainly comes from selling ingredients and equipment to franchisees and providing management services. The largest portions of revenue for Mixue Bingcheng and Chabaidao (97% and 94.9%, respectively) come from selling goods and equipment to franchisees. For Guming, sales of goods and equipment account for 79% of revenue. It also derives as much as 20.35%—over 4.33B yuan—of revenue from franchise management services. Emphasizing operational services may be a core reason behind its standout profit performance. A gross margin level of around 30% has become the “healthy balance” range between brands and franchisees.

Supply-Chain Building a Wall

Lower-tier markets and heavy supply-chain asset investment have become the two engines that allow franchise brands to stay in the lead. Tier-three and below cities are already the core battleground for industry growth. For Mixue Bingcheng, nearly 77% of stores in mainland China are located in tier-two and below cities. For Guming, the share of stores in tier-two and below cities is 82%. For Hushang Ayi and Chabaidao, the shares of stores in lower-tier markets are 52.7% and 46.1%, respectively. Lower rents and higher demand in these markets support faster store expansion for brands and improve store-level efficiency.

Supply-chain capability directly determines cost structure and the upper limit of profitability. Leading brands continue to increase investment in heavy assets to build barriers. Mixue Bingcheng’s core ingredients are produced entirely in-house. Five production bases and 28 warehouses ensure efficient end-to-end operations. In 2025, it continued to invest several hundred million yuan to expand factory facilities and equipment. Guming relies on 24 warehouses to form a dense distribution network, enabling 98% of stores to achieve “delivery every two days,” with warehousing and distribution costs compressed to below 1% of GMV. Chabaidao has 26 warehousing-and-distribution centers covering the entire country; more than 90% of stores can receive deliveries by the next day. Meanwhile, it improves operational efficiency through AI-enabled automated inspections and intelligent replenishment systems.

Nayuki, however, faces a cost predicament due to insufficient scale. With more than 1,000 stores, it is difficult to spread the loss of high-quality ingredients. Its takeaway delivery order share is as high as 52.6%, and it must pay more than 462 million yuan in platform delivery service fees each year, creating significantly greater cost pressure than for franchise brands at the “10,000-store” scale. Leading brands with ample cash flow have already started a new round of strategic deployment. Mixue Bingcheng acquired a fresh beer brand to explore synergies across multiple categories. Guming invested in building a headquarters office building to strengthen its operational control center. Chabaidao is piloting coffee to look for a new growth curve. Nayuki is focusing on optimizing stores and cutting costs to reduce losses, attempting to turn around its operating situation.

Industry analysis holds that the new tea beverage sector has entered a mature phase of differentiation. The franchise model and the dividends from lower-tier markets have become the industry’s mainstream. Supply-chain and digitalization capabilities form the core competitiveness. In the future, industry competition will shift from scale expansion to a contest of efficiency at the single-store level. Only business-model optimization and cost-control capability will determine whether a brand can continue to lead the industry.