Capital Economy, Business and Finance
You can grow fast in China, even in a slump. Especially in a slump.
Mixue, pronounced ME-shway, is a China-based ice cream and tea chain that was about a ninth the size of McDonald’s five years ago in terms of numbers of branches, but now has more than the burger chain – 45,000 spread across Asia and Australia.
It hopes to raise more than $500 million in an IPO in which its stock starts trading in Hong Kong today.
Mixue’s business model relies on selling supplies to franchisees, and its main offerings, many of them for under $1 in local currency, are lemonade, tea, bubble tea and ice cream.
The ice cream comes with a choice of multiple toppings but in most menu items is vanilla, of the soft serve variety. The WSJ has the, er, scoop.
