Mixue opened its first location in Los Angeles on Friday. | Photo courtesy of Mixue.
Another fast-growing Chinese chain is making a play for the U.S. And this one is a biggie.
Mixue, a coffee and ice cream chain out of China that now operates more locations than any other global restaurant chain, made its U.S. debut in Los Angeles on Friday.
The company has grown aggressively outside of China in recent years with a business model that features a lot of franchised locations that sell low-priced ice cream and coffee. Most of Mixue’s items are priced from $1.19 to $4.99. Its ice cream, the chain’s signature product, costs $1.19. Lattes cost $2.99.
The company marked the opening by hosting a series of activities, including street pop-ups featuring its “Snow King” mascot, photos and other promotions.
Mixue, which was founded in China in 1997, has been expanding outside of its home country since it opened in Vietnam in 2018. Today it operates 4,700 locations outside of China.
But its rapid expansion in China has enabled it to bypass McDonald’s, Starbucks and Subway to become the biggest restaurant chain globally by unit count. Mixue operates 53,000 locations globally.
Mixue opened 7,700 locations in 2024 alone, according to data from Restaurant Business sister company Technomic.
Mixue generated just $6.5 billion in system sales from about 45,000 locations in 2024. By contrast, McDonald’s, the world’s largest restaurant chain, generated $131 billion from just less than 44,000 worldwide locations that year.
It is part of a generation of Chinese restaurant chains that have expanded with franchise business models that open a lot of low-volume locations. Five of the 10 chains that added the most locations in 2024 were based in China, including the three fastest growing in Mixue, Luckin Coffee (6,000 more locations) and Cotti Coffee (4,100 more units).
Some of these are eyeing the U.S., notably Luckin, which opened its first U.S. location in New York earlier this year. The 6,000-unit Chinese tea chain Chagee opened its first U.S. location, also in Los Angeles.
Mixue could gain share in the U.S. by undercutting prices and tapping into consumer frustration over inflation.
But they face stiff competition in a beverage market flush with fast-growing competitors like drive-thru concepts 7 Brew, Dutch Bros, Scooters and Swig, while major chains McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A and Taco Bell seek to generate more beverage sales.
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