Mixue Group reported robust earnings growth for 2025, driven by rapid store expansion and a supply chain-led business model, even as rising costs and intensifying competition weighed on margins.

Revenue rose 35.2 percent to 33.56 billion yuan ($4.91 billion), while net profit increased 33.1 percent to 5.93 billion yuan, the company said. Its global store count climbed to nearly 60,000 by year-end, up from 46,000 a year earlier.

The company's scale expansion — anchored by a franchise-heavy model and centralized procurement — continued to reinforce its cost leadership in the country's highly competitive freshly made beverage market.

As of Dec 31, Mixue Group operated 55,356 stores on the Chinese mainland, spanning 31 provincial regions and more than 300 cities. Lower-tier markets remained a key growth engine, with about 58 percent of outlets located in tier-3 cities and below.

The company opened 14,496 new franchise stores in 2025 and closed 2,527, resulting in a net increase of about 12,000 locations.

The beverage giant expanded beyond its core offerings of tea drinks, ice cream and coffee with the acquisition of fresh draft beer brand Fresh Beer Fulujia, completed in December. The brand, which sells draft beer priced at about 6 to 10 yuan per 500 milliliters, has more than 1,300 franchise stores.

For overseas markets, the company reported 4,467 stores at the end of 2025, down from 4,895 a year earlier. It entered new markets including Kazakhstan and the United States, while its coffee brand Lucky Cup debuted in Malaysia and Thailand. By year-end, the company operated across 13 countries and had established localized warehousing and logistics networks in eight.

Mixue said it will continue to prioritize Southeast Asia while taking a more flexible approach to global expansion, based on local demand, store performance and broader economic conditions.

The 2026 "Global 50 Chinese Catering Brands" list, or Global 50, released by the China Chain Store and Franchise Association, shows that the top 50 listed brands operated a total of 6,801 stores abroad at the end of 2025. Mixue Group leads the pack with numbers more than the total of the next nine brands combined.

The company also announced a management reshuffle. Co-founder Zhang Hongfu stepped down as CEO to become co-chairman, while Zhang Yuan succeeded him as CEO.

Its revenue remains heavily reliant on selling ingredients and equipment to franchisees, which accounted for 32.77 billion yuan, up 35.3 percent from a year earlier. Franchise service income rose 28 percent to 790 million yuan.

Despite strong top-line and profit growth, margins showed signs of strain. Gross margin for goods and equipment sales fell to 29.9 percent from 31.2 percent in 2024, as rising raw material costs and shifts in revenue mix weighed on profitability.