"Bet their ice cream machines work"- Internet reacts as China's Mixue overtakes McDonald's as world's biggest food and beverage chain

Fans online have reacted to Chinese company Mixue overtaking McDonald's as the world's biggest food and beverage chain. It has the most number of stores in the world, beating some of the biggest brands in the industry.

As per a report by research firm Technomic, Mixue has around 45,000 stores in Asia and Australia. This is around 2,000 stores more than McDonald's global count and 5,000 more than Starbucks' count.

Fans online have reacted to the report on X, as one hilariously took a dig at McDonald's, writing:

"I bet their ice cream machines work"

One user admitted that they had never heard of Mixue before, tweeting:

"How is this possible if I've literally never heard of it until reading this post"

"Wonder if it might come to the West as a result," another user commented.

Some customers, who have tried Mixue, pointed out their favorites.

"Their boba was so good in Vietnam!!!" one user tweeted.

"as a big fan of their ice cream toffee latte, i'm happy," another wrote.

Some fans also expressed their desire to try it out and urged them to open outlets in the US as well.

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A deeper look at Mixue after it overtakes McDonald's in global outlets

Founded in 1997 by Zhang Hongchao in Zhengzhou, Henan, China, Mixue is an ice cream & tea chain. It is known for its lemonade, boba teas, and ice creams. It also has other varieties of tea like milk tea, fruit tea, and smoothies, and other similar products.

Mixue offers these products at a much cheaper price than its competitors, especially global brands like McDonald's. As per Fast Company, their drinks and ice creams are priced at somewhere around $1.40. A Beijing-based analyst, Ernan Cui, pointed out that these prices have helped the chain excel, as she said:

“People are chasing more cost-efficient products.”

Mixue is known for their smaller stores in jam-packed locations like around colleges, schools, and in big markets. This enables them to manage stores more cost-effectively while also getting a larger and more loyal customer base.

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Mixue sees huge jump in Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Illustration MIXUE Ice Cream & Tea IPO (Image Source: Getty)

The Chinese chain made its debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday, March 3. Its shares jumped around 47% on its debut itself, as per Reuters.

Mixue sold around 17 million shares for HK$202.5 each. The shares opened at HK$262 each and rose as high as HK$298 each, making it one of Hong Kong's most popular stocks.

Phillip Securities deputy sales director, George Au, said (via Reuters):

"Many Chinese tea chain stocks had dismal debuts and Mixue's 30% plus jump is a pleasant surprise to investors. Some clients were so enthusiastic they brought their entire families to open accounts just to participate in this IPO."

Meanwhile, Kingston Securities deputy director, Dickie Wong, Hong Kong's shortened IPO settlement period has led to increased interest in the likes of Mixue. He said:

"The cost for retail investors to subscribe has been reduced to close to zero, which is increasing their incentive to participate."

Despite surpassing the American chains in terms of storefronts, Mixue is far behind in terms of valuation though. As per Fast Company, Mixue's total valuation is $10 billion while McDonald's has a valuation of around $223 billion.