Economic Observer reporter Zheng Yuxin, intern Fan Xingqi

On August 28th, with the release of the 2026 interim performance announcement by Chabaidao, six newly listed tea beverage companies have successively submitted their performance reports in the first half of this year. In addition to Meixue Group (02097. HK), Guming (01364. HK) and Shanghai Auntie (02589. HK) have also entered the era of ten thousand stores.

The stores are still expanding and the revenue is mostly maintaining growth, but the growth rates of each company have clearly differentiated. Mixue Group continues to hold the top spot in terms of scale; Shanghai Auntie has the highest revenue growth rate, reaching 42.4%; The revenue growth rates of CHA. O, 02555. HK, and Mi Xue Group have dropped to single digits; Nayuki's tea revenue decreased by 13.1% year-on-year.

If we only focus on the number of storefronts, the expansion of new tea drinks has not stopped yet. However, companies are no longer discussing "how many more stores to open", but rather how to make old stores sell one more cup and make franchisees earn money. After entering the era of ten thousand stores, the quality of individual stores is being placed in a more important position.

Half year report seating arrangement: Gu Ming overtakes, Shanghai aunties catch up

In terms of revenue, Meixue Group achieved a revenue of 15.216 billion yuan in the first half of the year, leading in a fragmented manner.

The second place has changed: Gu Ming has surpassed Bawang Tea Lady's 6.961 billion yuan with 7.47 billion yuan. Afterwards, Tea Baidao and Shanghai Auntie achieved revenues of 2.655 billion yuan and 2.589 billion yuan respectively, with a gap of less than 100 million yuan between the two; Nayuki's tea ranks sixth with 1.893 billion yuan.

The profit ranking is generally consistent with the revenue. Meixue Group achieved a profit of 2.319 billion yuan in the first half of the year, followed by Guming. Bawang Tea Ji's net profit was about 910 million yuan, ranking third. Tea Baidao and Shanghai Auntie were 345 million yuan and 321 million yuan respectively. Naixue's tea still ranks at the bottom and has not yet turned around, with an adjusted net loss of about 97 million yuan, but the loss has narrowed compared to the same period last year.

If we look at the growth rate, Shanghai Auntie and Guming rank among the top. The revenue of Shanghai Auntie increased by 42.4% year-on-year, and the profit during the period increased by 58.3%. Regarding the growth in the first half of the year, Wang Juan, the Secretary of the Board of Directors of Shanghai Auntie, told the Economic Observer reporter that it was mainly due to the scale effect formed by the multi brand strategy and the steady expansion of the store network relying on brand differentiation layout. At the same time, it continued to enrich the product matrix, deepen refined operation management, optimize the operation of existing stores, and promote the two-way improvement of supply chain quality and efficiency.

In contrast, the revenue growth rates of Meixue Group, Bawang Tea Ji, and Tea Baidao have all dropped to single digits. Among them, Meixue Group achieved a revenue growth of 2.3% and a profit decline of 14.7% during the period. Regarding the pressure on profits, Cui Haijing, the financial director of Meixue Group, stated that the revenue side maintains steady growth, while the profit side is temporarily under pressure due to supply chain upgrades, improved store operation capabilities, and investment in brand IP (brand image label) construction. These investments have had a short-term impact on the group's profits, but are solidifying the foundation for long-term competition.

Bawang Tea Lady positions 2026 as the year of adjustment and stabilization. Huang Hongfei, the global CFO of Bawang Tea Ji, stated that although the revenue growth rate has slowed down, the company's business strategy established earlier this year will not change, and the improvement of cost structure and organizational efficiency is sustainable.

Three companies enter the era of ten thousand stores

In 2026, various new tea beverage companies are still actively opening stores.

As of the end of June, Meixue Group had 63987 global stores. When it comes to the business focus after the expansion of scale, Zhang Yuan, CEO of Meixue Group, said, "This scale means that any oversight in any link may be magnified; but conversely, any optimization can also unleash enormous value

Gu Ming and Shanghai Auntie have reached 14351 and 13155 households respectively. So far, 3 out of 6 newly listed tea beverage companies have crossed the threshold of 10000 stores. Cha Baidao and Ba Wang Cha Ji have 8863 and 7639 stores respectively, while Nayuki has 1685 tea shops.

But the other side of the milk tea business lies in the quality of individual store operations. The number of stores can be expanded through continuous opening, while the daily sales of individual stores and the profitability of franchisees are more direct reflections of business conditions. From the disclosed data, the individual store performance of the six companies is not consistent.

Guming is relatively stable. In the first half of the year, the average daily GMV (total merchandise transaction volume) of a single store increased from 7600 yuan to 7800 yuan, and the average daily number of cups sold per store increased from 439 to 440. Gu Ming stated in the financial report that the increase in coffee categories and the expansion of breakfast scenes partially offset the impact of reduced subsidies for third-party food delivery platforms.

Let's take a look at the few companies under pressure. The management of Meixue Group admitted that the average revenue of its main brand stores experienced a double-digit decline in the first half of the year. In addition to the high base formed by last year's food delivery subsidies, the intensification of industry competition and the incomplete effectiveness of internal upgrades also have an impact. Regarding this, Ma Junwei, CEO of Meixue Ice City China, said, "Consumers did not feel a significant upgrade or change in the product side in the first half of the year. This is a matter of time difference, not direction

The overall same store GMV of Bawang Tea Ji in the second quarter decreased by 16.1% year-on-year, and the monthly average GMV per store in Greater China dropped to 338000 yuan. The average daily sales revenue of Naixue's tea per store has decreased from 7600 yuan to 7000 yuan, and the daily order volume and average amount per order have also decreased synchronously.

Zhang Yuan, CEO of Meixue Group, said that slowing down domestic store openings does not mean slowing down growth. At the same time, Meixue Ice City will shift more resources and energy towards operational support and efficiency improvement of existing stores.

Gu Ming is raising the selection criteria for new stores while renovating or relocating old ones. Shanghai Auntie stated that they will coordinate store management based on the premise of "quality first, single store profit model running smoothly".

Where does the incremental growth of a single store come from

So, where does the incremental growth of a single store come from? From the financial reports and performance speeches of various companies, it can be seen that they have adopted various strategies: increasing product categories, expanding breakfast and afternoon tea scenes, optimizing the location of old stores, and promoting supply chain and digital transformation.

Let's take a look at the coffee first. More than 90% of Guming's stores are equipped with coffee machines, and 12 new coffee products were launched in the first half of the year, with coffee revenue accounting for over 20% of the overall revenue. The management of Guming hopes to further increase this proportion to 25% to 30% in the future, and pilot breakfast baking products in more than 1000 stores, with the intention of connecting coffee and breakfast scenes.

However, the management of Guming did not consider coffee as a "panacea". At the performance meeting, Gu Ming bluntly stated, "Actually, we don't have a 'one trick, eat all the fresh food' method. We can't reverse everything with just one move." Gu Ming hopes that coffee, breakfast, dine in improvements, and old store optimization can all contribute to gradually repairing store profits.

Chabaidao is also accelerating its coffee layout. In the first half of the year, freshly ground coffee has covered about 30% of domestic stores, and in the second quarter, coffee sales accounted for over 10% of the total cup volume. In addition to coffee, Chabaidao has also launched 9 flavors of iced milk, with cumulative sales exceeding 36 million cups. The management of Chabaidao has proposed to optimize the revenue structure of individual stores and improve overall sales performance through the integration of tea and coffee and more suitable product categories.

Meixue Group is also trying the incremental benefits brought by coffee. Fresh milk, short fresh coffee beans, and freshly ground coffee machines have entered over 6000 stores. From the pilot data, the stores that installed coffee machines performed better than the overall level. According to the management of Meixue Group, the company has upgraded the unloading method of its stores from "free handover at the rear of the vehicle" to "delivery to the store". Although this has increased the delivery cost to some extent, it better guarantees the quality of cold chain raw materials and effectively reduces the operational pressure on the stores.

In addition to products, Meixue is also focusing on store renovation and relocation. Ma Junwei stated that actively screening stores with lower than expected daily revenue in the past six months, "if it is judged that it is a site selection issue rather than a business issue, we will help them relocate to a better location and provide appropriate subsidies to support franchisees. Relocation is an effective means to help old stores regain value.

Shanghai Auntie said that in the future, she will strengthen single store profitability through high-quality and orderly store expansion; Taking health as the main line, deepen the integration of tea and coffee; Improve supply chain efficiency and deeply cultivate production resources; Continuously implementing a differentiated multi brand strategy; Strengthen the full process digital application to further enhance the profitability of the company and its stores.

In addition to fresh fruit tea and fresh milk tea, Nayuki's tea has added products such as vegetable and fruit yogurt smoothies, sandwiches, and fruit coffee, while continuing to adjust stores with poor business performance.

Bawang Tea Lady has launched a total of 29 new products in the first half of the year, and has expanded its product line to include tea specialties, lemon milk, and GEELATO tea latte. The offline GMV of GEELATO pilot stores has increased by an average of over 20%.

For new tea beverage companies that have entered the era of ten thousand stores, the next question to be answered is not just how many more stores can be opened, but how to make more stores last longer. As the management of Bawang Tea Lady has said, the more complex the market, the more important it is to "make good products, serve good users, and polish every store".

(Author Zheng Yuxin)