How Two Chinese Brothers Became Billionaires From $1 Bubble Teas

At age 21, Zhang Hongchao started peddling shaved ice treats. A quarter of a century later, he and his younger brother Hongfu have made a fortune selling soft-serve ice cream, coffee drinks and its super popular bubble tea and lemonade.
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[@selenajack2036]

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[@roddywoods8130]

Thank you, Going through her profile on her webpage out of curiosity, and surprisingly she seems proficient. I appreciate this.

[@lizhijun1116]

As a Chinese, I know some abt Zhang Hongchao and his brother. They truly built their Mixue Empir with their own hands and sweat, without any big background. They own all characteristics of success.

[@Dayvit78]

That's good to hear. I like success that comes from hands on doing the work.

[@nunyadambusiness3530]

because in china, only workers can become rich. in america, their bosses steal from the workers by taking the credit. its sad.@@Dayvit78

[@dreameister1212]

The franchise cost to open Mixue in Indonesia is around US$ 51k not including rent, employees salary, renovation etc

[@evanh9301]

That is why they are billionaires I guess haha

[@Brodragon2225]

@@evanh9301 lol idk but every chinese company is duplicate of some foreign startup but a franchise for these much price better open my own tea stall

[@hh0686]

Cheaper than opening a McDonald’s. It costs $1-2m USD to open one.

[@adityaazzani]

​@@hh0686Mcd menjanjikan break even dalam 3tahun maksimal, mixue? G jelas

[@leanneedwards3047]

@@Brodragon2225what do you mean duplicate of foreign company?

[@sumi227]

same in Malaysia, just recently they start to pop up everywhere and their items cost less than Malaysian owned Tealive

[@user-xr4lb4pk5b]

Yes, love this boba store, so good and cheap

[@hentie5371]

Went to Malaysia and saw this store there, I have heard about their popularity and tried their sundae. It was okay for a sundae, but was absolutely top for a $80cents sundae.

[@truongngo4786]

their franchises are really popping out everywhere in Vietnam, cheap and seems to be clean, taste is very okay for price

[@Dayvit78]

Agree. I have a positive appreciation of this brand. They've even forced competitors to lower their prices (like Tocotoco) and that's a good thing.

[@laurel6610]

Yeah. Ice cream is super cheap, I think it's 10k or smth.

[@deadskull6969]

Love their products, affordable and taste good 😊

[@hulkrise8106]

Your topic doesn’t match the answer. There is no mention how they become billionaires….only blah blah how much they earn

[@Saint.Moogle]

I LOVE THEIR BUBBLE TEA

[@thafringe]

The way the narrator pronounced Mixue Bingcheng and Pinduoduo made my ancestors cry 😭 soz

[@terryliu9015]

meh its close enough for western standards lol give them a break

[@rizkierwin6488]

Samething happens when they listen to your english

[@happy1288]

Mixue is everywhere

[@markarca6360]

They have stores here in the Philippines.

[@Aurica34]

They are all over here in Singapore. I go to them for the $1 softserves and dont go for the bubble tea.

[@evanh9301]

their branding and marketing work very well too even they are a bit tacky but they are kinda viral

[@rejoicebreedtbreedt]

Where to order

[@zaireyljedgelua4995]

Mixue also started popping up everywhere here in Manila, PH. The products are relatively cheap but good. I love their boba sundae

[@BlackSwan-sq2iw]

My favorite Mixue ice cream .... cheap and good.

[@richa6010]

Love their teas!!!! they are superb and delicious not too sweet..glad they had store here in PH

[@joechua8426]

The one nearby to my area closed :(

[@markarca6360]

There are 2 stores near my workplace.

[@KilanEatsandDrinks]

We have this joke in Indonesia that Mixue is going to take over the country soon what with how aggressive they are expanding their businesses in every major city in the country 😁 What an amazing success story!

[@louniece1650]

So much more to this story, but whatevs. Excellent story.

[@ahpong]

Begun visible in Thailand since last year.

[@inquisitvem6723]

The tapioca place in my city has opened since late 90s and the owners are like worth $20mil. I think that is great.

[@hotpot5517]

Why editing like that? Had to recheck if Forbes really made this vid.

[@tigerfist2864]

i love mixue its very yummy ,i live in tropical land so ice cream like this very popular

[@rejoicebreedtbreedt]

Recipe please

[@credenceia3572]

i love mixue sm!!

[@toddhayes3506]

Congratulations Professional Class

[@GenesisOnMoney]

Very inspiring. The brothers were able to pull this up purely as a result of leveraging their franchise networks for sale of kitchen hardware and the likes. Quite impressive!

[@soulz23]

Not a bad franchise idea in heavily populated Asian postcodes. Low start up costs. What is there to lose. Chatime was the winner best franchise award in 2019.

[@harleyking88]

Honestly,it looks like a great replacement for Starbugs. I hope some day it can work in my country.

[@Kiratworldwide]

Very cool 😮😮😮😮

[@estebanduniach5075]

In Vietnam there are at least 1000+ Mixues, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh as at least 15 Mixues alone, and the city probably 150+ Really an empire

[@CiciliaTeng1887]

The idea is same with Starbucks at the beginning to sell $1 coffee but mixue is sell $1 ice tea with fruit topping and ice cream or boba. The important thing is the store everywhere so can still keep deliver fresh ice tea or smoothies. So congrats to mixue owner for amazing business idea.😊🙏👍

[@ellee9604]

Success Takes Time. He Failed Once and Came with his Brother and Made it Happen.

[@chinaboss6683]

My brothers keeper. 😊

[@hellowill]

The $1 tea in Asia is far superior to any $10+ tea in the west. Quite eye opening coming here. The west is more expensive but the goods and services are somehow much worse, especially the service and workers attitude.

[@codylim1]

Finished watching 4:17

[@jonwick7635]

Yeay Mixue

[@teploves]

Nice. Mixue is my fave milktea brand now here in the Philippines!!!

[@myownopinion6676]

Where in the Philippines?

[@hendriwang8645]

I own one store of Mixue in Indonesia. It has taken Indonesia by storm in the last 2 years. But Mixue management in Indonesia is in total chaos with some out of stock ingredient and have sacrificed a lot of franchise owners in order to open up a lot of stores within walking distance.

[@nobinobuz]

Do u make money from it? How much?

[@hieutrangia3814]

their ice cream is good

[@FinancialFinesse00]

Thanks for this interesting and inspiring episode guys and keep gems and nuggets coming peace and blessings.

[@yizhang7027]

That's how you do business. Low price high value.

[@sillwuka]

I saw this in Laos but never visited!

[@edena276]

Hope they come soon in France 🙌

[@kimi98765]

I actually like their milk teas/bbt. I think they’re quite milky in taste which i do like, but ofcourse no.1 for me is GongCha

[@mathewmcfool]

what does that have to do with the price of tea in China

[@sampanurag]

While I don't like the sugar or bubble tea, I loved the freshly made kiwi juice at Mixue in Vietnam.

[@jonah_lau]

No one cares about what you love to drink. The market has proven the success of bubble tea.

[@manishgrg639]

Bubble tea is also gaining popularity in Nepal@@jonah_lau

[@niceguy76]

why so arrogant?@@jonah_lau

[@jonah_lau]

Oh, pray tell, how modest, noble, and gifted are you? I'm all ears for your self-praise and enlightenment.@@niceguy76

[@zkmoonea]

acutually a lot of people here really like Mixue's freshly made lemon black tea.

[@mr.fantasticbaby1831]

Sound similar to Netflix s story😊

[@Novastar.SaberCombat]

And here *I* am writing, editing, illustrating, formatting, designing, and publishing books. 😂 420,000 words and 250+ illustrations thus far. Three books done, three to go. I'm a bit short on the billions of dollars, though. Ya can't eat or drink THIS stuff.💪😎✌️ 🐲✨🐲✨🐲✨

[@Im-mono]

I love u u love me mixue ice cream and tea🎉😊

[@NJVArtimations]

this Mixue is popping up everywhere

[@user-vv7ir1pl4j]

They sell really good soft serves for like 2 yuan so idk how they’re in profits.

[@user-cs1gc5wk2r]

Why go public if you already have It grown ?

[@QiuQiuChannel-ni3xj]

Imagine getting a billion throught selling buble tea😮

[@chongb]

I want people to think outside the food cost as a consumer. These guys are selling sugar water (with a bit of chemical and tea) profile margin was only 15.4 % (338million net profit divided by 2.2 billion revenue). Imagine the food cost for restaurants selling food and how low their profit margins are?

[@leeheemeng3799]

Margins of restaurants fall between 10 to 15 percent too

[@leon4175]

restaurant sells hella expensive for profit they dont care

[@houchi69]

You might want to check your math again. Net Profit is 338mil. That's not the same as margins.

[@alfiey5783]

You may want to reconsider that there are m businesses that are far less work for much higher profit margins. These kinds of business, food and beverage depend so much on consumers demand and any kind of economic weather that it would be impacted by small events. Then you need to look at supply chain, employees, stores cost, upkeep, health and safety… etc etc. sugar water maybe what they are selling but the risk factors associated is tremendous, competition rises everyday and consumer taste changes with no loyalty. Food cost for restaurants is harder. But this sort of business is NOT easy either. Then you can compare it to supermarkets its even harder and how low their profit margins are…. And so on.

[@lizhijun1116]

The main portion of their cost is not material, most of their profit is consumed by that called management cost.​ That means the managers take a lot of money. You know, riches always want themselves to seem not so rich, especially in China.

[@rudywijaya1457]

👍

[@booaks2980]

Bruh everywhere I go I see mixue in my country Malaysia

[@ha-kh7ef]

something cheap like this scares me

[@tkyap2524]

Hit the right note and sing sweetly all the way to the bank. That's entrepreneurship.

[@ThaFlyingDutchMen]

Are these in America?

[@JohnAranita]

I haven't had Bubble Teas in Hawaii, yet. Looks interesting tho.

[@skyramafoil]

That would be a hit

[@sixtogonzaga655]

I super love Mixue!

[@0animalproductworld558]

It’s not easy.

[@burgermanwu1907]

Its name in North America is Snow Baby if I remember correctly

[@Dayvit78]

I like this brand too. In Vietnam, their prices are even lower than $1 Edit: Just finished listening to this piece and it's so superficial. I can't believe Forbes magazine would create content so basic. Any generic youtuber could have made the same thing.

[@itsalovething8190]

Ironic how a money magazine spends so little money and time on the production of their videos.

[@gotmyonu1027]

All the sugary drinks.... Gosh! Bad for health

[@ilzium8210]

i used to think bobba was healthy with all the fruit flavor choices but in reality its reaaly bad for your health.didnt know it was all powder and sugar

[@steak5599]

These days and age, everything is artificial flavor, don't expect to find any real natural ingredients in what you drink.

[@ydcjydcj1724]

The products are ok. And the shop is cold enough to have the shop filled with high school students.

[@andrewwokas]

Pengisi Ruko Kosong

[@wendyshoowaiching4161]

Not surprise, cheap ingredients with numbers sales

[@MminaMaclang]

I wonder how much of the success of such an operation relies on the labor of brown Filipino and Indonesian staff members

[@changshu6463]

Very low. Mixue is still mainly china-based. 30000 shops in China and 4000 in the whole South east asia

[@hh0686]

They created jobs

[@mingyuhuang8944]

It's just bubble tea but young people see it as something to show off. It's pretty sad but that's the way to make money.

[@MMCat7732]

Just think why they can sell it for that cheap. I won’t buy any.

[@gimmick206]

here, the franchisee is not manage properly, many are closing down because they expand too fast, franchiser ended up going bankrupt because of mismanagement, as long as you have money you can open mixue as much as you want even if there is the other one in another block beside you. that what happened when greed takeover.

[@jkx001]

It actually originated from Taiwan.

[@mikemike5973]

Great story respect the hussle

[@Steven-xf8mz]

It's like early day success of coke/pepsi. It's just riding on a diabetes and it's not a major concern for Asians right now. Give it like another 15 years or so, you'll see a lot of fat adults on the street, and kids of newer generation will start to think twice before having 2-3 bubble teas a day. As an Asian-American, I regularly consumed bubble tea like it's an addiction, well sugar is addicting to a degree. i was near diabetic few after like 3 years of exposure to bubble tea. Since then, i cut back to like 1-2 orders a month. My blood test the year after went back to like being 18 again. oh lord. China insurance is different where people do pay to get preventive services. I bet if their insurance mandates or offers annual blood test for free, people would be shocked how many bubble tea shops have to go. With the way the govt runs, I bet mandate is likely going to be the way of life eventually.

[@Kevinfrom95]

you can ask for no sugar

[@marvaff6878]

@@Kevinfrom95 🤣🤣

[@Koronesuki1313]

You can't compare Asians with Asian-Americans. Assuming the boba milk tea is the same/ a constant, the volume and serving size of food are very different. You can't blame it on the boba tea when everything else you eat is also packed with sugar.

[@HowTo-tk9qh]

Yeah smart brain there. Comparing bubble tea with sweetened coffee loaded with whipping and chocolate syrup

[@measarazainuddin6637]

You don't think it's your fault to buy and consume to the point you're addicted

[@believein1]

To lose $800 million out of $1 billion because of food safety issues 😮 They could have dedicated $5 million each year to quarterly health audits in every store.

[@chjin1796]

Their prices are very affordable. So much so that when it was revealed that the use of expired ingredients was used, netizens replied: It's not their fault, it's that we bought it too late.

[@hh0686]

@@chjin1796what you just said made absolutely no sense

[@steak5599]

@@hh0686 I think what he meant is when the product is so cheap, many people are willing to look pass Quality Controls, as long as they don't die from drinking it. Also, just because the Food went passed expiration date, it doesn't mean you can't eat it or going to fall ill from eating it. Have you ever ate an expired bag of chip? I have, as well as many others. Sometimes it taste stale, but no food poisoning or upset stomach.

[@Kindhcv369]

No added value, buy the bubble tea, forget the stock if you want to keep your money

[@melissaf00]

Sugary drinks are already bad enough but selling them at $1? Don't you think the ingredients are questionable? I don't care if it's made from the tears of god I am most certainly not putting that in my body.

[@khoado1999]

Not saying, they are healthy, but you think other western diet are not questionable? 🤣

[@wendyshoowaiching4161]

US$1 is RM$4.65 times in Asian countries. Not really cheap

[@ianh4964]

In China, there are tons of people found cockroach inside their drinks from this store. It's viral in TikTok. lol

[@melissaf00]

@@khoado1999 American fast food is no exception either. Most people, medical practitioners included choose to turn a blind eye to the effects of food on overall health.

[@DiarioJagiya123]

1$ =7.17 RMB in China. These sugary drinks, of course, as every sugary drinks are not healthy because of sugar, but, especially this kind of sugary drinks has a little bit sugar. 1 ice cream (not the best quality) 2 RMB. If the people wants to go there and tasty everytime, go! Everybody knows now the sugar is not healthy 😂

[@peteryeung111]

Hope someone can do a chemical analysis with these bubble tea drinks. I mean, if it tastes good and the the price is cheap, the profits have to come from somewhere. I understand volume, however …..🤔

[@leeheemeng3799]

Profits comes from selling the materials to the franchise owners

[@bh445]

@@leeheemeng3799 What about the profit of the franchise owners, where does it come from ?

[@leeheemeng3799]

@@bh445 comes from the revenue of the beverages

[@LightUpMyLife_11]

I love mixue

[@luthfibadri]

Their Staff salary is below regulation

[@LongNguyen-ce8nn]

As they say about bubbles, they’ll pop.😂

[@ramsaycobbler8499]

i wanna be a billionaire so opera and the queen

[@skyramafoil]

Bubble tea in vietnam is so popular they are doing healthy spins on it like bamboo charcoal, they make there own jelly’s and less sweet and everything made there including fresh brewed oolong tea, don’t let cheap Chinese imitation fool you, bubble teas are the future with a billion ways to make them.

[@shiva.19]

Cool

[@user-pk6nk3ce9s]

蜜雪快点开来美国呀！！翘首以盼！😢

[@karlwalter2242]

Anything you do will make money if you pull a patent immediately, that's the key, to protect your investments

[@alfiey5783]

They deserve every penny….. doing these kinds of business is not worth the money, no matter how much it is

[@francisltx]

I though the CCP was anti-capitalism and China is uninvestable, so how come so many new billionaires come out every year?

[@karlwalter2242]

Anything you do can make money as long as you pull a patent for the product.

[@Wizpopper]

I thought it was boaba tea

[@weisskopfwurm8066]

sounds like a scammy business. 15% profits with a franchise business either scammy or not sustainable business. what do they charge from their franchisees?

[@houchi69]

Dirt cheap prices... what's in those bubble teas...?

[@LurkerDood]

I thought Bubble Tea originated from Taiwan 🤔

[@chiu004]

actually that’s not a lot of you think about the population in China. If every citizen bought a bubble tea in a day they could have been billionaires in a day.

[@Nole2701]

bing chilling

[@Light23K]

I drink from Wushiland, a Taiwanese boba tea place here in San Gabriel CA. Their boba is so soft and squishy it’s irresistible.