How Mixue beat McDonald’s with 5 Love Strategies

Mixue opened tens of thousands of outlets worldwide, surpassing McDonald’s in store count.  As of November 2025, it has over 53K outlets, way exceeding McDonald's 45K outlets. 

Mixue Snow Ice City 蜜雪冰城 is a Hong Kong public-listed company, based in Zhengzhou, China. Its founder is Zhang Hongchao (48), the CEO is his brother Zhang Hongfu (45). Its financials shows that it is a profitable business.

It operates on a franchise model with zero to low franchise fees, and zero percentage of sales.

So, how does Mixue make money?

Their primary revenue stream is selling supplies to their franchisees. A franchisee is contractually obligated to purchase nearly everything, including ingredients (syrups, tea bases, powders), cups, straws, and even equipment, directly from Mixue.

This is a brilliant and highly effective model that aligns their success with the franchisee's success, as they profit from the volume of goods sold, not from the store's top-line sales.

The 5 Love Strategies of Mixue are Affordable love, Simple love, Franchisee love, Joy love and Consistency love.

1. Love for Affordability

Most businesses chase higher margins by going upscale. Mixue flipped the game with one radical idea: “Love the masses, and the masses will love you back.”

While Starbucks, Koi, and other beverage brands battle for the top 20% of customers, Mixue quietly captured the bottom 80% with love.

Mixue created a price point that removes financial stress. A drink that costs $6–$8 elsewhere sells for $1.50 $2.50 at Mixue, without lowering taste.

Affordability is dignity. Affordability is inclusion. Affordability is love.

2. Love for Simplicity

Their concept is simple:  simple menu  simple operation  simple equipment  simple onboarding, 

This reduces mistake rates and stress for staff and franchisees. When a business is simple, people feel empowered, not overwhelmed.

3. Love for Franchisees

Mixue treats franchisees as partners, not profit centres. They support them with:  low setup cost (zero Franchisee fee in China)  centralised ingredients  nationwide logistics  training systems  consistent quality.

When franchisees feel loved, they:  reinvest  expand  stay loyal  spread positive word-of-mouth This emotional chemistry fuels exponential expansion.

4. Love for Joy

Mixue doesn’t just sell drinks.

They sell happiness. The iconic snowman, cheerful music, and bright store design make people smile.

In many cities, Mixue stores are like pockets of warmth — especially for young people after school.

Love → joy → virality. That’s why their mascot became a global meme. Free marketing from millions of customers.

5. Love for Consistency

Every outlet tastes the same. Every cup looks the same. Every experience feels the same.

Consistency is respect. Respect is love. And love builds trust.

Why Mixue Is a Perfect Lesson in Love Strategy

Mixue didn’t compete by being the cheapest. They competed by being:  the most inclusive  the most joyful  the most consistent  the most franchisee-friendly  the easiest to operate.

These are not marketing tactics. They are emotional strategies rooted in 
Love Intelligence.

Love → Loyalty Loyalty → Footfall Footfall
→ Revenue Revenue → Expansion Expansion → Dominance

This is the Mixue trajectory. "Love Intelligence" is a business philosophy of empathic scalability. They demonstrate a profound understanding of the needs and constraints of every player in their ecosystem and have built a system that aligns all their interests. It’s a strategy that is both heartily pragmatic and brilliantly intelligent.

Extracted from Love Intelligence book at https://asiatrainers.org/lqbook