Honey Snow Ice City gives Guming the imagination One is going overseas, and the other is developing a second growth curve. Author: Fu Rao Editor: Yuan Ye In the year 2025, Guming has two things to celebrate: the opening of its 9,999th store in Xiangyang, Hubei province, and the passing of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange hearing on January 9th. It can be said that by taking one more step forward, Guming will have one foot in the 10,000-store category and the other in the third share of the tea beverage industry. This means that Guming, which is in the wrong place in the competition, is likely to become the first 10,000-store tea drink brand to go public. In terms of the number of stores and the ability to make money, Guming can beat the already-listed Naixue’s Tea and Tea Budao next door. In terms of the speed of listing, Guming is faster than Honey Snow Ice City and Lemony Snacks. But the sweet business has its share of bitterness. Guming’s troubles are already evident in the prospectus it filed half a month ago. More annoying is, next door to the table of honey snow ice city, perhaps is the ancient Ming investors would like to see the look. 01 Tea drinks third share Gu Ming has not been used to compare with Honey Snow Ice City. It goes without saying that Gulming is on the same tea drink track, with the same county genes and the same 10,000-store scale, but the deeper reason may be because the two have the same business model. For the outside world, Honey Snow Ice City’s business model of being its own supplier and underwriting the upstream and downstream of the industry chain is no secret. But in fact, Guming, like Honey Snow Ice City, builds its own supply chain, and its revenue is based on selling equipment and raw materials to franchisees. In the first three quarters of 2024, for example, Guming’s revenue from the sale of goods amounted to $4.87 billion, accounting for 75 6 , with the sale of goods mainly referring to fresh fruits fruit juices tea dairy products and packaging materials. The same business model notwithstanding, the two companies seem to have quite a tacit understanding in choosing the point of time to submit their listing forms. For example, on January 2, 2024, the two tea brands, Honey Snow Ice City and Gu Ming, both chose to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. After failing to get listed, they resubmitted their forms in December last year and January this year respectively. For listing, Honeyland appears to be more urgent than Guming. Prior to filing with the HKEx last year, the company had applied for an A-share listing in September 2022, but was unsuccessful. With Guming passing the HKEx hearing, Guming is likely to be one step ahead of Mice Ice City on the road to listing, and become the third largest tea drinker in the world. 02 Guming’s victory With the same business model and timing, why did the secondary market choose to drink Guming’s tea first? As of the first three quarters of 2024, the number of Honey Snow Ice City stores had reached 45,000, and GMV had reached 44.9 billion yuan, while Guming, at the same time, had no more than 10,000 stores and a GMV of only 16.6 billion yuan. There is a huge gap between the two companies in terms of volume and GMV, but in terms of profit and efficiency of a single store, Guming is not worse than Honeysnow Ice City. In terms of gross profit margins, both gross profit margins reached more than 30. For the first three quarters from 2021 to 2024, Honey Snow Ice City’s gross margins were 31 3 28 3 29 5 and 32 4 respectively. Compared to Honey Snow Ice City, which just broke 30 in gross margin this year, Gu Ming’s gross margin has remained steady above 30. The company’s overall gross margin was 31 in the first three quarters of 2023, and despite a 0.5 percent drop in the same period in 2024, Gu Ming’s gross margin was still above 30, at 30 5 as of the first three quarters of 2024. While the gross margin levels look similar, don’t forget that Guming has a higher unit price per customer than Honey Snow Ice City. Honey Snow Ice City is the king below $10, Gu Ming is the king between $10 and $20. Data shows that Gu Ming has the largest market share among tea brands in the $10 and $20 price band, with a market share of 17 7 . Guming’s prospectus also indicates that it is the largest mass-market ready-made tea beverage store brand in China in the $10 20 price band . This helps Guming to further narrow the profit gap with Honey Snow Ice City. Looking at the numbers specifically, in the first three quarters of 2024, Gu Ming reported revenue of 6.441 billion yuan and adjusted profit of 1.149 billion yuan on a non-IFRS basis. Honey Snow Ice City had revenue of 20.3 billion yuan and profit of 3.5 billion yuan. with more than four times the number of stores, Honey Snow Ice City’s profit was just over three times that of Gu Ming. There is no doubt that with the same number of stores, Guming, which has a higher gross profit margin, would have been able to outperform Snowy Ice City in terms of revenue and profit. Guming has also shown its advantage in terms of single-store efficiency. According to the prospectus, as of the first three quarters of 2024, the average daily number of orders received by a single store in Snowy Ice City was 367, with 662 cups sold, while the average daily number of orders in Guming’s stores was only 234, with 386 cups sold. Chart Upper Honey Snow Ice City Prospectus Lower Gu Ming Prospectus However, Gu Ming, with a higher customer unit price, performed better than Honey Snow Ice City in terms of single-store GMV. Figures for the first nine months to 2024 show that the average single-store daily GMV of Honey Snow Ice City is RMB 4,184 4, while Gu Ming’s single-store daily GMV can reach RMB 6,500, and even the daily GMV of newly opened franchises can reach RMB 5,200. 03 There are still three major embarrassments According to the algorithm above, Gu Ming, which seems to have higher profits and higher single-store efficiency, as long as it opens more stores and increases its scale effect, it seems that its business prospects and money outlook are better than that of MIXI Ice City. But this is where Guming’s embarrassment lies. According to a late report, Guming has a solid expansion strategy They believe that if the number of stores in a single province exceeds 500, it means that there is a basis for scale effect in the region, and only then will they consider expansion. That’s why 500 stores is called the key size in Gourmet. Compared to Honey Snow Ice City stores across the country, Guming’s stores are still concentrated in provinces such as Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Fujian, and have not expanded extensively in the north. Expansion strategy is cautious, not as much as it has to be. 1 supply chain model is heavier, more investment in research and development, go south and difficult to break into the north. Compared with the nationwide supply chain of Honey Snow Ice City, Guming’s supply chain model is heavier, mainly because of the fruit tea as the main product of Guming, the storage conditions of fresh fruits are harsh The attrition rate is also higher, so Guming’s investment in the cold chain and logistics is heavier. According to Guming’s prospectus, Guming is the only company that can frequently deliver fresh fruits and milk with a short shelf life to stores in lower-tier cities. This is Guming’s advantage, but also a limitation. All these factors doomed Guming’s pace will not be too fast. 2 Franchisee loss is accelerating. Guming is losing franchisees at an accelerating rate, with franchisee turnover rates of 6 2 6 7 8 3 and 11 7 in the first three quarters from 2021 to 2024 respectively. Although Gourmet explains that franchisee turnover is usually higher for new entrants, and that the industry is facing a slowdown and increased competition, Gourmet is concerned that franchisee turnover will continue to accelerate. But in the end, Gourmet is not attractive enough to franchisees. 3 Single-store profitability is declining. It is worth noting that in the first three quarters of 2024, Guming’s average daily GMV for a single store was about 6,500 yuan, and the average daily number of cups sold by a single store amounted to 386 cups, with the average GMV per order amounting to 27.7 yuan, compared to 6,900 yuan, 417 cups, and 28.2 yuan in the same period of the previous year. The three major figures of the average daily GMV for a single store, including the total amount of goods traded and the number of cups sold, as well as the average price of the order, showed a decline of varying degrees. Especially for new franchisees, the store’s average daily GMV fell from 5,800 yuan to 5,200 yuan, a drop of 10 3 . For new franchisees, there is less money to be made. In its prospectus, Guming also admits that it may not be able to maintain or increase store sales and profitability, and points out that as expansion accelerates, competition among franchisees may accelerate the loss of franchisees, which in turn will affect overall growth. 04 Guming’s Imagination Guming has its own moat. For example, in research and development, Guming is more willing to invest than Honey Snow Ice City. Prospectus shows that from 2021 to 2023, the third quarter, Honey Snow Ice City’s R & D investment was 17,151,000 yuan 32,304,000 yuan, 51,343,000 yuan, only accounted for the proportion of revenue of 0 2 0 2 0 3 respectively. On the other hand, Guming invested $0.65 billion, $11.8 billion and $12.9 billion in R&D, accounting for 1.52 12.3% of its revenue respectively. In terms of supply chain development, Guming operates 22 warehouses, and about 76 stores are located within 150 kilometers of the warehouses, enabling quick replenishment of stores. Meanwhile, Guming has 135 million registered app members, with more than 43 million active members quarterly, and an average quarterly repurchase rate of 53% for the whole year of 2023. This also shows that Gu Ming’s brand has a certain degree of stickiness for consumers. But tea drinks are also essentially a business of scale, and for Guming, how to accelerate expansion and attract more franchisees to the market is a top priority. Honey Snow Ice City’s prospectus provides some imagination for tea drinks third share of Gu Ming For example, going overseas. As of September 30, 2024, honey snow ice city in the world has a total of more than 45,000 stores, has surpassed the McDonald’s Starbucks, jumped to the global food and beverage industry store size of the largest brand. Not only that, the number of milk tea cups sold by Honey Snow Ice City sold a total of 7.1 billion cups of beverages, and franchisees are also growing. According to the Honey Snow Ice City prospectus, the number of the company’s franchisees in FY2021 FY2022 FY2023 and the first nine months of FY2024 were 9,784 13,625 16,784 and 19,780, respectively. This has the credit of the sea route. Nowadays, Honey Snow Ice City has successfully established itself in Southeast Asia Japan and Korea. While gradually broadening the boundaries of domestic and overseas markets, the overseas market has also brought considerable revenue to Honey Snow Ice City. For Guming, although the overseas layout is still in the early stage of exploration, and even in the prospectus, there is little ink, only something like We will also continue to assess the opportunity to enter foreign markets, but it is also a way to find incremental markets. What deserves more attention is that behind the prospectus, in addition to the main brand of honey snow ice city, it has found a steady development of the second growth curve of freshly ground coffee track that is lucky coffee. According to the exclusive report of curry door on January 3, the number of contracted stores of lucky curry has exceeded 4,500, and more than 1,500 stores were added in the last three quarters of 2024, and while the number of stores has increased significantly, the overall turnover of its stores has increased by more than 15 percent. This may also be a lesson for Guming. Right now, Guming is indeed actively exploring its own second growth curve for its coffee products. According to 36 Krypton, Guming’s coffee product is now live, and the product has reached over 2,000 stores. In September 2024, this number will still be only 500 stores. For Guming, which has 9,000, coffee might actually be the second curve of growth for its product in the near future. Although Guming’s founder was optimistic in 2018 that there was room for 20 more Guming’s in China’s third and fourth tier markets. As far as the domestic market is concerned, they still have 19 provinces to be developed before they reach the critical mass of 500 stores . But by going public before Honey Snow Ice City, Guming has a key bargaining chip to go out to sea and explore more products to cope with the next stage of competition from new tea drinks. And by that time, Guming may really be able to bring more surprises. Header image courtesy of AI Graphics
Honey Snow Ice City gives Guming the imagination One is to go overseas, and the other is to develop a second growth curve.
Author Fu Rao Editor Yuan Ye
Author Fu Rao
Editor Harano
At the start of the year 2025, Guming has two things to celebrate: the opening of its 9,999th store in Xiangyang, Hubei Province, and the passing of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange hearing on January 9th. It can be said that by taking one more step forward, Guming will have one foot in the 10,000-store category and the other in the third share of the tea beverage industry. This means that Guming, which is in the wrong place in the competition, is likely to become the first 10,000-store tea drink brand to go public. In terms of the number of stores and the ability to make money, Guming can beat the already-listed Naixue’s Tea and Tea Budao next door. In terms of the speed of listing, Guming is faster than Honey Snow Ice City and Lemony Snacks. But the sweet business has its share of bitterness. Guming’s troubles are already evident in the prospectus it filed half a month ago. What’s even more annoying is that the Honey Snow Ice City next door may be what Guming’s investors want to see more of.
At the start of 2025, Guming had two things to celebrate: the opening of its 9,999th store in Xiangyang, Hubei province, and a January 9 hearing at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
It can be said that with one step forward, Guming will have one foot in 10,000 stores and the other in the third tea beverage stock.
This means that Guming, which is in the wrong place in the competition, is likely to become the first 10,000-store tea drink brand to go public. In terms of the number of stores and earning power, Guming can beat Nexue’s Tea and Cha Ba Dao, which have already been listed next door. In terms of listing speed, Guming is faster than Honey Snow Ice City and Lemony Snacks.
But the sweet business has its share of bitterness.
Guming’s troubles are already evident in the prospectus it filed half a month ago. What’s even more annoying is that the Honey Snow Ice City next door may be what Guming’s investors want to see more of.
01 Tea drinks third share
Guming has been compared to Snow Ice City. It goes without saying that Guming is in the same tea drink track, with the same county genes and the same 10,000-store scale, but the deeper reason may be because the two companies have the same business model. For the outside world, Honey Snow Ice City’s business model of being its own supplier and underwriting the upstream and downstream of the industry chain is no secret. But in fact, Guming, like Honey Snow Ice City, builds its own supply chain and its revenue is based on selling equipment and raw materials to franchisees. In the first three quarters of 2024, for example, Guming’s revenue from the sale of goods amounted to $4.87 billion, accounting for 75 6 , with the sale of goods mainly referring to fresh fruits fruit juices tea dairy products and packaging materials.
Guming has not been compared to Honey Snow Ice City much.
It goes without saying that the two companies are in the same tea drink circuit, with the same county genes and the same 10,000-store scale, but perhaps the deeper reason is that they share the same business model.
For the outside world, Honey Snow Ice City’s business model of being its own supplier and underwriting the upstream and downstream of the industry chain is no secret. But in fact, Guming, like Honey Snow Ice City, is a self-built supply chain, with revenues based on selling equipment and raw materials to franchisees.
In the first three quarters of 2024, for example, Guming’s revenue from the sale of goods amounted to $4.87 billion, accounting for 75 6 , with the sale of goods mainly referring to fresh fruits fruit juices tea dairy products and packaging materials.
The same business model notwithstanding, the two companies seem to have quite a tacit understanding in choosing the point of time to submit their listing forms. For example, on January 2, 2024, the two tea brands, Honey Snow Ice City and Gu Ming, both chose to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. After failing to get listed, they resubmitted their forms in December last year and January this year respectively. For listing, Honeyland appears to be more urgent than Guming. Prior to filing with the HKEx last year, the company had applied to list on the A-share market in September 2022, but was unsuccessful. With Guming passing the HKEx hearing, Guming may be on the road to listing faster than Snowy Ice City, and become the third largest tea drinker in the world.
Not to mention the same business model, there seems to be a tacit understanding between the two companies on the timing of their listings. For example, on January 2, 2024, Honey Snow Ice City and Gu Ming, two tea drink brands, both chose to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. After failing to get listed, the two companies re-listed in December last year and January this year respectively.
For listing, Honeyland appears to be more urgent than Guming. Before the HKEx filed the form last year, Honeyland had applied for an A-share listing in September 2022, but was unsuccessful.
With Guming passing the HKEx hearing, Guming may be on the road to listing faster than Snowy Ice City, and become the third largest tea drinker in the world.
02 Victory for Gu Ming
With the same business model and timing, why did the secondary market choose to drink Gu Ming’s tea first? As of the first three quarters of 2024, the number of Honey Snow Ice City stores had reached 45,000, and GMV had reached 44.9 billion yuan, while Guming, at the same time, had no more than 10,000 stores and a GMV of only 16.6 billion yuan. There is a huge gap between the two companies in terms of volume and GMV, but in terms of profit and efficiency of a single store, Guming is not worse than Honeysnow Ice City. In terms of gross profit margins, both gross profit margins reached more than 30. For the first three quarters from 2021 to 2024, Honey Snow Ice City’s gross margins were 31 3 28 3 29 5 and 32 4 respectively. Compared to Honey Snow Ice City, which just broke 30 in gross margin this year, Gu Ming’s gross margin has remained steady above 30. The company’s overall gross margin was 31 in the first three quarters of 2023, and despite a 0.5 percent drop in the same period in 2024, Gu Ming’s gross margin was still above 30, at 30 5 as of the first three quarters of 2024. While the gross margin levels look similar, don’t forget that Guming has a higher unit price per customer than Honey Snow Ice City. Honey Snow Ice City is the king below $10, Gu Ming is the king between $10 and $20. Data shows that Gu Ming has the largest market share among tea brands in the $10 and $20 price band, with a market share of 17 7 . Guming’s prospectus also indicates that it is the largest mass-market ready-made tea drink store brand in China 10 yuan 20 yuan price band .
With the same business model and timing, why would the secondary market choose to drink Gu Ming’s tea first?
As of the first three quarters of 2024, the number of Honey Snow Ice City stores had reached 45,000, and GMV terminal retail sales had reached 44.9 billion yuan, while Guming in the same period, the number of stores is still not more than 10,000, and GMV is only 16.6 billion yuan.
There is a huge gap between the two companies in terms of volume and GMV, but in terms of profit and single-store efficiency, Guming is not worse than Honeysnow Bingcheng.
In terms of gross profit margin, the gross profit margin of both companies reached more than 30.
For the first three quarters from 2021 to 2024, Honey Snow Ice City’s gross margins were 31 3 28 3 29 5 and 32 4 respectively. Compared to Honey Snow Ice City, which just broke 30 in gross margin this year, Guming’s gross margin has remained steady above 30. The company’s overall gross margin was 31 in the first three quarters of 2023, and despite a drop of 0 5 in the same period in 2024, Guming’s gross margin was still above 30, at 30 5 as of the first three quarters of 2024.
While the gross margin levels look similar, don’t forget that Guming has a higher unit price per customer than Honey Snow Ice City.
Honey Snow Ice City is the king below $10, Gu Ming is the king between $10 and $20. Data shows that Gu Ming has the largest market share among tea brands in the $10 and $20 price band, with a market share of 17 7 . Guming’s prospectus also indicates that it is the largest mass-market ready-made tea drink store brand in China 10 yuan 20 yuan price band .
This helps Guming to further narrow the profit gap with Honey Snow Ice City. Looking at the numbers specifically, in the first three quarters of 2024, Gu Ming reported revenue of 6.441 billion yuan and adjusted profit of 1.149 billion yuan on a non-IFRS basis. Honey Snow Ice City had revenue of 20.3 billion yuan and profit of 3.5 billion yuan. with more than four times the number of stores, Honey Snow Ice City’s profit was just over three times that of Gu Ming. There is no doubt that with the same number of stores, Guming, which has a higher gross profit margin, would have been able to outperform Snowy Ice City in terms of revenue and profit. Guming has also shown its advantage in terms of single-store efficiency. According to the prospectus, as of the first three quarters of 2024, the average daily number of orders received by a single store in Snow Ice City was 367, with 662 cups sold, while the average daily number of orders in Guming’s stores was only 234, with 386 cups sold.
This helps Guming to further narrow the profit gap with Snowy Ice City.
Specifically, for the first three quarters of 2024, Guming’s revenue was 6.441 billion yuan, with adjusted profit of 1.149 billion yuan on a non-IFRS basis. Honey Snow Ice City had revenue of $20.3 billion and profit of $3.5 billion. with more than four times the number of stores, Honey Snow Ice City’s profit was just over three times that of Guming.
There is no doubt that with the same number of stores, Gu Ming, with a higher gross profit margin, could have surpassed Snowy Ice City in terms of revenue and profit.
In terms of single-store efficiency, Gu Ming also shows its advantage.
According to the prospectus, as of the first three quarters of 2024, the average daily number of orders received by a single store in Snow Ice City was 367, with 662 cups sold, while the average daily number of orders in Guming’s stores was only 234, with 386 cups sold.
Figure Upper prospectus of MIXYUE ICE CITY Lower prospectus of GUMING
However, Guming, with a higher unit price per customer, performed better than Blizzard Ice City in terms of single-store GMV. Data for the first nine months ended 2024 shows that the average single-store daily GMV of Honey Snow Ice City was RMB 4,184 4 , while Gu Ming’s single-store daily GMV could reach RMB 6,500, and even the average daily GMV of newly opened franchise stores could reach RMB 5,200.
03 There are still three major embarrassments
According to the algorithm above, Gu Ming, which seems to have higher profits and higher efficiency of single store, as long as it opens more stores and increases the scale effect, it seems that the business prospect and money outlook looks better than that of Honey Snow Ice City. But this is where Guming’s embarrassment lies. According to a late report, Guming has a solid expansion strategy They believe that if the number of stores in a single province exceeds 500, it means that there is a basis for scale effect in the region, and only then will they consider expansion. That’s why 500 stores is called the key size in Gourmet. Compared to Honey Snow Ice City stores across the country, Guming’s stores are still concentrated in provinces such as Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Fujian, and have not expanded extensively in the north. Expansion strategy is cautious, not as much as it has to be. 1 supply chain model is heavier, more investment in research and development, go south and difficult to break into the north. Compared to the nationwide supply chain of Honey Snow Ice City, Guming’s supply chain model is heavier, mainly because of the fruit tea as the main product of Guming, the storage conditions of fresh fruits are harsh The attrition rate is also higher, so Guming’s investment in the cold chain and logistics is heavier. According to Guming’s prospectus, Guming is the only company that can frequently deliver fresh fruits and milk with a short shelf life to stores in lower-tier cities. This is Guming’s advantage, but also a limitation. All these factors doomed Guming’s pace will not be too fast. 2 Franchisee loss is accelerating. Guming’s franchisee turnover is accelerating, with franchisee turnover rates of 6 2 6 7 8 3 and 11 7 in the first three quarters from 2021 to 2024 respectively.
According to the algorithm above, Guming, which seems to have higher profits and higher single-store efficiency, seems to have a better business outlook and money prospects than Miyuki Ice City as long as it opens more stores and increases its scale effect.
But this is where Gu Ming’s embarrassment lies.
According to a late report, Guming has a solid expansion strategy They believe that if the number of stores in a single province exceeds 500, it means that there is a basis for scale effect in the region, and only then will they consider expansion. That’s why 500 stores is called the key size in Guming.
Compared to Honey Snow Ice City stores across the country, Guming’s stores are still concentrated in provinces such as Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Fujian, and have not expanded extensively in the north. The expansion strategy is a cautious one, but it’s not as easy as it sounds.
1 supply chain model is heavier, more investment in research and development, go south and difficult to break into the north.
Compared to the supply chain throughout the country, Guming’s supply chain model is heavier, mainly because of the fruit tea as the main product of Guming, the storage conditions of fresh fruits are harsh The attrition rate is also higher, so Guming’s investment in the cold chain and logistics is heavier.
According to Guming’s prospectus, Guming is the only company that can frequently deliver short shelf-life fresh fruits and fresh milk to stores in lower-tier cities. This is Guming’s advantage, but also a limitation.
All these factors predetermine that Guming’s pace will not be too fast.
2 The loss of franchisees is accelerating.
Franchisee turnover in Guming is accelerating, with franchisee turnover rates of 6 2 6 7 8 3 and 11 7 in the first three quarters from 2021 to 2024 respectively.
Although Gourmet explains that franchisee turnover is usually higher for new entrants, and that the industry is facing a slowdown and increased competition, Gourmet is concerned that franchisee turnover will continue to accelerate. But in the end, Gourmet is not attractive enough to franchisees. 3 Single-store profitability is declining. It is worth noting that in the first three quarters of 2024, Guming’s average daily GMV for a single store was about 6,500 yuan, and the average daily number of cups sold for a single store was 386 cups, with an average GMV per order of 27.7 yuan, compared to 6,900 yuan, 417 cups, and 28.2 yuan in the same period of the previous year. The three major figures of the average daily GMV for a single store, including the total amount of goods traded and the number of cups sold and the average order price, have all seen varying degrees of decline. Especially for new franchisees, the store’s average daily GMV fell from 5,800 yuan to 5,200 yuan, a drop of 10 3 . For new franchisees, there is less money to be made. Guming also admitted in the prospectus that it may not be able to maintain or increase store sales and profitability and pointed out that, as expansion accelerates, competition among franchisees may accelerate the loss of franchisees, which in turn affects overall growth.
Although Gourmet explained that the turnover rate of new franchisees is usually higher, as well as the industry facing a slowdown and increased competition on top of that.
But in the end, Gourmet is not attractive enough for franchisees.
3 Single-store profitability is declining.
It is worth noting that in the first three quarters of 2024, Guming’s average daily GMV for a single store was around RMB 6,500 The average daily number of cups sold in a single store amounted to 386 The average GMV per order amounted to RMB 27,7, while in the same period of the previous year, the above amounts were respectively RMB 6,900, 417 cups, and 28,2 The three major figures of average daily GMV for a single store, namely, the total amount of goods traded and the number of cups sold, and the average price of an order, showed varying degrees of declines.
Especially for new franchisees, the store’s average daily GMV fell from 5,800 yuan to 5,200 yuan, a drop of 10 3 . For new franchisees, there is less money to be made.
Guming also admitted in the prospectus that it may not be able to maintain or increase store sales and profitability and pointed out that as expansion accelerates, competition among franchisees may accelerate the loss of franchisees, which in turn affects overall growth.
04 Guming’s Imagination
Gu Ming has its own moat. For example, in research and development, Guming is more willing to invest than Honey Snow Ice City. The prospectus shows that from 2021 to the third quarter of 2023, Honey Snow Ice City’s R & D investment was 17,151,000 yuan 32,304,000 yuan, 51,343,000 yuan, accounting for only a proportion of revenue of 0,2 0,2 0,3 respectively. On the other hand, Guming invested $0.65 billion, $11.8 billion and $12.9 billion in R&D, accounting for 1.52 12.3% of its revenue respectively. In terms of supply chain development, Guming operates 22 warehouses, and about 76 stores are located within 150 kilometers of the warehouses, enabling quick replenishment of stores. Meanwhile, Guming has 135 million registered app members, with more than 43 million active members quarterly, and an average quarterly repurchase rate of 53% for the whole year of 2023. This also shows that Gu Ming’s brand has a certain degree of stickiness for consumers. But tea drinks are also essentially a business of scale, and for Guming, how to accelerate expansion and attract more franchisees to the market is a top priority. Honey Snow Ice City’s prospectus provides some imagination for tea drinks third share of Gu Ming For example, going overseas. As of September 30, 2024, honey snow ice city in the world has a total of more than 45,000 stores, has surpassed the McDonald’s Starbucks, jumped to the global food and beverage industry store size of the largest brand. Not only that, the number of milk tea cups sold by Honey Snow Ice City sold a total of 7.1 billion cups of beverages, and franchisees are also growing. According to the Honey Snow Ice City prospectus, the number of the company’s franchisees in FY2021 FY2022 FY2023 and the first nine months of FY2024 were 9,784 13,625 16,784 and 19,780, respectively. This has the credit of the sea route. Nowadays, Honey Snow Ice City has successfully established itself in Southeast Asia Japan and Korea. While gradually broadening the boundaries of domestic and overseas markets, the overseas market has also brought considerable revenue to Honey Snow Ice City. For Guming, although the overseas layout is still in the early exploration stage, and even in the prospectus, there is very little written about it, with only a statement like “We will also continue to evaluate opportunities to enter overseas markets,” but it is also a way to look for incremental markets.
Guming has its own moat.
For example, in research and development, Gu Ming is more willing to invest than Miyuki Ice City. Prospectus shows that from 2021 to 2023, the third quarter, Honey Snow Ice City’s R & D investment was 17,151,000 yuan 32,304,000 yuan, 51,343,000 yuan, only accounted for the proportion of revenue of 0 2 0 2 0 3 respectively. And Guming invested 0 65 million 1 1 8 million 1 2 9 million in R & D respectively, accounting for a proportion of revenue of 1 5 2 1 2 3 respectively.
In terms of supply chain development, Guming operates 22 warehouses, and about 76 stores are located within 150 kilometers of the warehouses, allowing for quick replenishment of stores.
Meanwhile, Guming has 135 million registered app members, with more than 43 million active members quarterly, and an average quarterly repurchase rate of 53% for the whole year of 2023. This also shows that Guming’s brand has a certain degree of stickiness for consumers.
But tea drinks are also essentially a business of scale, and for Guming, how to accelerate its expansion and attract more franchisees to the market is a top priority.
Honey Snow Ice City’s prospectus, to the third share of tea drinks Gu Ming provides some imagination For example, go to sea.
As of September 30, 2024, Honeyland has more than 45,000 stores worldwide, surpassing McDonald’s and Starbucks to become the largest brand in the global food and beverage industry in terms of store size.
Not only that, the number of milk tea cups sold by Honey Snow Ice City sold a total of 7.1 billion cups of beverages, and franchisees are also growing. According to the Honey Snow Ice City prospectus, the number of the company’s franchisees in FY2021 FY2022 FY2023 and the first nine months of FY2024 were 9,784 13,625 16,784 and 19,780, respectively.
This has the credit of the sea route. Nowadays, Honey Snow Ice City has successfully established itself in Southeast Asia Japan and Korea. While gradually broadening the boundaries of domestic and overseas markets, the overseas market also brings considerable revenue for Honey Snow Ice City.
For Guming, although the overseas layout is still at an early stage of exploration, and even in the prospectus, there is little written about it, with only a statement like “We will also continue to evaluate opportunities to enter overseas markets,” it is also a way to look for incremental markets.
What deserves more attention is that behind the prospectus, in addition to the main brand of honey snow ice city, it has found a steady development of the second growth curve of freshly ground coffee track that is lucky coffee. According to curry door exclusive report on January 3, the number of contracted stores of lucky curry has exceeded 4,500, and more than 1,500 new stores were added in the last three quarters of 2024, and while the number of stores has increased significantly, the overall turnover of its stores has increased by more than 15 percent. This may also be a lesson for Guming. Right now, Guming is indeed actively exploring its own second growth curve for its coffee products. According to 36 Krypton, Guming’s coffee product is now live, and the product has reached over 2,000 stores. In September 2024, this number will still be only 500 stores. For Guming, which has 9,000, coffee may really be the second curve of growth for its product in the near future.
More noteworthy is that behind the prospectus of Honey Snow Ice City, in addition to the main brand Honey Snow Ice City, it has found a steady development of the second growth curve of the freshly ground coffee track, namely Lucky Coffee.
According to the exclusive report of curry door on January 3, the number of contracted stores of lucky curry has exceeded 4,500, and more than 1,500 stores were added in the last three quarters of 2024, and while the number of stores has grown significantly, the overall turnover of its stores has increased by more than 15 .
This may also be a lesson for Guming.
Right now, Guming is indeed actively exploring its own second growth curve for its coffee products. According to 36 Krypton, Guming’s coffee product is now live, and the product has reached over 2,000 stores. In September 2024, this number will still be only 500 stores. For Guming, which has 9,000, coffee may really be the second curve of growth for its product in the near future.
Although Guming’s founder was optimistic in 2018 that there was room for 20 more Guming’s in China’s third and fourth tier markets. As far as the domestic market is concerned, they still have 19 provinces to be developed before they reach the critical mass of 500 stores . But by going public before Honey Snow Ice City, Guming has a key bargaining chip to go out to sea and explore more products to cope with the next stage of competition from new tea drinks. And by then, Guming may really bring more surprises.
Although Guming’s founders were optimistic in 2018 that China’s third- and fourth-tier markets could accommodate 20 more Guming’s. In terms of the domestic market, they still have 19 more products to go. As far as the domestic market is concerned, they still have 19 provinces to be developed not reaching the critical scale of 500 stores .
But by going public before Honey Snow Ice City, Guming has a key bargaining chip to go out to sea and explore more products to cope with the next stage of competition from new tea drinks. And by then, Guming may really bring more surprises.
Header image courtesy of AI Graphics
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