Restaurants & Food

The Largest Fast-Food and Drink Chains in China

China’s biggest restaurant chains are mostly cheap tea and coffee shops. Mixue, which sells lemonade and ice cream for a few yuan, has more stores in mainland China alone than McDonald’s has worldwide, and Luckin Coffee has more than four times as many as Starbucks. Brands are ranked by their stores in mainland China, using each company’s latest published count, or a store tracker’s where the company doesn’t publish one. Only three of the Top 15 are American: KFC, Starbucks and McDonald’s.

CNBC report on China’s bubble tea chains, led by Mixue

Pictured: CNBC on China’s bubble-tea chains. Mixue is #1, with 59,609 stores in mainland China.

Rank Chain Chinese name Stores in China As of Count from Food Brand from
1Mixue Ice Cream & Tea (incl. Lucky Cup)蜜雪冰城59,609Jun 30, 2026CompanyTea & ice creamChina
2Luckin Coffee瑞幸咖啡36,310Jun 30, 2026Company (incl. a few hundred abroad)CoffeeChina
3Wallace华莱士19,494Feb 2026Tracker (Zhaimen)Burgers & fried chickenChina
4Cotti Coffee库迪咖啡about 16,000Jun 2, 2026Tracker (Jihai)CoffeeChina
5Guming (Good Me)古茗14,351Jun 30, 2026CompanyTeaChina
6KFC肯德基13,789Jun 30, 2026Company (Yum China)Fried chickenUnited States
7Auntea Jenny沪上阿姨13,155Jun 30, 2026CompanyTeaChina
8Zhengxin Chicken正新鸡排12,455Jun 18, 2026Company (trackers: about 9,500)Fried chickenChina
9Tastien塔斯汀10,000+Mar 2026CompanyBurgersChina
10ChaPanda茶百道8,863Jun 30, 2026CompanyTeaChina
11NOWWA Coffee挪瓦咖啡8,300+May 2026Tracker (Yilan)CoffeeChina
12Starbucks星巴克8,300+May 2026Tracker (Yilan); company: 8,009 at Sept 28, 2025CoffeeUnited States
13McDonald’s麦当劳7,500+Nov 2025CompanyBurgersUnited States
14Chagee霸王茶姬7,240Jun 30, 2026Company (Greater China)TeaChina
15Yihetang益禾堂7,000+May 2026Tracker (Yilan)TeaChina

What counts. Quick-service restaurant and drink-shop brands, counted by stores in mainland China (Luckin’s and Cotti’s figures include a few hundred abroad; Chagee’s cover Greater China). Snack shops such as braised-duck chains and sit-down restaurants are left out. Mixue Group doesn’t split out its Lucky Cup coffee shops (over 8,300 by May 2026), so they’re included in Mixue’s figure; the Mixue brand alone had about 46,500 in March 2026, by one tracker’s count.[1][8][14] The figures. Listed companies publish exact counts in their results, and those are used where they exist. Private chains don’t, so their rows use store trackers that count open stores from map and delivery-app data (Zhaimen 窄门餐眼, Jihai 极海 and Yilan 壹览商业), or the chain’s own announcement; the “Count from” column says which. Trackers and companies can disagree a lot: Zhengxin says it runs 12,455 stores, while trackers find about 9,500.[4] Just outside the Top 15 are Tianlala, 1 Diandian and Shuyi, each with 5,000+ tea shops,[8] the malatang chains Zhang Liang (about 5,500) and Yang Guofu (about 5,000),[12] and Pizza Hut (4,549).[6] For the global picture, see The Largest Restaurant Chains in the World by Number of Locations.

The Top 10

#1

Mixue Ice Cream & Tea — 59,609 stores

Mixue Group had 59,609 stores in mainland China at the end of June 2026, more than 10,000 more than a year earlier, and close to 64,000 worldwide.[1] The count includes its Lucky Cup coffee shops, which store trackers put at more than 8,300.[8] Growth is slowing on purpose: in the first half of 2026 it opened 5,455 franchised stores and closed 1,289, and management says the slower pace is now long-term strategy. Abroad it is shrinking, to 4,378 stores; in Japan, where it once planned 1,000, only four were left.[1]

#2

Luckin Coffee — 36,310 stores

Luckin had 36,310 stores at the end of June 2026: 23,734 it runs itself and 12,576 run by partners. An average of 112.7 million customers bought from it each month in the second quarter.[2] That’s more than four times as many stores as Starbucks has in China.[8][9] Bloomberg’s podcast in the video explains how it got there.

#3

Wallace — 19,494 stores

Wallace was China’s first homegrown giant in Western-style fast food. It had 4,800 burger and fried-chicken shops by 2014, already more than KFC, passed 10,000 in 2018, and by 2022 had over 20,000, more than KFC, McDonald’s and Dicos put together.[3] Most are in smaller towns, and store staff can co-own their shops. The Zhaimen tracker counts a peak of 20,265 in June 2023 and 19,494 in February 2026, when its parent company quit the NEEQ over-the-counter market.[3]

#4

Cotti Coffee — about 16,000 stores

Founded in 2022, Cotti reached 10,000 stores in about two years. It peaked at more than 16,000. Between March and early June 2026 it opened more than 700 stores and closed 722, about 4.5% of its network, according to the Jihai tracker.[4] Cotti itself has claimed more than 18,000 locations worldwide, a figure that also counts stores abroad and shop-in-shop counters.[13]

#5

Guming (Good Me) — 14,351 stores

Guming is China’s second-biggest tea chain after Mixue, with 14,351 stores at the end of June 2026, a net 797 more than at the start of the year.[5] It is one of six “new tea” chains now listed on the stock market.[5]

#6

KFC — 13,789 stores

KFC is by far the biggest foreign restaurant brand in China. Yum China, which runs it, ended June 2026 with 13,789 KFCs, 335 more than three months earlier; franchisees run 17% of them.[6] KFC opened its first restaurant in mainland China near Beijing’s Qianmen in 1987.[3] Yum China’s 19,297 restaurants also include 4,549 Pizza Huts.[6] CNN’s video explains why it keeps opening more.

#7

Auntea Jenny — 13,155 stores

Shanghai-based Auntea Jenny grew faster than any other listed tea chain in the first half of 2026: a net 1,706 new stores, to 13,155, with revenue up 42.4%.[5] The video is CNBC’s interview on its Hong Kong listing.

#8

Zhengxin Chicken — 12,455 stores

Zhengxin’s cheap fried chicken cutlets made it the first Chinese food brand to reach 10,000 stores, in 2017. It says it ran 12,455 at June 18, 2026, about 3,000 fewer than its 2019 peak of 16,000, but store trackers find only about 9,500 open, which would put it below Tastien.[4]

#9

Tastien — 10,000+ stores

Tastien sells “Chinese burgers”: hand-rolled, freshly baked buns with fillings such as Peking duck. It was founded in Fuzhou in 2012 by three partners, one of whom had run Wallace franchises, and switched to Chinese burgers in 2019.[7] It passed 10,000 stores in late 2025, the second Chinese burger brand to do so after Wallace.[7]

#10

ChaPanda — 8,863 stores

Sichuan’s ChaPanda had 8,863 tea shops at the end of June 2026, a net 204 more than in January, with revenue growth slowing to single digits.[5] Just behind it, the NOWWA Coffee chain and Starbucks each have a little over 8,300 stores.[8]

Fast Food Restaurant Chains China Coffee Brands

Sources

  1. Securities Times / 证券之星 via 10jqka, on Mixue Group’s 2026 interim results (59,609 mainland stores at June 30, 2026, up more than 10,000 in a year; close to 64,000 worldwide; 5,455 franchised stores opened and 1,289 closed in the first half; 4,378 overseas; four left in Japan) — https://news.10jqka.com.cn/20260902/c679521454.shtml.
  2. Luckin Coffee Inc., second quarter 2026 results (Form 6-K, August 2026: 36,310 stores, 23,734 self-operated and 12,576 partnership; 112.7 million average monthly transacting customers) — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001767582/000110465926089437/tm2621683d1_ex99-1.htm.
  3. Lanjinger (蓝鲸财经), “万店之王，华莱士退市” (Zhaimen data: Wallace peaked at 20,265 stores in June 2023 and had 19,494 when delisted in February 2026) — https://www.lanjinger.com/d/1773750256934194049; Winshang (赢商网), “华莱士退市、塔斯汀门店收缩，平价汉堡不香了？” (4,800 stores in 2014; 10,000 in 2018; 20,000 in 2022; KFC’s first mainland store at Qianmen, Beijing, 1987) — https://m.winshang.com/news739189.html.
  4. Winshang (赢商网), “万店神话褪色，正新、华莱士、库迪集体‘踩刹车’！”, July 9, 2026 (Zhengxin: 12,455 stores by its own count at June 18, 2026, about 9,500 by third-party monitoring, peak of 16,000 in 2019, first to 10,000 in 2017; Cotti: 10,000 stores within two years, peak above 16,000, 722 closures in the 90 days to June 2, 2026, 4.5% of stores) — https://m.winshang.com/news741072.html.
  5. Hangzhou Daily (杭州网), “新茶饮六小龙半年报出炉”, September 1, 2026 (stores at June 30, 2026: Guming 14,351, Auntea Jenny 13,155, ChaPanda 8,863, Chagee 7,639; first-half net additions; Auntea Jenny revenue up 42.4%) — https://hznews.hangzhou.com.cn/jingji/content/2026-09/01/content_9295116.htm.
  6. Yum China Holdings, “Yum China Reports Second Quarter 2026 Results” (Form 8-K exhibit: 19,297 stores at June 30, 2026; KFC 13,789, 335 net new in the quarter, 17% franchised; Pizza Hut 4,549) — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001673358/000119312526324793/yumc-ex99_1.htm.
  7. 36Kr / Time Finance (时代财经), on Tastien passing 10,000 stores (10,105 at September 15, 2025 per Zhaimen; founded in Fuzhou in 2012; co-founder Wei Youchun formerly ran Wallace franchises; “Chinese burger” positioning from 2019) — https://www.36kr.com/p/3514464207297665; Huxiu, March 17, 2026 (Tastien past 10,000 stores) — https://www.huxiu.com/article/4842787.html.
  8. The Paper (澎湃新闻), on the Yilan Business (壹览商业) and Chaka Guancha monthly report for May 2026 (Mixue the only brand above 40,000; NOWWA Coffee, Lucky Cup, Starbucks and ChaPanda each above 8,300; Yihetang and Chagee above 7,000; Tianlala, 1 Diandian and Shuyi above 5,000) — https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_33450577.
  9. Starbucks Corporation, Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 (8,009 stores in China at September 28, 2025) — https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/829224/000082922425000114/sbux-20250928.htm.
  10. China Daily, “McDonald’s expands presence to all provincial regions of Chinese mainland”, December 2025 (more than 7,500 restaurants as of November 2025; target of 10,000 by 2028) — https://investinchina.chinadaily.com.cn/s/202512/29/WS6951df78498e23165e06c3c1/mcdonalds-expands-presence-to-all-provincial-regions-of-chinese-mainland.html.
  11. Securities Daily via 10jqka, on Chagee’s second quarter 2026 results (7,639 stores worldwide at June 30, 2026, 399 of them overseas; RList’s subtraction gives 7,240 in Greater China) — https://news.10jqka.com.cn/20260829/c679414243.shtml.
  12. Qianzhan Industry Research (前瞻产业研究院), malatang chain store counts (Zhang Liang 5,514; Yang Guofu 5,044) — https://www.qianzhan.com/analyst/detail/220/260417-111e51df.html.
  13. RList, The Largest Restaurant Chains in the World by Number of Locations (Cotti’s own claim of more than 18,000 locations worldwide, early 2026).
  14. Jiemian (界面新闻), on the Yilan Business report for March 2026 (Mixue brand 46,515 stores; Luckin 33,298; Cotti 16,349) — https://m.jiemian.com/article/14302057.html.
  15. YouTube videos embedded above: “Why Chinese Bubble Tea Chains Are Brewing Billions” (CNBC International); “The Chinese Coffee Chain Beating Starbucks” (Bloomberg Podcasts); “Why you’ll see a lot more KFC in China” (CNN Business); “Bubble tea chain Auntea Jenny’s IPO happened at the right time and place” (CNBC International Live).