"This Year, It Will Surpass Starbucks"… Chinese Milk Tea Dark Horse Issues Public Challenge

First Quarter Sales Exceed 1 Trillion Won
Targeting Expansion to Over 100 Countries Overseas

"This year, our sales in China will surpass Starbucks."

The founder of the Chinese tea beverage brand Paewang Chahee announced that they will outperform the competing American brand Starbucks in sales. Based on rapid store expansion within China, they achieved sales exceeding 1 trillion KRW in the first quarter alone.

The storefront of Chinese tea beverage brand Paewang Chahi. (Photo by Baidu)

According to Chinese economic media Caixin on the 21st, Zhang Junjie, founder of Paewang Chahee, stated at the 'Oriental Tea Innovation Forum' held that day, "We fully benchmarked Starbucks six years ago, and this year our goal is to surpass Starbucks' sales in China."

Paewang Chahee, which started as a milk tea brand in Yunnan in 2017, differentiated itself with luxurious packaging and product names reminiscent of Chinese classical poetry, experiencing rapid growth. Last year, their popular new product 'Baekajeolhyeon (伯牙絶鉉 - mourning the death of a true friend who understands oneself)' sold as many as 230 million cups, receiving great response.

According to the company, Paewang Chahee's sales in the first quarter of this year reached 5.8 billion yuan (approximately 1.0921 trillion KRW), exceeding half of last year's annual performance (10.8 billion yuan). This is thanks to the rapid increase in the number of stores. The number of Paewang Chahee stores, which was only about 1,000 at the end of 2022, increased by 233% to 3,511 by the end of last year. As of May, it has reached 4,500 stores. As of the 20th, the number of registered members of Paewang Chahee is about 130 million.

The target brand, Starbucks, achieved sales of 706 million USD (approximately 963.4 billion KRW) in China in the first quarter of this year. Based on the first quarter alone, Paewang Chahee has already outperformed Starbucks' results. In the 2023 fiscal year, Starbucks' total sales in China recorded 3.082 billion USD, and the number of stores exceeds 7,000.

Competition among Chinese tea beverage brands is intensifying day by day. As of the 5th, there are 29,273 stores of Mixuebingcheng, 9,312 of Guming, 8,345 of Chabaidao, 3,859 of Xicha (Heecha, Heiti), and 1,855 of Naishedocha operating in mainland China.

Many brands are also expanding overseas to avoid fierce competition. Heiti and Mixuebingcheng have opened stores in Korea. Paewang Chahee has opened overseas centers in Southeast Asia and North America and operates stores in Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore. The number of overseas stores is about 100, and they plan to open a store in Paris, France during the Olympic period. Founder Zhang said, "We have dispatched about 150 management team members overseas, and foreign partners number nearly 1,000," adding, "Our future goal is to open stores in 100 countries, create 300,000 jobs worldwide, and achieve annual sales of 15 billion cups."