麦记牛奶的千店梦：规模是自己的 成本是加盟商的

This article reveals the expansion crisis of Maiji Milk, a chain modern sweet soup brand, and outlines the current development status of the entire modern sweet soup industry. Key takeaways are as follows:

1. Core incident: After Maiji Milk was taken over by capital, it expanded rapidly from 53 stores to over 1,000 within 10 months. Now it is facing collective rights protection from franchisees, as its actual revenue, gross margin and payback period are all far lower than the brand’s promotional claims. It also faces issues such as frequent high fines and lack of support from headquarters.

2. Industry overview: The modern sweet soup industry has experienced explosive growth in recent years, with its market size surging from 242 billion yuan to 621 billion yuan in three years, and it is expected to exceed 780 billion yuan by 2026. However, competition in the track has become increasingly intense.

3. Note for individual entrants: Modern sweet soup has inherent drawbacks including large regional demand differences, low consumption frequency relying on in-store dining, and poor repurchase due to high average customer spend. It also faces competition from cross-industry players. Blind entry easily leads to losses, so careful evaluation is required.

This article discloses the expansion problems of Maiji Milk and sorts out the development trend of the modern sweet soup industry, providing multi-dimensional reference value for sweet soup brand operation:

1. Consumption trend: Currently, 71.8% of Gen Z consumers are willing to pay for healthy, nourishing beverages. Modern sweet soup, which focuses on low sugar and natural nourishment, perfectly matches this demand. The industry has more than doubled in size in three years, with more than 3,800 new sweet soup enterprises established in 2025, keeping the track hot.

2. Operation and product: Severe homogenization is plaguing the industry today. Most brands have highly similar selling points and products and lack differentiated innovation, so brands need to refine differentiated products. The industry has already seen a integration trend of "sweet soup + bubble tea", which brands can learn from.

3. Risk warning: Maiji Milk's aggressive expansion and shifting costs to franchisees triggered a crisis of trust. This reminds brands that they need to validate a profitable unit economics model before expanding at scale, and should not pursue blind growth. Meanwhile, they need to prepare in advance to compete with cross-industry players such as Haidilao and new-style tea brands.

This article discloses the real situation of the franchised modern sweet soup track, points out the opportunities and risks, and provides high reference value for sellers engaged in the sweet soup business:

1. Franchise risk warning: Leading brand Maiji Milk has a mismatch between its promotional promises and actual performance. The brand claims a 7-8 month payback period and a gross margin as high as 70%, but in reality, most franchisees face a payback period of more than 18 months and an actual gross margin of only 45% to 50%. There are also problems such as frequent high fines and insufficient performance support from headquarters, so franchisees need to verify information before joining.

2. Track opportunities: The modern sweet soup industry still maintains rapid growth, and its market size is expected to exceed 780 billion yuan by 2026. The growing health demand of Gen Z continues to drive category growth. Experienced operators can open stores quickly via the super franchisee model.

3. Competitive risk: The track has now entered a consolidation phase. Leading brands are expanding at an accelerated pace, while cross-industry players including Haidilao and new-style tea brands are also entering the market. Small and medium-sized sellers face double pressure. They need to fully calculate local demand and upfront costs before entering the market to avoid blind investment.

This article sorts out the development and changes of the modern sweet soup industry, and provides multiple references for production and processing factories related to sweet soup:

1. Product production and design demand: Modern sweet soup brands are moving toward standardization, generally streamlining SKUs and adopting a model of unified base plus standardized toppings. This has led to a sharp increase in demand for standardized ingredients such as tapioca, taro balls and peach gum. Meanwhile, consumers prefer low-sugar, nourishing ingredients that are both edible and medicinal, so factories can adjust their R&D direction to match this demand.

2. Business opportunities: The sweet soup industry has more than doubled in size in three years, with a large number of new brands and new stores entering the market, and cross-industry players including tea and hot pot brands are also launching their own sweet soup products. Overall market demand has grown significantly, so factories can expand their B2B supply business to serve new brands and cross-industry players.

3. Transformation enlightenment: As brands are pushing forward large-scale, standardized expansion, factories need to accelerate digital upgrading, improve supply chain response efficiency to meet the large-scale supply demand of brands. Meanwhile, they can expand e-commerce channels to serve more small and medium-sized brand clients.

This article clearly shows the development trend of the modern sweet soup track and pain points of various players, and points out business directions for service providers serving the sweet soup industry:

1. Industry development trend: The modern sweet soup track has entered an explosive growth period, with its market size more than doubling in three years. More than 3,800 new sweet soup-related enterprises were established in 2025, with a large number of new brands, super franchisees entering the market and cross-industry players laying out their presence, leading to very strong demand for industry services.

2. Core customer pain points: Fast-expanding new brands need standardized training, supply chain management and in-store operation support; franchisees face insufficient headquarter support and inaccurate profit forecasting; small and medium-sized stores struggle with customer acquisition and high operating costs; and brands generally face the challenges of product homogenization and varied regional demand.

3. Business directions: Service providers can launch standardized operation, compliance management and franchisee training services for chain brands; launch precise site selection, local traffic operation and cost control services for independent stores; they can also help brands develop differentiated products and integrate supply chains to match the growing demand of the industry.

This article discloses the current expansion status and existing problems of the modern sweet soup track, and provides high reference value for platform operators laying out the catering business:

1. Merchant demand: Sweet soup brands are expanding rapidly, and most prefer to open stores in mainstream commercial complexes. 80% of Maiji Milk's stores are located in complexes such as Mixc and Wanda, so brands have strong demand for high-quality commercial space. Meanwhile, food delivery platforms are important sales channels for stores, so merchants have strong demand for reasonable commission policies.

2. Investment and operation direction: Platforms can attract leading sweet soup brands and promising new brands to meet consumers' demand for healthy nourishing sweet soup and enrich their business format. They can also launch bulk location cooperation policies for super franchisees to attract brands to settle in quickly.

3. Risk avoidance: Some brands expand aggressively without validating a profitable unit economics model, making large-scale store closure highly likely. Platforms need to verify brands' single-store profitability data before cooperation to avoid vacant space losses and reputational damage. Meanwhile, they should reasonably control the density of sweet soup stores in the same region to avoid excessive customer cannibalization that hurts merchant survival rates.

This article records the explosive growth of the modern sweet soup track and the expansion practice of leading brands, providing rich case and data support for catering industry research:

1. New industry trends: Modern sweet soup has upgraded from a local snack to a popular catering track, with its market size growing from 242 billion yuan to 621 billion yuan in three years, and is expected to exceed 780 billion yuan by 2026. Multiple new changes have emerged in the industry: chain expansion is accelerating, with leading brands one after another rolling out 1,000-store expansion plans; new business models have emerged, including the super franchisee model, tea-infused transformation of sweet soup, sweet soup-tea integration, and in-store store concepts.

2. New industry problems: Leading brands generally suffer from "size hunger", shifting costs and risks to franchisees through aggressive expansion, which easily triggers trust crises. The industry also faces problems such as severe homogenization and prominent inherent category flaws. Combined with the disruptive competition from cross-industry players, the living space of small and medium-sized brands has been greatly compressed, and the industry has entered a consolidation phase.

3. Research enlightenment: Further research can be conducted on the balance between scale expansion and profitability amid catering booms, as well as the benefit distribution mechanism between brand owners and franchisees in the chain franchise model, to provide theoretical and practical reference for the chain development of the catering industry.