Bubble-Tea Chain Bigger Than Starbucks Yields $8 Billion Fortune

In the late 1990s, university student Zhang Hongchao opened a cold drinks stall in Zhengzhou, a city of about 13 million in central China. A decade later, his younger brother joined the business.

Now, they’re richer than the mastermind behind the rapid global expansion of Starbucks Corp.

Their Mixue Group, a food and beverage empire with more than 45,300 shops selling $1 bubble-tea, coffee and ice-cream, will debut in Hong Kong March 3 after a $444 million initial public offering, the city’s largest this year.

Mixue company mascots at its global headquarters in Zhengzhou city, Henan province.

Photographer: Feature China/Future Publishing/Getty Images

The share sale gives Hongchao and his younger brother Zhang Hongfu a combined ...