经济学人 | Bubble tea 珍珠奶茶（2023年第28期）

文章来源：《经济学人》Apr 15th 2023 期 Asia 栏目 Bubble tea

campus on the outskirts of Jakarta, motorbikes line the front of Ricky Salim's ice-cream and tea store. One of thousands of Mixue franchise owners across Asia, Mr Salim says his business is so good he hopes to open more outlets this year. Mixue, a Chinese firm which built its brand selling flavoured teas and soft-serve ice-cream in smaller Chinese cities with relatively modest average incomes, is exporting its model across South-East Asia. Its nearly 22,000 franchised stores worldwide, by early last year, made it the fifth-largest fast-food chain in the world by outlet, behind McDonald's, Subway, Starbucks and KFC.

在雅加达郊区一所大学校园对面，瑞奇.萨利姆的茶饮店前停满了摩托车。萨利姆是亚洲数千家蜜雪冰城特许加盟店的店主之一，他说他的生意非常好，他希望今年能开更多门店。蜜雪冰城是一家销售调味茶和软冰淇淋的中国公司，它在中国二三线小城市发家创品牌，目前正在开拓东南亚市场。截至去年年初，蜜雪冰城在全球约有2.2万家特许加盟店，使其成为全球第5大快餐连锁店（按门店计算），仅次于麦当劳、赛百味、星巴克和肯德基。

Part of the reason for Mixue's success is that it sells rising Asia's favourite drink: bubble (or “boba”) tea, a milky tea containing chewy tapioca balls. In China, the market for these newfangled, flavoured teas was twice that for coffee in 2021, with a $20bn turnover, according to Momentum Works, a research firm in Singapore. As growth has slowed in China, bubble-tea brands have set their sights on South-East Asia, where the market was worth $4bn. Several other large, Chinese, ready-made tea brands, including HeyTea, Nayuki Tea, ChaGee and Happy Lemon, have also moved into the region.

蜜雪冰城成功的部分原因是销售了亚洲最受欢迎的饮料：珍珠奶茶，一种含有耐嚼木薯球的奶茶。根据新加坡研究公司墨腾创投的数据，在2021年，这些新型口味茶在中国市场上的销售额是咖啡销售额的2倍，达到200亿美元。随着国内增长速度放缓，珍珠奶茶品牌已将目光投向了东南亚市场，该市场价值40亿美元。其他几个大型的中国现成茶品牌，包括喜茶、奈雪的茶、霸王茶姬和快乐柠檬，都纷纷进入该地区。

Yet no bubble-tea chain has spread faster than Mixue, which opened its first store in Vietnam in 2018. By March it had around 1,500 stores in Indonesia; the firm wants to double its presence there by the end of this year, says Andy Meitri Hartanto, Mixue Indonesia's franchise manager. The brand's bright red signage and snowman logo can already be found in malls, along dusty side streets and on shophouses across Indonesia. Many branches stock board games, magazines, picture books and soft toys. On weekends Mr Salim's outlet fills with parents taking their children out for ice-cream, while during the week his main customers are students and office workers looking for an affordable, comfortable place to study or work. An ice-cream costs just 8,000 rupiah ($0.50).

然而，传播速度最快的品牌是蜜雪冰城。它于2018年在越南开设了第一家门店。到3月份，在印度尼西亚约有1,500家门店；蜜雪冰城印度尼西亚特许加盟店经理安迪·梅特里·哈坦托说，该公司希望在今年年底之前将印尼业务规模扩大一倍。该品牌鲜艳的红色标志和雪人标志已经在印度尼西亚各地的购物中心、尘土飞扬的小巷和店屋中随处可见。许多分店都备有棋盘游戏、杂志、图画书和毛绒玩具。周末，萨利姆先生的门店里挤满了带孩子出去吃冰淇淋的家长，而工作日他的主要客户是寻找价格实惠、舒适的学习或工作场所的学生和上班族。一份冰淇淋只需8,000卢比（0.50美元）。

Almost all Mixue branches are franchises. Around 95% of the firm's 10.3bn yuan ($1.5bn) in revenue in 2021 came from selling ingredients, packaging and equipment to franchise-holders. Huge factories and extensive supply chains let it keep down the store-price of ice-creams and teas, according to Zheshang Securities, a Chinese broker. Around 90% of Mixue Indonesia's products are imported from China. But the company's Indonesia operation has grown to such an extent that it plans to start making ingredients locally, says Mr Hartanto. Mixue has also adapted to local conditions. The Indonesian Ulema Council, a religious body, declared Mixue halal in February. In a country with 230m Muslims, “this decision was a big deal”, says Mr Salim.

几乎所有蜜雪冰城分店都是特许加盟店。2021年，该公司103亿元人民币（15亿美元）收入中约95%来自向特许经营者销售原料、包装和设备。据中国券商浙商证券称，巨大的工厂和庞大的供应链使其能够压低冰淇淋和茶饮的价格。印度尼西亚的蜜雪冰城分店约有90%的产品都是从中国进口的。但是，该公司在印度尼西亚的业务已经发展如此迅速，以至于它计划开始在当地生产原料，哈坦托说。蜜雪冰城也因地制宜。印度尼西亚宗教团体乌莱玛理事会于2月份宣布蜜雪冰城是伊斯兰教律法的合法食物。萨利姆说，在一个拥有2.3亿穆斯林的国家，“这个决定意义重大”。

Mixue dates from 1997, when its founder, Zhang Hongchao, started selling shaved ice and drinks at a roadside stall in the central Chinese province of Henan. Yet it wasn't until videos of its mascot, a chubby snowman, singing the Mixue theme song went viral on Chinese social media a few years ago that the brand became a household name. Short videos on Mixue, which means “honey snow” in Mandarin, have been viewed more than 17bn times on Douyin, TikTok's Chinese sister app.

蜜雪冰城成立于1997年，创始人张红超在中国河南省的路边开始销售刨冰和冷饮。然而，直到前几年，它的吉祥物--一个胖乎乎的雪人--唱着蜜雪冰城主题曲的视频在中国社交媒体上疯传，这个品牌才成为家喻户晓的名字。蜜雪冰城在短视频抖 音平台上的浏览量已超过 170 亿次。

Unlike fancier bubble-tea brands, Mixue markets itself as cheap and cheerful, rather than trendy, both in China and South-East Asia. Its viral song has been translated into 20 languages and is often played relentlessly in its franchises. “What it took our China team ten or 20 years to figure out, we've been able to perfect in just one year by learning from their experiences,” says Mr Hartanto.

与更高档的珍珠奶茶品牌不同，蜜雪冰城在中国和东南亚市场上将自己定位为实惠且欢快的品牌，而不是时尚品牌。其病毒式疯传的歌曲已被翻译成20种语言，也经常在蜜雪冰城特许加盟店里不断播放。哈坦托说：“我们中国团队花了10-20年才弄清楚的事情，我们通过学习他们的经验，在1年内就能完美地掌握。”

Mixue's biggest ambitions for growth are in countries with rapidly growing economies and many young people, such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Yet over the past year Mixue stores have also opened in Australia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, and the firm has registered its trademark in markets from Europe and America to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. It has announced plans for an initial public offering on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. The singing snowman is coming your way.

蜜雪冰城最大的增长愿望是在经济快速增长、年轻人众多的国家，例如印度尼西亚、菲律宾、泰国和越南。然而，在过去一年里，蜜雪冰城也已在澳大利亚、日本、新加坡和韩国开设门店，该公司还在欧美国家、吉尔吉斯斯坦和乌兹别克斯坦等市场注册了自己的商标。蜜雪冰城拟在深交所上市。唱歌的雪人向你走来。