Which global fast food chain has more locations?

Which would you say is the largest fast food chain in the world by number of locations?

(a) McDonald's
(b) Starbucks
(c) Subway
(d) Mixue Ice Cream & Tea

If you guessed McDonald’s, you’re not correct. Subway? Guess again. OK, how about Starbucks? Not exactly.

China’s Mixue is indeed the world’s largest chain, ending last year with 45,000 stores across Asia and Australia, and opportunities for expansion is everywhere you look.

The menu is short and very sweet. It includes the signature ice-cream cone, variations on bubble tea and a lemonade that has made Mixue, China’s biggest purchaser of lemons.

Its full name Mìxuě Bīngchéng (蜜雪冰城 ) can be loosely translated into "honey snow ice city.” The stores are adorned with its Snow King mascot, and at every store you visit, you’ll hear its jingle on a loop making you hum the song in your head for hours afterwards.

Mixue Ice Cream and Tea, pronounced ME-schway, became the world’s biggest food-and-beverage chain by number of locations in 2024, topping McDonald’s and Starbucks.

The company raised more than $400 million in an IPO of its shares in Hong Kong on Feb. 24, 2025. The shares rose nearly 30% in early trading, giving Mixue a valuation of more than $10 billion. Mixue generates most of its revenue from selling supplies to its franchisees.

Now that Mixue is a public company with substantial access to capital, will the chain expand to the U. S. and Europe? Time will tell. In its IPO filing, Mixue suggested that it intended to become more global, but didn’t mention plans to enter the U.S. Roughly 90% of its locations are in China, with the rest in 10 other Asian countries and Australia.

Read more: Forget McDonald’s. This Chinese Fast-Food Chain Is Now the World’s Biggest.