The World's Largest Chain Restaurant (No, It's Not McDonald's)

When you think of the biggest restaurant chains in the world, American brands probably come to mind. It's true that some of the largest chains are American, but they're not always the ones with the most locations. For example, McDonald's has over 41,000 restaurants worldwide. Meanwhile, Subway — the fast food chain with the most restaurants in America — has around 20,300 U.S. locations in 2025 (per Scrapehero).

Yet — perhaps surprising to some — the world's largest chain specializes in beverages rather than burgers, with its headquarters based in China. Mixue Bingcheng overtook the Golden Arches to become the chain with the most locations — some 45,000 and counting (via AP News). The name, which means "Honey Snow Ice City" in Chinese, reflects the company's ethos. The chain offers appealing sweet drinks and treats, all at a low price: think very affordable soft-serve ice creams and fun flavored beverages like mango boba or pearl milk tea.

The majority of Mixue Bingcheng's outlets operate in China, with locations in Asian countries like Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia as well. Yet now, its global outreach is expanding into new regions, with a planned New York City outlet and existing outlets already in Australia. So in a time when even getting a fun drink can sting the wallet, Mixue Bingcheng delivers stress-free refreshment.

Mixue Bingcheng — often shortened to Mixue — traces a fascinating trajectory to achieve such global prevalence. As with many other fast food chains, it all started as a humble one-off shop, opened in Zhengzhou, China, near a university in 1997. From the start, founder Zhang Hongchao's aim was cost-effectiveness, at first focusing only on ice cream but later expanding to beverages like boba tea.

As the business transformed into a franchised chain, Mixue executives carried out savvy business decisions by concentrating openings in small cities to avoid competition and constructing factories to regulate its own syrup production. Later, catchy marketing like the release of "Snow King" (the company's snowman mascot) cemented recognition in the digital era.

Such decisions translated into an astounding pace of growth. Impressively, the company crossed the 36,000-location threshold in September 2023 and then opened 9,000 additional, mostly franchised, stores within the subsequent year (via China Daily). So with momentum moving this way, look out for Mixue; one might soon appear near you.