Mixue (蜜雪冰城)

Mixue started in 1997 as a shaved-ice stall run by a penniless student from Henan. The positioning has not changed since: the lowest possible price, around six yuan a cup, made possible by complete vertical integration — the chain makes its own syrup, tea and packaging and sells them to its franchisees.

The network has passed forty thousand shops, more than any catering chain in the world, and is spilling into South-East Asia. Its mascot, a snowman with an ice sceptre, and its song looping in every shop have become a meme phenomenon in their own right.