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Chagee Holdings
Zhang Junjie's Chagee built a 5,000-store tea chain in 7 years, overtaking Starbucks in China by outlet count and filing for a US IPO in 2024.
Chagee Holdings
Chagee Holdings was established in 2017 by Zhang Junjie, who opened the first store under the brand name 'Overlord Tea' in Kunming, Yunnan province. The company later rebranded to the modernized 'Chagee' and relocated first to Chengdu in 2021 and then to Shenzhen in 2024 as it expanded beyond its regional roots. The wealth origin of the founding principal is not publicly disclosed; the firm itself serves as the primary operating entity rather than a vehicle for managing separate family wealth. Chagee operates a franchised and directly-managed retail model concentrated in the freshly-made tea beverage segment. Its menu focuses on tea lattes and milk teas built around a Chinese-tea positioning, with average selling prices positioned above mass-market competitors like Mixue but below the ultra-premium tier. Geographic coverage is anchored in China, where it has more than 4,500 locations, and has extended into Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand since 2023. The first North American location — in Los Angeles — was announced for a planned 2024 opening. The firm raised capital in a 2024 funding round and has publicly stated an intention to pursue a US IPO (per Bloomberg, 2024). By mid-2024, Chagee's store network surpassed 5,000 outlets globally, with significant concentration in second- and third-tier Chinese cities. The firm is preparing for a public listing that could value it at more than $5 billion, according to a Bloomberg report in April 2024. The brand competes directly with Heytea, Mixue Bingcheng, and Auntea Jenny in a domestic market that saw breakneck consolidation from 2022 onwards. Its corporate center operates from Shenzhen, with a secondary hub in Chengdu where the company spent its formative growth years. What separates Chagee's architecture from other scaled Chinese beverage chains is its deliberate pivot toward a Chinese cultural narrative — emphasizing regional tea varietals and traditional preparation methods alongside Western coffee-shop service formats — which allows it to charge a premium while maintaining a franchise model that shifts capital-expenditure risk to local operators. This cultural premium has carried directly into its international expansion, where stores in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok opened to hours-long queues on debut.
General information
Firm type
other
Year founded
2017
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Asia
Country
China
City
Shenzhen
Corporate office
Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
Additional offices
Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Principals
Zhang Junjie
Founder & CEO
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Chagee and where did the company start?
Zhang Junjie founded Chagee in 2017, opening the first store in Kunming, Yunnan under the brand name Overlord Tea. The rebranding to Chagee came as the company expanded beyond Yunnan, with headquarters moving to Chengdu in 2021 and subsequently to Shenzhen in 2024.
How does Chagee's business model differ from a traditional coffee chain?
Chagee focuses on freshly-made tea beverages — particularly tea lattes and milk teas — while adopting the store format and service style of a premium coffee shop. The firm uses a predominantly franchised model for physical expansion, which limits its own capital outlay while positioning the brand at a mid-premium price point via an emphasis on Chinese tea culture.
What is Chagee's international footprint?
As of mid-2024, Chagee had expanded into Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, with a planned first North American store in Los Angeles. The firm had more than 5,000 outlets globally at that time, of which more than 4,500 were located in China.
Is Chagee preparing to go public?
Yes. According to a Bloomberg report in April 2024, Chagee confidentially filed for a US initial public offering that could target roughly $300 million in proceeds, with a valuation possibly exceeding $5 billion. As of the knowledge cutoff, the listing had not yet occurred.
How is Chagee positioned against competitors like Mixue and Heytea?
Chagee targets a mid-premium tier — above mass-market giant Mixue Bingcheng, which often sells below RMB 10 per cup, and below the highest-end artisanal chains like Heytea. The firm's brand leans heavily on Chinese tea varietals and cultural storytelling, creating a differentiation that also serves its international expansion into Southeast Asia.
Does Chagee operate its own stores or rely entirely on franchisees?
Chagee uses a mixed model that includes both directly-managed stores and franchised locations. The heavy reliance on franchising has allowed the company to scale to more than 5,000 stores with a relatively asset-light balance sheet compared to fully corporate-owned peers.
What is the structural significance of Chagee moving its headquarters multiple times?
Chagee's sequential moves from Kunming to Chengdu to Shenzhen trace a pattern of relocating closer to talent, supply chains, and capital markets as the firm scaled. The 2024 move to Shenzhen placed it in the same ecosystem as leading Chinese consumer-tech firms and coincided with its confidential IPO filing in the US.
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