Mixue sells soft-serve cones for as little as 45 cents. It also has more locations than McDonald’s. The Chinese chain now runs more than 47,000 stores worldwide, according to the Wall Street Journal. Brothers Zhang Hongchao and Zhang Hongfu built it using the same playbook Dollar General used to outmaneuver Walmart: go where the big guys won’t, keep everything bare-bones and sell cheap. Zhang Hongchao opened his first shaved-ice stall in 1997 in Henan, a Chinese province he compares to Ohio, for just $950. Instead of chasing middle-class shoppers in Shanghai, the brothers planted stands in workers’ dorms, village markets…
Author: Staff Writer
When one door closes, another door opens. That’s the vibe from Yum! Brands’ CFO this week, speaking just months after the company sold off Pizza Hut. Speaking at the Barclays Global Consumer Staples Conference, Ranjith Roy said parting ways with Pizza Hut says something bigger about how Yum! thinks. “The fact that we divested Pizza Hut should signal to everyone that we are prepared to make bold moves around our portfolio where it makes sense,” he said. “So, if the question is, would we add another brand? Sure. If it makes sense, we will do it,” according to Restaurant Business.…
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Key Takeaways A startup can report strong revenue and healthy margins while still failing. Rapid growth often consumes cash before it produces it, since hiring, inventory, infrastructure and fulfillment costs arrive now while customer payments may arrive 30, 60 or 90 days later. Every year, entrepreneurs launch new startups with disruptive ideas. They secure early customer traction and watch their sales curves climb aggressively, but on paper, the business may look like an unmitigated triumph. The income statement shows good, expanding profit margins, and the founders celebrate what appears to be a…
The 2026 World Economic Conference will be December 4-6, 2026, back in Orlando, Florida! This is our highly anticipated annual event for over 40 years running! Our World Economic Conference is a unique event that brings together like-minded individuals from around the world, from different backgrounds and professions, to explore how capital truly moves across borders, markets, and cycles. Our past-attendee presale is going on now! Ticket sales go live to the general public this Thursday, September 17th at 10:30 AM ET. Visit our Events page for information on upcoming and past events. To see what past attendees say, CLICK HERE!…
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Anthony Katz developed the first Hyperice to soothe his aching knees after years of basketball wear and tear. He never imagined the homemade solution would become the foundation for a billion-dollar recovery company, backed by the world’s biggest athletes and now partnered with Nike. The Kobe co-sign The idea for Hyperice came in 2009, when Katz returned from a year in Australia and realized his body was starting to break down. An avid hooper and basketball historian, Katz looked to the pros for inspiration, turning to the same recovery ritual used by…
A “Widow’s Bay” wave slammed into the Emmy Awards on Monday night as the Apple TV show set a single-season record for a comedy with 14 wins, including best comedy series and best actor for star Matthew Rhys, who personally took home three trophies.“The celebrations will be long, varied, and I hope at times wild,” Rhys said backstage while holding two of his Emmys.“The Pitt” won best drama series for the second straight year, and star Noah Wyle repeated as best actor in a drama, but the HBO Max emergency room drama won no other Emmys and underperformed its expectations.Rhea…
Mastercard’s new marketing push aims to give America’s 36 million small businesses a morale boost as they face pressures ranging from increased energy prices triggered by war in the Middle East, tariffs that have upended supply chains, and higher labor and operating costs. On Tuesday, the credit card company debuted its new campaign platform, called “Dreams,” which will run across linear and connected television, social, streaming audio, and programmatic display. “Dreams” is timed to air in the months leading up to the New York City marathon, which is run on the first Sunday in November, and that’s because Mastercard is…
COMMENT: What is it with this clown and Ukraine, he has been spending a lot of time over there lately – perhaps he wants a piece of the pie ?? because I don’t see any other reason for his passionate crusade pro Ukraine. GR REPLY: You may have hit the nail on the head. It has been Boris Johnson who has flown to Kiev to instruct Zelensky not to sign any peace deal 2 years ago. He constantly instructs Zelensky to reject peace. I warned the White House that that Boris flew to Kiev and told Zelensky to insiste the meeting…
Formal sabbatical policies are increasingly attractive for employees, but are often misunderstood by companies considering them. Giving employees more than a vacation—months, not days or weeks—provides unexpected benefits to companies: combatting burnout, building culture, encouraging work-life balance, and satisfying younger workers. Addressing burnout takes longer than a weekend/vacation First, a sabbatical provides enough time to truly recover and return to who you are outside your job. Participants in a study I conducted said it took much longer than they’d expected, sometimes up to eight weeks, to feel “human again.” Employee disengagement and burnout persists, despite the many tech-forward offerings promising…
A few years ago Adrian Swinscoe, a customer experience consultant, was lamenting that the field had become overly focused on benchmarks, metrics, and other abstract notions removed from actually connecting with customers. “People were getting so much into the details, they were losing sight of the customer,” he says. If only, Swinscoe mused to a friend over a beer, someone could just do something a bit more “punk.” As Swinscoe, who counts Bad Religion among his favorite bands, thought about what exactly that could mean, he realized the analogy felt fairly apt. After all, he says, punk evolved roughly 50…