Latest news with #Oh!Susanna
UPI
11-07-2025
- Politics
- UPI
On This Day, July 11: Kingpin 'El Chapo' escapes from Mexican prison
1 of 7 | On July 11, 2015, Drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, pictured here in 2014, escaped from a maximum-security Mexican prison on through a 5,000-foot tunnel. File Photo by Mario Guzman/EPA July 11 (UPI) -- On this date in history: In 1804, U.S. Vice President Aaron Burr killed longtime political foe Alexander Hamilton, the first treasury secretary, in a duel at Weehawken, N.J. Distant relatives of the two rivals re-enacted the famous meeting on the 200th anniversary in 2004. In 1847, songwriter Stephen Foster's first major hit, "Oh! Susanna," was performed for the first time, in a Pittsburgh saloon. It soon became a standard for minstrel shows. In 1859, Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities was published. In 1914, legendary hitter Babe Ruth makes his debut in Major League Baseball. The Great Bambino would go on to become one of the greatest baseball players of all time and was included in the inaugural class of the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1952, U.S. Army Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate, with Richard Nixon as his running mate. They were elected that November. UPI File Photo In 1955, the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado was dedicated, with 300 cadets in its first class. In 1960, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird was published. In 1979, Skylab, the United States' first space station, fell to Earth after six years in orbit, scattering tons of debris across the Australian desert. In 1995, the United States resumed diplomatic relations with Vietnam. UPI File Photo In 1995, Bosnian Serbs claim the town of Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, starting a genocide that would result in the deaths of more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys. In 2006, more than 200 people were killed and another 700 injured in coordinated rush-hour terrorist attacks on the transit system in Mumbai. In 2011, an overloaded Russian cruise ship with a malfunctioning engine capsized in the Volga River during a thunderstorm and quickly sank, killing 122 people. There were 79 survivors. In 2015, Drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman escaped from a maximum-security Mexican prison on through a 5,000-foot tunnel. It was his second escape from prison, and he would later be caught in January 2016. In 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden, in conjunction with NASA, unveiled the first image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope, featuring a grouping of galaxies. In 2024, Cole Escola's comedic play Oh, Mary! about first lady Mary Todd Lincoln Todd opened on Broadway after an initial run off-Broadway. Escola won the Best Actor in a Play Tony Award for his role as the titular character and Sam Pinkleton won for the Best Director. Sam Pinkleton (L) poses with the Best Direction of a Play award and Cole Escola poses with the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play award, both for "Oh, Mary!" backstage at the 78th Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 8, 2025, in New York City. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI
CBC
04-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
This bubble tea chain is the 'largest brand nobody's ever heard of,' with more stores than McDonald's
For those of you who thought McDonald's and Starbucks are the world's biggest food and beverage chains by number of locations, think again. Turns out China's largest bubble tea and drinks chain, Mixue Ice Cream and Tea, which may be unfamiliar to many, boasts more outlets than either of the better-known chains. The company saw its stock soar more than 40 per cent following its $444 million US debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday. Through a major franchise network, Mixue has more than 45,000 stores spanning China and 11 overseas countries including Thailand, Singapore and Australia, as of last September. In comparison, burger chain McDonald's has over 43,000 restaurants across more than 100 countries, while coffee giant Starbucks has roughly 40,000 outlets worldwide. Humble origins, low prices The budget-friendly chain was started by founder Zhang Hongchao in 1997 as a small shaved ice shop with a homemade machine in the northern city of Zhengzhou. The chain has capitalized on the growing thirst for bubble tea in China and elsewhere, helping it grow into the franchise giant it is today. "It's the largest brand that nobody's ever heard of," said Robert Carter, restaurant industry analyst at StratonHunter. "They've just exploded." Mixue has become a national icon among Chinese consumers and its catchy jingle translates in English to, "I love you, you love me, Mixue Ice Cream & Tea," set to the tune of the popular American song Oh! Susanna. WATCH | Mixue's catchy jingle: Its full name, Mixue Bingcheng, translates to "sweet snow palace" according to the company's website. Famous for its playful snowman mascot called Snow King, who wears a crown and a red cloak, Mixue has become popular among young consumers for selling fruit and tea drinks, coffee and ice cream, at a low price — typically about $1. "They've got a really interesting pricing strategy. They keep things very low, but their product quality is high," Carter said. "So that's also allowed them to grow really dramatically and get a lot of younger consumers from that price point." Bubble tea is one of the few bright spots on the consumer front in China, with low-price operators doing particularly well. Mixue controls its own supply chain By the end of September 2024, over 99 per cent of the company's more than 45,000 stores were franchised, Mixue's regulatory filings showed. Nearly all of its stores are run by franchisees, unlike Starbucks, which operates 53 per cent of its stores directly. However, Mixue does not primarily depend on franchise fees for its income, and franchise fees made up just 2.4 per cent of its total revenue in the first three quarters of 2024, according to its filings. Though many see the brand as a traditional beverage retailer, it operates more like a raw-material supplier, selling food materials, packaging, and equipment to thousands of franchisees, according to its filings. The bulk of its revenue comes from the sale of merchandise and equipment to franchised stores, which are required to buy these items from Mixue. "They're not making money just off the franchise model," Carter said. "They're also making it because they control the supply chain and drive profits from selling the product to their network." Is North America next? In its IPO filing in January, Mixue said it planned to keep growing, while acknowledging that its strategy to expand its store network "may lead to competition both among our existing stores and against our competitors." Carter believes Mixue could come to North America because it's an area of opportunity for them. "I would expect that they will look at North America. Canada and the U.S. alone is a trillion dollar restaurant segment," he said. CBC News reached out to Mixue but did not immediately hear back outside of office hours. "I wouldn't rule it out … with so much immigration from Asia, this brand could have immediate brand recognition in the right locations," said Vince Sgabellone, a food service industry expert at market research firm Circana. "The challenge will be in meeting their low price point model." And though the boba chain has more outlets than American fast-food giants McDonald's, Starbucks and Subway globally, Mixue's sales still trail Starbucks, Inspire Brands, which is the owner of Dunkin' and Baskin-Robbins, and Tim Hortons, according to Singapore-based research firm Momentum Works.
Wall Street Journal
02-03-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Forget McDonald's. This Chinese Fast-Food Chain Is Now the World's Biggest.
SINGAPORE—It sells ice cream and sugary drinks for under $1. Its mascot looks like the love child of Frosty the Snowman and the Michelin Man. And its stores relentlessly blare a jingle set to the tune of 'Oh! Susanna.' This recipe helped Mixue Ice Cream and Tea become the world's biggest food-and-beverage chain by number of locations, topping McDonald's and Starbucks.
