This is an English adaptation of a FoodBud historical article originally published on February 14, 2024.
On February 14, 2024, Auntea Jenny filed a prospectus with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for a planned Hong Kong listing.
For international chain operators, the filing is most useful as a snapshot of how a large Chinese fresh-made tea chain has scaled through franchising, lower-tier-city penetration, and centralized supply chain infrastructure.
As of September 30, 2023, Auntea Jenny had 7,297 stores, of which 7,245 were franchised. Franchised stores accounted for 99.3% of the system.
Among its 4,284 franchisees, 1,382 franchisees, or 32.3%, operated more than one store.
System GMV reached RMB 7.18 billion in the first nine months of 2023, compared with RMB 6.07 billion for full-year 2022.
Revenue was RMB 2.54 billion and net profit was RMB 300 million in the first nine months of 2023. In full-year 2022, revenue was RMB 2.2 billion and net profit was RMB 150 million.
The company’s revenue mainly came from franchisee-related income. Company-operated stores contributed 3.8% of revenue in the first nine months of 2023. Most revenue was generated from selling goods, ingredients and equipment to franchisees, and from providing franchise services. Other revenue came from e-commerce platform sales and paid membership cards launched in selected cities in December 2022.
The prospectus classifies China’s fresh-made tea drink sector into high-, mid- and low-price segments based mainly on selling price.
As of September 30, 2023, Auntea Jenny ranked third by store count among China’s five largest mid-priced fresh-made tea brands. Guming ranked first, ChaPanda second, Shuyi Tealicious fourth, and CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice fifth.
Auntea Jenny’s network was concentrated in China’s northern regions and lower-tier cities. As of September 30, 2023, 51.4% of its stores were in northern China, and about 49% were in third-tier and lower cities. Among stores opened in the first nine months of 2023, 50.4% were in third-tier and lower cities.
In the first nine months of 2023, products sold through stores in third-tier and lower cities accounted for 43.1% of revenue.
Auntea Jenny operated three concepts: Auntea Jenny, Huka, and a value-oriented Light Edition format.
Auntea Jenny’s core products included fresh fruit tea, multi-ingredient milk tea, and light milk tea, priced from RMB 7 to RMB 22.
Huka, launched in 2022, is a coffee product line usually operated inside Auntea Jenny stores, with products priced from RMB 13 to RMB 23.
The Light Edition concept, launched in 2023, focuses on value-oriented tea drinks, including multi-ingredient milk tea, light milk tea, fruit tea, and ice cream, priced from RMB 2 to RMB 12.
As of September 30, 2023, of the company’s 7,297 stores, 7,257 were Auntea Jenny stores and 40 were Light Edition stores. Among Auntea Jenny stores, 1,946 offered the Huka concept.
In the first nine months of 2023, Huka generated GMV of RMB 24.4 million, while Light Edition stores generated GMV of RMB 9.056 million. Both remained small businesses that still required time to develop.
As of September 30, 2023, Auntea Jenny had 71.9 million registered members on its WeChat mini program, including more than 16.3 million quarterly active users.
In the first nine months of 2023, about 60.9% of orders were placed directly through the WeChat mini program. The average quarterly repurchase rate was 41.3%.
As of September 30, 2023, Auntea Jenny’s supply chain network included eight major warehousing and logistics bases, four equipment warehouses, nine fresh agricultural product warehouses, and 19 forward cold-chain warehouses.
Two fresh agricultural product warehouses and all forward cold-chain warehouses were operated by independent third parties. The national supplier coverage enabled the company to deliver fresh ingredients to stores two to three times per week.
According to China Insights Consultancy, as of September 30, 2023, among China’s five largest mid-priced fresh-made tea brands by systemwide store count, Auntea Jenny ranked first by city coverage of warehouses.
The company also owned a production facility in Haiyan County, Zhejiang Province. The Haiyan plant began commercial production in 2022 and had a total area of more than 10,000 square meters.
The plant produced and processed selected beverage ingredients, mainly tapioca pearls, taro balls, and taro paste. As of September 30, 2023, its theoretical annualized capacity was 1,921.9 tonnes of tapioca pearls, 1,243.7 tonnes of taro balls, and 1,730.2 tonnes of taro paste. In December 2023, the Haiyan plant’s tea production line entered commercial production, with theoretical annualized capacity of 2,078.2 tonnes.
In 2021, 2022, and the nine months ended September 30, 2023, purchases from Auntea Jenny’s five largest suppliers accounted for 25.9%, 19.6%, and 17.4% of total purchases, respectively.
The company had established its own product center to manage raw-material purchasing plans based on in-store sales to end customers. Combined with machine-learning algorithms, its forecast accuracy for sales of key products over the next 30 days reached 93%.
As of September 30, 2023, Auntea Jenny had 1,708 full-time employees in China.
Auntea Jenny’s financing history included RMB 75 million in Series A funding, RMB 53 million in Series A+ funding, RMB 230 million in Series B funding, and RMB 120 million in Series C funding completed in February 2024.
Founder Shan Weijun and Ms. Zhou Rongrong entered into an acting-in-concert agreement. Together, through Shanghai Puhai, Shanghai Senrui, and Shanghai Yuchao, they controlled approximately 45.97%, 17.86%, and 16.80% of the company’s share capital, respectively, giving them control over approximately 80.64% of voting rights in Auntea Jenny’s total issued share capital.
On December 14, 2023, Auntea Jenny declared a dividend of RMB 60 million, which had been fully paid by January 25, 2024. Based on this calculation, Shan Weijun and Zhou Rongrong received RMB 48.6 million in dividends.
Note: IPO, financing, dividend, and operating figures are historical and reflect the article’s February 2024 source context.