FoodBud

Before the Castle, Part 9 — 2013: Lemonade Upgrades, Supply Shortages, Warmth Plans, and Buddhist Reflection ### 2013：柠檬水升级、断货焦虑、暖心计划与佛学反思 **A FoodBud translated & annotated edition of Mixue co-founder Zhang Hongfu's first-person memoir**

*Series: "Before the Castle — How Mixue Was Really Built, 1997–2017" · Article 9 of 12 · FoodBud /insights*

1. FoodBud Editor's Note

Article 8 traced lemonade's painful birth through the Luoyang franchisee conflict and Geng Jingjing's contribution. Article 9 begins with the memoir's own comment-thread supplements: procurement head Cai Weimiao recalls the cup-diameter, sealing-machine, and price-upgrade pressure; founder Zhang Hongchao adds the 2011 inspiration story, the taste comparison, and the lemon-variety discovery.

The second half shifts to 2013, a year of unprecedented speed. Store openings and operating scale jump sharply. Raw materials, packaging, equipment, installation, repair, talent, and management capacity all break under the load. The team launches an autumn/winter milk-tea push and the "Warm Heart Plan," fails again on product sweetness, and then Zhang Hongfu describes discovering Buddhist thinking during a period of anxiety. This is not a theological section so much as an operating self-diagnosis: how does a fast-growing founder keep moving when ability, luck, guilt, and pressure all feel out of balance?

2. Why This Installment Matters

This article shows scale arriving before systems are ready. Mixue's growth is no longer a story of whether customers like the product; it is a story of whether suppliers can deliver, equipment can be installed, headquarters can support franchisees, and product launches can be tested before national rollout. It also shows a recurring pattern: the team is willing to attack winter with passion, but passion cannot fully compensate for a weak product. That hard truth repeats from 2013 into later years.

—— FoodBud English Translation of the Source · Part 9 Begins ——

A Devastating Follow-Up Triggered by the Previous Article

Good and bad are revealed through comparison. Truth must be tested through practice.

The following passage comes from a comment by the company's current procurement director, Cai Weimiao:

After reading the previous article, memories came flooding back. After this cup of lemonade had been sold for one year, they decided they had to distinguish themselves from the awkwardness of everyone in the market selling at three yuan, so they decided to set the price at four yuan. But they could not raise the price out of nothing. They spent nearly three months planning the price adjustment for this cup of product, including adjusting the gram weight of lemon.

Another revolution in lemonade was coming. They decided to use a 90-millimeter-mouth 700-milliliter cup that the market had not yet used. At that time, more than 95% of the market used 95-millimeter-mouth cups. The other issue was sealing machines. The sealing machines circulating in the market and produced by manufacturers were basically 95-millimeter-mouth machines too. At that time, Mixue's nearly 1,000 stores all used 95-millimeter sealing machines.

The first step was to find a cup manufacturer. It was also then that they learned that more than four colors required an extra fee.

At the same time, they had to find sealing-machine manufacturers and ask them to solve the problem of stores using 95-millimeter sealing machines to seal the new cups. Later the cup-ring issue appeared. They were often complained about then, with stores saying the cup rings had disappeared. Perhaps store business was too good at the time, and the cup rings often got stuck on cups and were carried away by customers.

On the day they adjusted the lemonade ratio and price, they were at the North University Town store. They first set that day's revenue target at 20,000 yuan. Once the cup and sealing-machine adjustments were ready, promotion began at noon. Everyone was a little trembling with fear, worried customers would not accept the extra one yuan. Several people participated in that day's selling: Cai Weimiao, Cheng Ruikai, Miao Hui, and Chang Zilong. They helped customers with meals, stood on stools with microphones, held X-banner posters, and called out to students passing east and west. There were no discounts at all. That day's revenue was around 18,000 yuan. Nobody felt even a trace of disappointment; they were unusually excited. First, revenue had already broken a new high. Second, customers liked the upgraded taste more and also liked the packaging. It was simply perfect.

After that, more and more competitors in the market began using 90-millimeter-mouth cups, more and more manufacturers began producing 90-millimeter sealing machines, and more and more lemon products came to market.

The following passage comes from a comment by founder Zhang Hongchao:

On lemonade, he adds two more points.

Accurately speaking, Miss Geng accelerated the birth of lemonade. The real reason goes back to November 11, 2011, Singles' Day. That day, the Zhengzhou East District Aviation Management College store opened. It became busy at noon and stayed busy until four in the afternoon. Later Manager Zhang (章) said they should go rest for a while; there was an older brother there who had also opened a beverage shop, and when Mixue was renovating a few days earlier, he had wanted to join as a franchisee. So Zhang Hongchao and Manager Zhang went to the school canteen and found that older brother. He had joined and opened a Microphone beverage store. When they arrived, the older brother enthusiastically asked what they wanted to drink. They were actually quite embarrassed, because at that time Microphone had more stores than Mixue, and its menu was a dazzling array.

The two of them looked for a long time and did not know what to drink. Seeing them hesitate, the older brother said he would make them two cups of lemonade. He skillfully cut several lemon slices, took a packet of Nestle Vitamin C, scooped several spoonfuls of powder, put it in the cup, pressed hard with a muddling stick, then added ice, added water, sealed the cup, and handed it to them in one smooth sequence.

Wow — it tasted so good. The icy, refreshing fresh fragrance shocked Zhang Hongchao at once. At that time, their high-end store already had lemons too, but the lemon product there did not taste good. This left a very deep impression in his mind.

The following days were still very busy, and he did not have time to test his own lemonade. Mixue was also using Nestle Vitamin C then. Then, because of Mr. Zheng's matter, they went to Luoyang. When they arrived at the store Mr. Zheng had found, next door was that expressionless but constantly queuing two-yuan lemonade shop. Mr. Zheng's wife had previously told him about this shop. Zhang Hongchao quickly bought a cup. After one sip, he was very disappointed. It was super plain and tasteless. How could there be such a long line? He remembered the older brother's lemonade and thought: after going back, he could definitely make something better.

After returning, he immediately went to the fruit market and bought every kind of lemon one by one: green, yellow, long, round, imported.

At first he thought taste was decided by the sweet-sour ratio. After repeated testing, he was surprised to discover that variety had an enormous relationship to taste. From then on, he gained a new understanding of fruit varieties. There was also a small episode during this process. When he said the lemon he used cost eight yuan per *jin*, Manager Zhang said he had absolutely been cheated; the lemons Manager Zhang bought were only 2.3 yuan. Those were Hainan lemons Manager Zhang had bought for the Huanghe Road store. The two argued until their faces turned red. But after Manager Zhang took a sip, he said, "Damn, how is there such a big difference?" From this, the lemonade era began.

If thanks must be given, three people should be thanked together. First, the older brother from Microphone gave the enlightenment and benchmark for good-tasting lemonade. Geng Jingjing and Mr. Zheng gave the intuitive impression that lemonade could create a queue, pushing lemonade to be born earlier. This should be what people call fate. Every person and every node is a required process.

As for Mr. Zheng, after all these years, Zhang Hongchao had never expressed his view on his "defection." He sent this while everyone still had interest, so they could imagine a little more.

He adds another blow: the direct reason for raising lemonade's price was that after Mixue sold it well, it really bought out the production area's lemon supply. Fresh-fruit prices surged, from as low as three yuan all the way to fifteen yuan per *jin*. So raising the price to four yuan was also a last resort.

Zhang Hongfu then comments on their two replies:

1. People who experienced something personally naturally tell the story vividly. They do not need polish or skill; from deep memory, the story flows out slowly.

2. If Cai Weimiao had not said it, Zhang Hongfu almost forgot the difficulties, anxiety, and pressure around changing cups. At the time, sealing machines for that mouth diameter were rare in the market, and Mixue's nearly 1,000 stores had at least 1,500 sealing machines facing elimination. Later they provided old store owners with an aluminum-alloy cup-ring solution and were still complained about. A franchisee commented: one aluminum-alloy ring costs 80 yuan; why don't you just rob money? But at the time, Mixue took the goods from the manufacturer without adding a single cent.

3. He still remembers the first day of the price adjustment: a group of people standing one by one on ladders and speakers, holding microphones to attract customers. That scene of rhythm and passion mixed with music was the happiest display of enthusiasm. This is also a necessary skill of Mixue people. They could do it before, can do it now, and will do it in the future. If one day they become slack, they will lean on canes and climb onto ladders again to demonstrate.

4. The Aviation Management College store opened on Singles' Day. At that time, the designed and printed posters had not arrived. Zhang Hongchao handwrote posters on site. They were useful, forceful, and humorous. If there are no conditions, create conditions yourself and still go on; compete for every second and open early. This is his style.

5. At the time Zhang Hongfu firmly believed Zhang Hongchao had been cheated when buying those lemons. After tasting them, he was completely convinced. Good and bad are revealed through comparison. Truth must be tested through practice.

Unprecedented Anxiety, Unprecedented Happiness

"Once we finish this period, we won't be busy anymore" turned out to be the biggest lie.

The whole of 2013 was a year of very fast rhythm and forward speed. Store-opening speed and operating scale were probably three times the same period in 2012. That year's revenue was also equal to the total from 2007 through 2012 since the ice-cream chain entrepreneurship began. Zhang Hongfu remembers often saying one sentence to partners that year: once we finish this period, we won't be busy anymore. Who knew that even now, he has never found that sentence fulfilled. It only gets busier and busier. So "once this period is over, we won't be busy" was the greatest lie.

That spring, new stores increased extremely fast — fast enough that every category of raw material and supplies, whether ingredients, packaging, or equipment, experienced stockouts. Their base store count was relatively small, so during spring, the usage volume of many equipment items and materials was three or four times the previous year. Their suppliers had also never encountered this situation, and all worked overtime to catch up on orders.

More helplessly, many order materials used imported inputs. Foreign companies operated in such a way that if orders were not placed in advance, mid-cycle temporary changes or additions were impossible. So they were in all kinds of difficulty, begging grandfathers and grandmothers, yet still could not avoid being cursed.

At the worst point of shortage, stores had already been renovated, but ice-cream machines, hot-water machines, and ice makers were all not in place. Franchisees finished renovating stores and had to wait many days. Sometimes, when goods finally arrived, equipment then broke down one after another. Because suppliers and Mixue had only just begun deep coordination, and domestic equipment manufacturing still had quite a gap from foreign levels, during the peak period not only were goods in urgent shortage, all after-sales installation and repair personnel were also in urgent shortage.

What left a particularly deep impression was his sister's store. Because of shortages, his brother-in-law cut off kinship with him. At that time his sister had opened a new store in Wuhan. The weather was already very hot, so everyone was anxious to open. But the house was already renovated and the ice-cream machine still did not arrive for a long time. When it finally arrived, it broke as soon as power was connected. Just after the ice-cream machine problem was fixed, the partner supporting opening discovered the hot-water machine had not arrived. As for why this was only discovered before opening, it was because the new partner had no experience. Then came all kinds of ice-maker failures.

Added together, these problems led his sister to call him. At the time, Zhang Hongfu had already become hypersensitive and scalp-numb from hearing shortage complaint calls. Before his sister could say much, he snapped and argued at her rapidly. He said: "Everyone can raise opinions, but only you cannot. If you want to do it, do it. If you don't want to do it, forget it. Shortage means either wait, or still wait." Then he hung up.

About ten minutes later, his brother-in-law called and said: "Zhang Hongfu, from now on I do not know you as a person. Never come to our home. Your sister is no longer your sister. Our kinship ends here."

But a real sister is still a real sister. After a while, his sister called and asked whether his brother-in-law had just called him.

He said yes. His sister explained that after he hung up on her, her husband had happened to call her. She could not hold back and cried. Her husband asked what happened; she told him about the call with Zhang Hongfu. In anger, the brother-in-law decided to call Zhang Hongfu and sever kinship.

Of course, later the kinship was not truly severed. But for about a year, his brother-in-law almost ignored him. Looking back now, Zhang Hongfu thinks this was very normal. It precisely proves his brother-in-law was a good brother-in-law, someone who knew how to protect his woman from crying.

The first half of that year was almost entirely spent in an atmosphere as tense as fighting a war. It was not only raw materials and equipment that were short; talent was also extremely scarce. At the time, the planning department partners were mainly women. Designing planning programs and posters was extremely time-consuming and mentally draining. As stores surged, store sizes were not standardized, so they had to design posters according to each store. They often worked overtime until very late. They joked that at Mixue Bingcheng, women were used as men, and men were used as beasts.

At the same time, the Wuhan team opened the first batch of Wuhan direct-operated stores. Whole truckloads of goods were delivered to the warehouse they rented in a residential compound. Several partners moved goods until dawn just from unloading. Back at the hometown factory, Zhang Hongchao was also exhausted. Besides accompanying local related people to eat and drink until his stomach almost vomited, he had to handle the problem of a manager they had hired stealing goods. In short, everything was moving forward through exploration and chaos.

If Zhang Hongfu is asked to recall that period, happiness still outweighed pain. The team was small and had few people. That year, Lao Cheng brought his wife and joined them. He finally could take over management of direct-operated stores well, freeing Zhang Hongfu.

Lao Cheng came from DQ, was very professional in operations, and was diligent and hardworking. Several direct-operated stores flourished under his management. He was often still encouraging direct-store partners late at night. In short, he was someone with owner thinking and broad pattern.

Because there were few people, everyone was close like brothers and sisters. Nobody was professionally trained in management, so everyone made decisions by patting their heads together. Because there were few people, they could also eat, drink, play, and travel together. In 2012 and 2013, beyond fulfilling the normal Yunnan and Hainan trips, they also chartered buses together to Qingdao and Rizhao, climbed Mount Tai, and went to seaside cities on the Shandong Peninsula such as Yantai and Weihai.

Also that year, the number of new signed stores rose rapidly. Zhang Hongfu therefore fulfilled the previous year's bet with Zexu: his BMW.

Mist After Mist Covering the Eyes, Spinning in Circles

Why do people still move forward? Because they are unwilling to be stupid again and again.

Tangled, pained, exploring, moving forward, happy — autumn 2013 arrived. Autumn had arrived; could winter be far behind?

They felt they had lost autumn and winter for so many years. In 2013, they could not lose them again. They decided to exert effort on milk tea. Before this, they had never done milk tea well. Previous winters had relied on red-date milk and other hot drinks. That winter, they decided to fight with their backs to the river and wash away past shame.

They developed a milk tea. To promote it well, they temporarily decided to hold an autumn/winter product launch conference. Preparation time was extremely rushed: only five days from decision to meeting. Actually, doing things on a sudden impulse had always been a Mixue Bingcheng tradition. It was not only the meeting that was sudden. Preparation for that milk tea was also rushed. This haste seemed to foreshadow that winter's product promotion might not be very successful.

They chose a hotel near the company for the meeting. Nearly 400 people attended. It was the largest meeting they had held after the previous 60-person 3000 Plan meeting. Although rushed, it especially trained the team's organizational and coordination ability. Zhang Hongfu jokes that anyone who has watched the film *The Founding of a Republic* can feel that their "Party" also moved toward glory through meeting after meeting.

At that meeting, all core people took turns going on stage to speak. The focus was of course promoting autumn and winter products and cheering everyone on.

The product was a three-in-one milk-tea product: instant tea powder, non-dairy creamer, and white sugar mixed together. Simply put, it was a Xiangpiaopiao-style instant milk tea. The reason they chose three-in-one was that they lacked confidence in their operating ability and franchisee training. They also lacked confidence in their own research on tea leaves. So they wanted a simpler, more convenient method. It would be easier to train, less likely to make mistakes, cheaper in cost, and easier to manage.

The thinking could not be called entirely wrong. Their operating ability was indeed very weak, even now still weak. The mistake was that they had no systematic new-product launch steps at all. Product development was rushed despite hard work; goods preparation was rushed; no testing was conducted before release to stores.

At that time, the reference milk tea flavor was Hefei Kawangka's milk tea. Its taste was relatively heavy, with a chocolate aroma, and both tea fragrance and milk fragrance were very full. In comparative testing, it was easy to fall into a misunderstanding: the more one tasted, the more numb the tongue became; the more one adjusted, the stronger the flavor became.

How strong was it? Their initial ratio was 1:4.5, meaning one kilogram of milk-tea powder could add 4.5 kilograms of hot water. Customers continuously responded that it was too sweet. After one month, they changed the ratio to 1:5.5. Another month later, the official ratio became 1:7.

Fortunately, they gave 120% effort: when the product is not enough, use passion to fill the gap. That winter was unusually cold. Many franchisees had bleak business in the cold wind; some stores even had average daily sales of only tens or hundreds of yuan. Zexu proposed: could they organize a large-scale store-support activity?

They had done such activities in previous years, but only within a small area of Zhengzhou city. That year, they decided to do it nationwide, though at the time there were not many stores outside the province. They wanted all franchisees to know they had not forgotten them. They also wanted all employees to know that stores and customers were the center of gravity. And they wanted people coming and going in the cold wind to know there was a small store called Mixue Bingcheng actively taking its own enthusiasm and using life itself to resist winter. So that year they officially named the activity: Mixue Bingcheng Warm Heart Plan.

They mobilized almost all company partners to participate, and all vehicles to participate. They loaded a large amount of promotional materials into trunks. They sent off these uniformed partners in the cold wind. The women staying behind to guard the office hugged one by one the partners about to travel far. Everyone's eyes filled with tears. It had the tragic feeling of "yellow sand, a hundred battles, golden armor worn through; until Loulan is broken, we will not return."

They did not break Loulan. Store business still lost money that winter. It was only that their enthusiasm counted as keeping franchise stores from dying.

History is so similar. In winter 2013, the three-in-one milk tea they released was very sweet. In winter 2018, the caramel water-chestnut milk tea they released was also very sweet.

In winter 2013, their traveling partners were full of heroic passion, but the weapon was not good, exhausting the three armies. In winter 2018, their Warm Winter Plan had the same heroic passion and massive momentum, but their efforts also sank in the sand amid complaints that the product was too sweet.

Perhaps life is like this. Confucius praised Yan Hui by saying he did not repeat mistakes, meaning he did not commit the same fault twice — what we now call not falling twice in the same place. But in reality, knowing is easy and doing is difficult. How had they gotten through so many years?

They had gotten through by enduring the death loop of constantly proving they were idiots.

Fortunately, people want face, and people have subjective initiative. Why do people still move forward? Perhaps because they are unwilling to be idiots again and again; they keep trying hard to break through themselves and become less idiotic, even though often the proof still shows they are quite idiotic.

But wipe away tears. Do not be afraid. Do not stop. When the corpses of your own idiotic mistakes under your feet pile up into a mountain, perhaps you become formidable.

Buddhism and Modern People

The true Buddha is to illuminate oneself.

Those years, the company developed flourishingly and progressed rapidly. But Zhang Hongfu could deeply feel that much of it was due to luck. Their partners were increasing, stores were increasing, but he began becoming more and more anxious — or sometimes he could not tell whether it was anxiety or excitement. He always worried that his ability or virtue did not match that platform, did not match that luck, and that he would fail that group of partners. Afterward his sleep became worse and worse, and his hair became less and less.

Once, probably on a business trip in the south, there was a Buddhist book on the hotel desk called *Buddhism and Modern People*, by Hu Baixi. It said that those with affinity could take it for free. He flipped through it, thought it seemed pretty good, and brought it home. After bringing it back, he did not read it for a long time. But one day he accidentally picked it up again and read it through.

The feeling was like regretting they had not met earlier, like being enlightened by a pour over the head, like obtaining a treasure. The writing was very plain and easy to understand. It discussed modern people's anxiety and rhythm, then the main purpose, theory, and methods of learning Buddhism; then modern people's misunderstandings of Buddhism, such as only associating it with cleansing the six roots and entering monastic life; finally it discussed the spread of Buddhism, future development, and world peace.

He does not know how, but suddenly he changed from an atheist into a Buddhist believer. Perhaps his heart was empty then and religious theory entered through the gap. Or perhaps he originally had Buddhist affinity or wisdom roots.

His mother believes in Buddhism. When he was small, he often went with her to burn incense. His mother said then that he should be a little Buddhist child, because when he helped her break apart rows of connected incense sticks, he never broke them. But at that time, it was limited to following along to burn incense and kowtow. He knew nothing about Buddhist theory or philosophy.

Another time he was relatively close to it, or felt something, was in 2008. At the time, their beverage chain had just started. He went to Zhengding County in Hebei for business. In the gap between tasks, he wandered around Zhengding's main street and discovered many ancient temples. He was quite interested in Buddhist pagodas, great halls, and other ancient buildings. From far away he saw an ancient temple, with a very delicate pagoda tip exposed, and slipped in. Inside was antique and very quiet. As it happened, in the main hall a group of monks were chanting. He entered and listened for several minutes. He completely could not understand what they were chanting, but he truly felt as if a clear stream began soaking his whole body from the top of his head.

That temple was Zhengding Guanghui Temple. After leaving Guanghui Temple, a lay Buddhist elder sister took the initiative to speak with him. She looked kind, so he chatted with her about the feeling of listening to the chanting inside. She said he should have Buddhist affinity and therefore could sense that magnetic field. At the time, he thought: what is this? I am an atheist.

In short, by the end of 2013, after reading that book, inwardly he already recognized himself as a Buddhist disciple. But even now, he still insists he is an atheist. So the Buddhism he speaks of should be recognition of Buddhist philosophy at the philosophical level.

He has never met a great virtuous monk, has no refuge certificate, his six roots are not clean, he cannot give up greed, anger, and delusion, and money, sex, alcohol, and meat all pass through his intestines. Thinking of it, he is also quite an ashamed Buddhist disciple.

But he has his own understanding.

First, believing in Buddhism is not idol worship. The Sakyamuni statue or Guanyin statue people bow before is an adaptation to secular life, giving everyone a visible reference. But the true Buddha should be illuminating oneself. A person who has awakened can be called Buddha. If there is Buddha in the heart, one can become Buddha on the spot.

So many people go to temples, throw coins and burn incense, then fantasize about promotion and wealth. It is very difficult for those beautiful dreams to come true. After all, if they believe there is a Buddha, how could the Buddha accept bribes of incense, yellow paper, and merit donations, then start negotiating conditions?

Burning incense and worshiping Buddha illuminates oneself. If one believes there is a Buddha, then when burning incense, tell the Buddha that all one's actions are open and fair, without a trace of selfishness or narrowness. As for wanting good fruit, one must tirelessly cultivate the causes.

Second, Buddha is a good leader, a model of being able to pick up and put down. Buddha's secular name was Gautama Siddhartha. He was originally a prince. The life path set for him was to marry, have children, and inherit the state. Yet he resolutely put down a prince's superior family background and chose to use ascetic practice and meditation to save suffering beings. Although even today the goal has still not been reached, generation after generation of believers continue the great vow with unified slogans, unified uniforms, and even unified hairstyles. This itself is such a powerful and convincing leadership.

Finally, everyone is in the secular red dust. The things they are doing cannot suddenly be interrupted so they can enter monastic life. So they can also count as cultivating within the world, giving, or spreading Buddhist teaching. It does not have to be in a temple. Making oneself a better self, making the team a better team, making the enterprise a better enterprise — this itself is also a kind of cultivation and spreading of Dharma.

Influencing one person is spreading Dharma. Influencing ten people is also. Influencing a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred million, or a billion is also. As long as it is a seed of goodness, it does not necessarily have to be reciting the Diamond Sutra or Heart Sutra. All dharmas are Buddhist dharma.

Buddhist teaching makes one's mentality level: if there is small success, it is the fruit of good karma, causes and conditions coming together, and also Dharma joy. If something does not succeed, then the cause cultivated was insufficient and fate had not yet arrived. There is no need for sorrow; just continue working hard.

In short, during his most confused and dark period, he first tasted Dharma joy. Although even today he has not continued deep exploration — he still cannot recite a single sutra — it truly gave him enormous strength to continue forward during that period. He does not know whether his understanding is correct, but it truly gave him some healing, or some ways of thinking about life and work.

Buddhist teaching contains all things and cannot be explained clearly in a few brief sentences. Having rambled to this point, he offers it for reference to those with affinity.

—— FoodBud English Translation of the Source · Part 9 Ends ——

3. FoodBud Notes

1. Lemonade's upgrade is operational, not only culinary. The four-yuan move requires new cup diameter, new sealing solutions, new lemon weight, new store selling scripts, and franchisee-facing equipment work.

2. The comment-thread material belongs in the edition. Cai Weimiao and Zhang Hongchao add process and origin details that Zhang Hongfu's main narrative leaves out. For FoodBud, these comments are part of the product history.

3. 2013 is the first real scale shock. Demand outpaces supplier planning, imported-material lead times, domestic equipment quality, after-sales capacity, warehouse labor, and internal design throughput.

4. Passion cannot save an untested product. The Warm Heart Plan keeps stores alive, but the three-in-one milk tea is too sweet. The memoir later compares this directly with 2018, making it a recurring system lesson.

5. Zhang Hongfu's Buddhist reflection is an operating psychology section. It is less about doctrine than about how he reframes luck, anxiety, virtue, failure, and leadership during rapid growth.

4. Timeline (this installment)

  • 2011-11-11 — Aviation Management College store opens; Zhang Hongchao tastes a benchmark lemonade at a Microphone beverage shop.
  • 2012–2013 — Geng Jingjing, Mr. Zheng, and the Luoyang two-yuan lemonade shop accelerate Mixue's lemonade development.
  • ~One year after launch — Mixue plans a three-to-four-yuan lemonade upgrade, including lemon weight, 90-mm cups, and sealing-machine solutions.
  • 2013 — Store opening speed and operating scale rise sharply; shortages hit ingredients, packaging, equipment, installation, repair, and talent.
  • 2013 — Wuhan's first direct-operated stores open; Lao Cheng joins from DQ and takes over direct-store management.
  • Autumn/Winter 2013 — Mixue launches a rushed three-in-one milk-tea product and the Warm Heart Plan.
  • End 2013 — Zhang Hongfu reads *Buddhism and Modern People* and adopts Buddhist philosophy as a way to process anxiety and responsibility.

5. Pull Quotes (web-ready)

1. *"Good and bad are revealed through comparison. Truth must be tested through practice."* — Zhang Hongfu (translated from the source text) 2. *"If there are no conditions, create conditions yourself and still go on."* — Zhang Hongfu on Zhang Hongchao's style (translated from the source text) 3. *"Once we finish this period, we won't be busy anymore turned out to be the biggest lie."* — Zhang Hongfu (translated from the source text) 4. *"When the product is not enough, use passion to fill the gap."* — Zhang Hongfu (translated from the source text) 5. *"The true Buddha should be illuminating oneself."* — Zhang Hongfu (translated from the source text)

Series navigation

*Before the Castle: How Mixue Was Really Built, 1997-2017 · Part 9 of 12 · FoodBud /insights*

*This is a translated and annotated edition, not an original FoodBud interview. Authorized translation: translated with permission from Zhang Hongfu's memoir (经授权翻译自张红甫回忆录). Original author/source: Zhang Hongfu (张红甫). The translated source is kept separate from FoodBud's Editor's Note, FoodBud Notes, timeline, and pull quotes.*

*Publication note: corporate data is primary-source-locked to HKEX filings where stated. Market capitalization and any FY2025 GMV / systemwide-sales figure are intentionally not stated. “Scale” means systemwide sales / GMV and store count, never company revenue. FoodBud is information only, not investment advice.*