Nayuki Holdings Limited (known under the brand name Naixue; ) is a

publicly listed A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (li ...

Chinese

teahouse A teahouse or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel, especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment that only ser ...

chain founded in 2014 and headquartered in

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

. It focuses on the premium segment.

Background

The company was originally founded as Nayuki by Peng Xin and her husband Zhao Lin. The name came after a handle that Peng used online. Nayuki's target demographic was professional women in their twenties to mid-thirties which Peng noticed have a fondness for

milk tea Milk tea refers to several forms of beverage found in many cultures, consisting of some combination of tea and milk. The term milk tea is used for both hot and cold drinks that can be combined with various kinds of milks and a variety of spices. ...

products. As a result, Nayuki aimed to create a space suitable for socialising that met the needs of the modern urban woman. As milk tea shops were considered low-end, Nayuki worked on changing this image by focusing on the design of the stores and the quality of its drinks and cups. Nayuki's first physical store was opened in the

Excellence Century Plaza The Excellence Century Plaza () is a mixed-use skyscraper Tower block, building complex in Shenzhen, China. Built between 2007 and 2010, the complex consists of four towers with the tallest one (Tower 1) standing at tall with 60 floors. Two of t ...

with two more locations opened shortly afterwards. The founders used the mortgage of their house as leverage. On 30 June 2021, Nayuki held its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

(IPO) to become a listed company on the

Hong Kong Stock Exchange The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (, SEHK, also known as Hong Kong Stock Exchange) is a stock exchange based in Hong Kong. It is one of the largest stock exchanges in Asia and the List of major stock exchanges, 9th largest globally by market ...

. It was first upscale teahouse chain to be listed in Hong Kong and the offering raised US$656 million.On its trading debut, shares opened 4.7% lower. In August 2021, Nayuki gained public attention when

Xinhua Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: ),J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English or New China News Agency, is the official State media, state news agency of the China, People's Republic ...

reported that some of its stores violated food safety and health rules. Two stores in the Beijing were discovered to have cockroaches and rotten fruits. Nayuki said mainland authorities found no food safety problems and pledged to conduct self-inspections of all of its stores. In December 2022, Nayuki changed its brand name in China by replacing a Japanese possessive particle in its Chinese name with a Chinese character meaning the same. It also changed its English name to Naixue which is the pinyin pronunciation. The company aimed to ' de-Japanify' and reposition itself as a 'China chic' brand. In the same month, Naixue acquired a 43.64% stake in its rival Lelecha for US$75 million. In recent times, Naixue's financial performance has disappointed investors with its stock price being down 90% since its IPO. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, many of its stores were closed and sales suffered. In addition growth had slowed down. In 2023, Naixue changed its business model by entering the

franchising Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its busines ...

business which aimed to help it catch up to its local rivals.

References

{{authority control 2014 establishments in China 2021 initial public offerings Bubble tea brands Companies based in Shenzhen Companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Restaurants established in 2014 Tea companies of China

Background

See also

References