Robust Revenue & Profit Growth Highlights Resilience of a Leading Chinese Catering Enterprise
HANGZHOU, China, March 24, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — In 2025, amid a challenging operating environment, Green Tea Group achieved rapid growth by leveraging its over-20-year brand heritage. The Group recorded revenue of RMB4,762.97 million, a 24.1% year-on-year increase; adjusted net profit was RMB508.89 million, surging 41.0%. The total number of stores reached 609, up 31.0%, underscoring its strength as an “evergreen brand.”
Three Core Brand Genes Lay Foundation
From its origins as a West Lake youth hostel, Green Tea has fostered three core genes: fusion cuisine, value-for-money, and new Chinese style. These form the foundation for navigating cycles and building a national brand.
Chinese Fusion Cuisine integrates regional cuisines and customizes menus locally, enabling Green Tea to thrive in diverse regions like Beijing, Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Sichuan, creating a nationwide layout. Value-for-money focuses on core consumer needs, optimizing cost structure for a competitive dining experience. New Chinese style draws from traditional culture for a classically elegant dining atmosphere. These complementary genes underpin sustained growth and store resilience.
Financial Indicators Improve Across the Board
Empowered by its brand genes, store expansion, and operational efficiency, Green Tea delivered outstanding 2025 results, showing high growth and strong profit resilience.
Revenue maintained high momentum, reaching RMB4.76 billion, a 24.1% increase, outpacing the industry. Per CIC, Green Tea became China’s third-largest Chinese-style catering brand (excl. hot pot/grilled fish). Profit growth was stronger: adjusted net profit hit RMB509 million, up 41.0%. The adjusted net profit margin rose 1.3 percentage points to 10.7%. ROE reached 29%.
The cost structure continued to optimize. Raw material costs remained stable, supported by scale. The third-generation supply chain model integrating “key suppliers, digital cold chain, and smart kitchen” enabled strategic supplier partnerships, centralized procurement, and lower logistics costs. This, plus lean management, boosted 2025 gross margin by ~1.8 percentage points while ensuring ingredient quality.
Labor costs saw efficiency gains from digitalization and process optimization. The Group maintained a stable labor cost ratio while improving employee compensation. Rental and depreciation costs fell 1.0 percentage point year-on-year from optimized fit-out and design. Other expenses were contained via refined control. This optimization reinforced value-for-money positioning while improving profitability.
Breakthroughs in Store Model, Network, and Overseas Expansion
2025 saw significant strides in store operations, national expansion, and international development.
Store model resilience was prominent. Same-store sales declined only 0.8%, outperforming the industry, with declines narrowing quarterly and turning positive from Q2. Average spending per head for dine-in was stable; table turnover stabilized. Delivery business rose from 18.8% to 25.3%, focusing on “single-portion meals” as a new growth engine. New store formats validated well: 2025 newly opened stores’ dine-in sales per square meter reached RMB1,953 monthly, 48.4% higher than existing stores. The single-store payback period optimized to 12.6 months, with a new store investment return rate of 73.1%. Stores in lower-tier cities even outperformed first-tier cities in profit margins.
The national store network intensified and penetrated lower-tier markets. Adhering to “regional intensification + broad lower-tier penetration,” the Group added 157 new stores, exceeding 600 total stores covering nearly 150 cities, maintaining a ~30% CAGR. In core cities, a differentiated intensification strategy enhanced brand influence. In lower-tier markets, it entered 16 new cities below second-tier. The average stores per city and per million population remain below industry averages, indicating huge room for further intensification.
International expansion saw major breakthroughs. 2025 was Green Tea’s true “year of international expansion.” Starting in Southeast Asia, it advanced steadily, operating 14 overseas stores in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and Hong Kong, China by year-end. Overseas revenue surged 16 times year-on-year to over RMB140 million, becoming a new growth engine.
From a small West Lake eatery to a national leader, Green Tea’s impressive first-year listed performance is both a culmination and a starting point. Looking to 2026, Green Tea will uphold “fusion cuisine, value-for-money, and new Chinese style,” leveraging quality products and efficient operations to implement strategies for sustainable development, creating greater value for all stakeholders.
About Green Tea Group Limited
Green Tea Group is a well-known operator of casual Chinese restaurants in Mainland China. With accessible prices, Chinese fusion cuisine, and decoration inspired by Chinese traditional culture, the company delivers value to its customers. With this vision in mind, the company opened its first Green Tea Youth Hostel in 2004 on the shores of Hangzhou’s West Lake, marking the beginning of the Green Tea brand story. As of the end of 2025, the company’s restaurant network consisted of 609 restaurants, covering nearly 150 cities across the country. According to a report by CIC, the company ranked third in the Chinese dining sector (excluding fast food, hot pot, and grilled fish categories) in terms of brand revenue in 2025.
