Customer unit price decreases again; Meet Xiaomian added 143 stores last year, and same-store sales have rebounded.

Ask AI · How does falling average ticket price affect a brand’s profitability model?

On March 27, the Chinese-style noodle shop “Meets the Xiaomian” released its 2025 financial report. In 2025, its revenue was RMB 1.622 billion, up 40.53% year over year; its net profit was RMB 106 million, up 74.83% year over year; and its gross margin increased by 1.88 percentage points year over year to 67.60%.

“Meets the Xiaomian” was founded in 2014 in Guangzhou. Its founders are Song Qi, Su Xixiang, and Yan Ling Su, from South China University of Technology. The chain’s stores focus on dishes including red mung bean mixed noodles, a golden bowl spicy and sour vermicelli, and old-style wonton, among others. In December 2025, “Meets the Xiaomian” listed in Hong Kong, becoming the “first Chinese noodle shop” to go public.

In 2025, the number of “Meets the Xiaomian” stores continued to grow rapidly, and the operating performance of individual stores also improved. According to the latest financial report, as of the end of December 2025, “Meets the Xiaomian” had 503 stores, including 411 directly operated stores and 92 franchise stores. It closed 13 stores during the year and opened 156 new stores. Net store increase for the year was 143, and the pace of opening stores accelerated somewhat.

Regarding the closure of 13 restaurants, in its financial report “Meets the Xiaomian” stated that it was mainly because actual customer traffic at the restaurants failed to meet expectations. The reasons, it said, include the popularity of commercial areas around the restaurants and the decline in customer traffic, or rental increases for leased properties, or landlords changing their operating plans (for example, closing the shopping mall where the restaurant is located), which led to the termination of the lease.

As for store distribution by city tier, “Meets the Xiaomian” still mainly concentrates its outlets in first-tier and new first-tier cities. As of the end of 2025, the share of stores in first-tier and new first-tier cities was 78.73%, slightly down from 80% in 2024; the share of stores in second-tier and lower cities was about 18.09%, down from 19% in 2024. In addition, it has 15 stores in Hong Kong, China, and 1 store in Singapore, with the number of overseas stores increasing.

Looking specifically at core operating indicators, in 2025, the average daily number of orders per directly operated store for “Meets the Xiaomian” increased by 5.18% year over year to 406 orders, while the average daily number of orders per franchise store increased by 5.64% year over year to 412 orders. However, its average ticket price continued to decline and has already fallen to below RMB 30. In 2025, the average spend per order at its directly operated stores was RMB 29.9, down 6.85% year over year; for franchise stores, the average spend per order was RMB 28.8, down 9.43% year over year. According to its prospectus, from 2022 to 2024, the average spend per order at its directly operated stores was RMB 36.2, RMB 34.2, and RMB 32.1, respectively. In the same period, franchise stores were RMB 36.0, RMB 33.5, and RMB 31.8, showing a downward trend. In its annual financial reports, “Meets the Xiaomian” did not further disclose the turnover rate of its tables. According to the earlier prospectus, in the first half of 2025, its table-turn rate fell from 3.8 times per day in the same period of the previous year to 3.4 times per day.

In terms of same-store sales, after experiencing rapid growth in 2023, “Meets the Xiaomian” saw its same-store sales decline by 4.2% year over year in 2024. By 2025, this situation improved noticeably: its same-store sales turned to positive growth, with a growth rate of 1.1%.

From the revenue structure perspective, the revenue of “Meets the Xiaomian” directly operated stores can be divided into dine-in service and delivery service. Last year, the delivery business revenue growth rate was faster, and its share also increased significantly. In 2025, the dine-in revenue of its directly operated stores grew 30.85% year over year to RMB 1.073 billion, while its proportion of total revenue fell by 5 percentage points to 66.1%; delivery revenue grew 108.29% year over year to RMB 377 million, while its proportion of total revenue increased by 7.7 percentage points to 23.3%.

Next, “Meets the Xiaomian” will continue to accelerate store openings. In 2026, it expects to open 150–180 restaurants. As of February 28, 2026, it had opened 20 new restaurants, and another 76 new restaurants are in the preparation stage for opening. According to the prospectus plan, it intends to open approximately 520 to 610 new restaurants from 2026 to 2028, and it expects its store scale to exceed 1,000 by 2028.

Nandu · Bay Finance and Media reporter Zhan Danqing