&#34;0 yuan purchase&#34;, &#34;1 cent for milk tea&#34;, &#34;milk tea free coupon&#34;... In 2025, the hundreds of billions of subsidies war from delivery platforms led to a brief carnival in the tea beverage market. However, the carnival must eventually come to an end. As subsidies gradually fade away, the price of milk tea has returned to the 20 yuan range.
Recently, six listed ready-to-drink tea companies have successively submitted their 2025 performance reports. The impact of the subsidy war is clearly visible in the financial reports: some have been pressured and injured, some have taken advantage of the situation, and some even actively hope for the subsidies to end sooner.
Competing in the same arena, different fates
The &#34;most injured&#34; are the high-end brands. Bawang Chaji reported revenue of 2.974 billion yuan in the fourth quarter of 2025, a year-on-year decline of 10.8%. Operating profit turned from profit to loss, recording a loss of 35.5 million yuan, and net profit attributable to the parent company plummeted by 95.3% year-on-year to 28.538 million yuan.
Founder Zhang Junjie admitted at the performance meeting: &#34;We indeed underestimated the impact of the price war on offline sales from delivery platforms.&#34; While peers competed for traffic through subsidies, Bawang Chaji chose not to &#34;engage&#34; to maintain its high-end brand positioning, resulting in a significant loss of offline customer flow, which &#34;basically wasted half a year&#34; in 2025.
NAYUKI also suffered heavy losses. In 2025, it achieved revenue of 4.331 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 12%. The adjusted net loss was 241 million yuan, making it the only brand among the six listed tea companies still in the red. The proportion of delivery revenue exceeded 50% for the first time, but both in-store orders and self-pickup orders declined, and the average transaction value continued to drop, now down to 24.4 yuan.
<img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://inews.gtimg.com/om_bt/OXk3-UReKZjzQCr4QFUX5kb2sX3CxxqfxdLSMg4s25JXAAA/641?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="Image" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://inews.gtimg.com/om_bt/OXk3-UReKZjzQCr4QFUX5kb2sX3CxxqfxdLSMg4s25JXAAA/641"/>
NAYUKI's delivery revenue proportion breaks 50% for the first time.
On the other side, brands that focus on lower-tier markets have captured this wave of traffic. Cha Baidao emphasizes not relying on subsidies, but instead leveraging the situation to increase order volume and user habits; Gu Ming proactively raised delivery platform prices starting in July 2025 to protect the interests of franchisees.
Consumer habits have been reshaped
The turning points in the financial data of the &#34;tea beverage stars&#34; are closely related to the delivery subsidy war. When &#34;9.9 yuan for milk tea&#34; became the norm, the consumption scene for tea beverages quickly shifted from offline stores to online delivery platforms, reshaping consumer habits.
For NAYUKI, which focuses on the &#34;large store model,&#34; the shrinkage of offline dine-in customer flow and the decline in average transaction value mean that profit margins are severely squeezed, and high rents and labor costs are difficult to sustain. Bawang Chaji stated in its financial report that the revenue decline in the fourth quarter of last year was mainly due to the different timing and rhythm of new product launches in the last two years, as well as changes in the competitive landscape of online delivery platform subsidies.
It is worth mentioning that even some tea brands that have gained growth during the delivery subsidy war hope for the subsidies to end soon.
Gu Ming's CEO Wang Yunan calculated: the contribution of delivery to the annual performance is limited, about 5% to 10%. A 3,000 yuan delivery order has even lower profits than a 1,000 yuan dine-in order
The core reason lies in the fact that food delivery requires additional delivery fees and incurs platform commission cuts.

Data picture: A certain Mixue Ice City offline store. Photo by Zuo Yuqing
The newly appointed CEO of Mixue Ice City, Zhang Yuan, also admitted at the performance meeting: &#34;In the fourth quarter of last year, the store's revenue growth slowed compared to mid-year and the third quarter; the acceleration of orders migrating to online channels has led to a decrease in dine-in customer flow, while offline store consumption operations have been the group's strongest model in the past, thus being impacted.&#34;
Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, told reporters that delivery subsidies have significantly amplified the transaction scale of the tea beverage market in the short term. The capital injection from platforms artificially lowered the consumption threshold, stimulating the release of non-essential demand and creating a temporary window of &#34;traffic dividends.&#34; However, at the same time, subsidies distorted price signals, leading to an abnormal increase in consumer price sensitivity, forming a &#34;subsidy dependency syndrome.&#34; Once the discounts decline, consumption frequency quickly falls back, exposing the unsustainability of such demand.
Where is the tea beverage market headed?
Subsidies will eventually recede, and the carnival cannot become the norm. In January of this year, the Office of the State Council's Anti-Monopoly and Anti-Unfair Competition Committee announced an investigation and assessment of the market competition status of the food delivery platform service industry based on the Anti-Monopoly Law. In March, the latest progress released by the State Administration for Market Regulation showed that it had collaborated with member units of the State Council's Anti-Monopoly and Anti-Unfair Competition Committee to conduct on-site investigations at relevant food delivery platforms and comprehensively collect information; organized merchant symposiums to communicate with industry associations and operators within the platform; and conducted face-to-face interviews to widely understand the concerns and demands of various stakeholders, including merchants, delivery riders, and consumers on the platform.
As this carnival, named &#34;low price,&#34; gradually comes to an end, the competitive logic of the tea beverage market is also changing. Leading brands are increasingly looking overseas, with some brands listing coffee as a new strategic pivot, hoping to complement tea beverages.
Ultimately, industry competition must shift from &#34;price&#34; to &#34;value.&#34;
Jiang Han believes that tea beverage brands must transition from &#34;price competition&#34; to &#34;value competition,&#34; building differentiated barriers through product innovation, focusing on health, functionality, and regional formula upgrades, and replacing &#34;subsidy-driven traffic&#34; with &#34;quality premium&#34; to reshape consumer perception of brand value.
Even after the decline of delivery subsidies, product innovation remains the most effective means to activate existing users and maintain brand premium. When prices return to rationality, the cup of milk tea in consumers' hands will ultimately rely on quality, experience, and brand warmth to win their hearts. The retreat of subsidies is an inevitable path for the industry to move from &#34;burning money for traffic&#34; to &#34;meticulous cultivation.&#34;
Editor: Zhao Xiaoqian
Chief Editor: Wang Shanshan

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In 2025, the milk tea market experienced a brief frenzy due to the subsidy war among delivery platforms, but has now returned to normal prices. Financial reports from six listed tea beverage companies show that Bawang Chaji and NAYUKI have been severely impacted, with significant declines in revenue and profit. Bawang Chaji's revenue in the fourth quarter fell by 10.8% year-on-year, and net profit plummeted by 95.3%; NAYUKI's revenue decreased by 12%, making it the only loss-making brand. In contrast, brands that have deeply cultivated the sinking market have seized the opportunity to increase order volume, as consumer habits have been reshaped, leading to a significant reduction in offline foot traffic

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