As in many other areas, young Chinese are turning away from global brands like HAagen-Dazs in favour of cheaper, nimbler local rivals
For years, Feng Hui, an operations manager living in Guangzhou, made a tradition of taking her daughter Claire to celebrate her birthday at a Haagen-Dazs store near her home.
But this month, the 14-year-old had other ideas: she told her mother she wanted to spend her birthday at a popular local tea bar with her friends.
“Chinese teenagers now prefer domestic brands – they look great, and new products are coming out every month that tempt them to take selfies and post on social media,” Feng said.
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The birthday cake also got a makeover. Instead of a Haagen-Dazs ice cream cake – which used to be a byword in China for luxury and sophistication – Claire chose a custom-made cake from a local bakery featuring her favourite video game character.
In her eyes, Haagen-Dazs is simply “not cool” – a sentiment that is becoming common among young Chinese, reflecting broader shifts in the country’s consumer landscape.
From ice cream to candy, beverages
and beyond
, foreign brands that once dominated the Chinese market are losing ground to domestic rivals, which are not only outcompeting them on price, but often also on branding and product innovation.
For a long time, global brands like Haagen-Dazs were able to maintain high prices in China by styling their products as “premium”, “exotic” or “imported”, trading on a sense that foreign goods were exciting, higher quality – and,
in some cases, safer
– than domestically-made alternatives.
But those labels appear to carry less weight with Gen-Z consumers like Claire, who have grown up in an era when China already leads the world in a slew of industries.
And as China’s middle class has seen its disposable income eroded by an economic slowdown and
real estate crisis
, many are turned off by the idea of shelling out over 30 yuan (US$4.20) for a Starbucks coffee or 40 yuan for a scoop of Haagen-Dazs.
Meanwhile, competition in China’s ice cream market is heating up, with domestic brands releasing new products at an accelerating pace and a wave of powerful new players entering the market, Beijing-based market research firm Chinabgao.com said in a report released earlier this month.
More than 2,200 new ice cream-related start-ups were founded in China in the first half of 2025 alone, according to data from the Chinese company database Qichacha, indicating strong entrepreneurial interest in the sector.
Foreign incumbents like Starbucks and Haagen-Dazs appear to be melting under the pressure. Both firms have started cutting prices this year to stay competitive, as domestic chains like Mixue Ice Cream & Tea, Heytea and Nayuki make inroads with sub-10-yuan offers and creative combo sets combining tea drinks and desserts.
Many Chinese ice cream and beverage firms roll out new products at a pace that would be unthinkable for global brands like Haagen-Dazs, whose stores mostly stick to the same classic selection of around 20 flavours.
“We launch at least two new flavoured drinks every month,” said one manager of a tea and ice cream store in Guangzhou. “We’re also offering various creative beverages – like good for sleep, energy, skin whitening.”
“Products made with seasonal local fruits are more popular,” he added. “Labels like ‘imported ingredients’ don’t mean much to young people.”
Local brands are also often more agile in distribution, building an “everywhere presence” through convenience stores, chain stores and delivery platforms. Whether out shopping, working late, travelling or staying at home, Chinese consumers are always able to access an array of domestic dessert and drink options.
In contrast, international brands appear to be struggling. HAagen-Dazs has opened only eight new stores in China this year, but has closed 78 – more than one-fifth of its total presence in the country – over the past 12 months, according to Canyandata, a Beijing-based food and beverage data platform. In some second- and third-tier cities, the company has largely vanished from view.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that General Mills was considering selling its Haagen-Dazs ice cream stores in China, citing people familiar with the matter. General Mills declined the Post’s request for comment.
For Chinese of a certain age, there is a sadness about the decline of Haagen-Dazs, which opened its first Chinese store in downtown Shanghai in 1996.
At the time, a single scoop of ice cream cost 25 yuan – a major outlay for local residents who then earned just 518 yuan per month on average. But the company’s slogan, “If you love her, take her to Haagen-Dazs”, quickly made it a symbol of romance and luxury among young people.
“Our generation loved Haagen-Dazs,” said Arnold Zhong, an IT engineer in his early 50s who lives in Shenzhen. “Couples would go there to celebrate anniversaries – it felt international, fashionable, romantic. But young people now probably find that feeling a bit puzzling.”
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This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.
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