Observation Related to the SET Market: Helen's Chinese Trademark Invalidated, Market Cap Down Over 90%
Blue Whale News, June 28: Have you been to Helen's? This Chinese bar chain once known as "young people's first bar" has recently lost its Chinese name. The court's final ruling invalidated three Chinese trademarks: "Helen's," "Helen's Bar," and "Helen's Bigger Dapaidang."
But compared with "losing the Chinese name," Helen's bigger crisis may be that the brand that once represented young people is now being abandoned by young people.
Helen's trademark war: three Chinese trademarks invalidated in final judgment
Founded in 2009, Helen's first opened in Wudaokou, Beijing, near Tsinghua and Peking University. The founder is Xu Bingzhong, a post-70s retired veteran. He said that at the beginning he mainly targeted foreign customers, such as overseas students.
Perhaps for that reason, Helen's first used English trademarks like "Helen's" and applied for a batch of related English trademarks in 2013, but its core Chinese trademarks were not registered until 2018.
According to Jiemian News, the dispute mainly arose between Chengdu Helen Colorful Hotel Co., Ltd. and Helen's. The other party had successfully registered two "Helen" trademarks in 2016 under Class 43 services such as restaurants and bars, and on May 23, 2023, filed an invalidation request with the China National Intellectual Property Administration against the "Helen's" trademark, and on August 7, 2024 against "Helen's Bar" and "Helen's Bigger Dapaidang," arguing that the disputed marks were similar to the cited marks for similar services and could easily confuse consumers about the source of the services.
After three years of back-and-forth, on the evening of June 25 Helen's announced that its three Chinese trademarks—"Helen's," "Helen's Bar," and "Helen's Bigger Dapaidang"—were finally ruled invalid by the court. The announcement said that based on the current assessment, the dispute has no material impact on the group's overall business, daily operations, or financial condition, and the group can continue to use its undisputed trademarks in its daily business.
Blue Whale News checked and found that Helen's physical stores and online communications are still using the Chinese name "Helen's" and related wording. The impact has not yet reached individual stores, but the capital market is more sensitive.
After the news was announced, the stock opened lower on June 26 and at one point fell more than 6% intraday. By the close that day, Helen's stock was down to HK$1.58. Its market cap once reached HK$30 billion in the year of listing, but is now only about HK$2 billion, down more than 90%.
"The first bar for young people" is no longer young: low-price expansion and loss pressure
Helen's earliest stores were located around university districts, mainly serving foreigners and students. Later founder Xu Bingzhong changed strategy and positioned Helen's as a space for free offline socializing for young people, emphasizing "extreme value for money." Its bottled beers were all priced below 10 yuan, with cocktails slightly more expensive at just over 20 yuan.
The "young people + value" model was successfully replicated. By the end of 2021, Helen's had 782 stores and went public on the Hong Kong stock exchange riding the halo of "China's largest chain bar."
According to Helen's 2021 prospectus, revenue from 2018 to 2020 was 115 million yuan, 565 million yuan, and 818 million yuan, while net profit was 9.734 million yuan, 79.136 million yuan, and 70.072 million yuan, respectively.
The prospectus showed that self-owned drinks contributed more than 60% of Helen's beverage revenue, and the gross margin on self-owned drinks was above 70%. Thanks to factory direct sourcing and economies of scale, Helen's could also get relatively favorable purchase prices for third-party branded drinks.
So one of Helen's advantages was scale. But aggressive expansion also drove store-opening costs sharply higher. Combined with COVID and other factors, Helen's net loss in 2021 reached 230 million yuan; the next year the net loss widened to 1.601 billion yuan.
After cumulative losses of more than 1.8 billion yuan, Helen's began closing stores to save itself. Financial reports show that by the end of 2023 Helen's had 479 bars, down 288 from a year earlier and more than 40% below the peak of more than 850 stores.
At the same time, Helen's launched a strategic transformation, shifting from a fully direct-operated model to an open franchise model, the "Hi Beer Partners" program. At the start of the program, the minimum investment threshold was 600,000 yuan; by 2024, the threshold for new store formats had fallen to around 400,000 yuan.
Bistro everywhere and declining single-store sales: franchise profitability under pressure
According to the 2025 financial report, Helen's full-year revenue was 540 million yuan, down 28.3%; net profit attributable to shareholders was 33.954 million yuan, returning to profit. The share of self-owned beverage revenue and gross margin both improved year on year, and store-level gross profit contribution rose to 73.77%, making overall operations better than the year before.
But Helen's still faces the reality of declining average daily sales per store. In 2025, same-store average daily sales for direct-operated and franchised co-operated stores were 8,500 yuan, down more than 18% year on year. The average daily sales for a single partner store were only 4,100 yuan, and all store types saw declines in daily sales.
In the catering sector, where average daily revenue per store can easily exceed 10,000 yuan, Helen's main franchise format earns relatively limited profits. More importantly, nearly 70% of Helen's stores are in third-tier cities and below, so profitability is under real pressure.
Meanwhile, there are more places for young people to drink, and the appeal of low prices is weakening. Narrow Door data shows that 38,000 new bars opened in the past year alone. From home bars and craft bars to live-house-style bars and various bistros, consumption scenes are becoming more segmented and diverse.
Bistros that combine food and alcohol have risen strongly in recent years. Among them, Huan Shi has developed rapidly, and its parent company Jiwu Thinking submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in January this year. Huan Shi now has more than 100 stores in China, and its 2024 revenue has already surpassed 1 billion yuan.
Compared with Helen's low-price, scale-first strategy, Huan Shi is taking a different route: stronger ambiance, higher prices, and per-capita spending of over 100 yuan. On social platforms, one impression of Huan Shi is "beautiful-food dining." The prospectus shows that in the first nine months of 2025, average daily sales per store were 29,880 yuan.
Unlike traditional bar formats, Huan Shi extends operating hours to more than 18 hours by serving brunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and late-night drinks, improving store utilization and operating efficiency. In the nine months ended September 30, 2025, drinks accounted for about 45% of revenue, 85% of which were alcoholic beverages. Over the same period, Huan Shi's overall gross margin remained stable at 68.7%, above the industry average.
Still, Huan Shi also faces problems: high store costs squeeze profits, and consumer complaints about food taste and quality can hurt brand reputation.
Chinese food-industry analyst Zhu Danpeng believes that, like the coffee sector, low-, mid-, and high-end brands each have their markets. Bars are increasingly favored by younger generations and are in a rapid expansion phase, but concentration is still low. Perhaps after about five more years, with capital support and consumer dividend support, the market will develop leading brands and a clearer competitive landscape.
Zhu said the hard factors determining the future of bar businesses mainly include brand effect, scale effect, fan effect, supply-chain completeness, and single-store operating capability. Since store locations differ, strategies should also differ. For Helen's, "how to run each store well" may be the biggest challenge.
