Helens Chinese Trademark Invalid Final Ruling, HK Market Cap Plummets
Have you been to Helen's? This Chinese pub, known as "the first small pub for young people," has recently lost its "Chinese name." The three Chinese trademarks "海伦司" (Helens), "海伦司小酒馆" (Helens Pub), and "海伦司越大排档" (Helens Big Pai Dang) were finally ruled invalid by the court.
Compared to "losing the Chinese name," Helens' greater crisis may be that the young people it once represented are abandoning it. This event also has a more sensitive impact on the capital market.
Helens' Trademark Defense
Founded in 2009, Helens first opened in Wudaokou, Beijing. The founder is Xu Bingzhong, a veteran born in the 1970s. The business initially targeted foreigners, including overseas students.
Perhaps related to this, Helens initially used English trademarks like "Helen's" and applied for related English trademarks in 2013, but did not begin to register the core Chinese trademarks until 2018, laying a hidden risk for the subsequent trademark crisis.
According to Jiemian News, the trademark dispute regarding "Helens" primarily involved Chengdu Helen Binfen Hotel Co., Ltd. and Helens. The former successfully registered two "Helen" trademarks in 2016, covering restaurant and bar services under class 43. On May 23, 2023, they filed an invalidation request for the "Helens" trademark with the National Intellectual Property Administration, and on August 7, 2024, for the "Helens Pub" and "Helens Big Pai Dang" trademarks. Their claim: the disputed trademarks are similar to the cited trademarks on similar services, easily causing the relevant public to confuse the source of services.
After a three-year tug-of-war, on the evening of June 25, Helens announced that the three Chinese trademarks "海伦司," "海伦司小酒馆," and "海伦司越大排档" were finally ruled invalid by the court. The announcement stated that according to current assessment, the dispute has no significant impact on the group's overall business, daily operations, or financial condition, and the group can continue to use non-disputed trademarks in daily business.
According to Blue Whale News reporters, as of now, Helens' offline stores and online communications still use the Chinese name "海伦司" and related expressions. The impact has not yet affected specific stores, but the capital market is more sensitive than physical stores.
HK Stock Price Under Pressure, Market Cap Plummets Over 90%
After the announcement, the stock price opened lower on June 26, falling over 6% intraday. By the close, Helens' stock price was down to HK$1.58.
Helens' market cap once reached HK$30 billion in the year of listing, but now is only HK$2 billion, a shrinkage of over 90%.
"The First Pub for Young People" Is No Longer Young
Helens' earliest stores were located in university districts, mainly serving foreigners and international students. Later, founder Xu Bingzhong shifted strategy, positioning Helens as "a space for young people to freely communicate offline," with a focus on "extreme cost-effectiveness." All bottled beers at Helens are priced below 10 yuan, and cocktails are just over 20 yuan.
The "young people + cost-effectiveness" model was replicated. Helens' store count reached 782 by the end of 2021, the year it went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with the halo of "China's largest chain pub."
According to Helens' IPO prospectus submitted in 2021, revenue from 2018 to 2020 was RMB 115 million, 565 million, and 818 million respectively; net profit was RMB 9.734 million, 79.136 million, and 70.072 million.
The prospectus shows that self-owned alcoholic beverages contributed over 60% of Helens' alcohol revenue, with a gross margin above 70%. Through factory direct procurement and economies of scale, Helens also secured relatively favorable purchase prices for third-party brand alcoholic beverages.
Therefore, one of Helens' advantages is scale. However, while expanding aggressively, Helens also faced soaring store costs. Combined with the pandemic and other factors, Helens posted a net loss of RMB 230 million in 2021, which expanded to RMB 1.601 billion in 2022.
After cumulative losses exceeded RMB 1.8 billion, Helens began closing stores to rescue itself. Financial data show that by the end of 2023, Helens operated 479 pubs, down 288 from a year earlier, and down over 40% from the peak of 850+.
At the same time, Helens initiated a strategic transformation from a fully direct-operated model to a franchise model, the "Hi Beer Partner" program. At the start, the minimum investment threshold for the program was 600,000 yuan; by 2024, the threshold for new store formats was lowered to around 400,000 yuan.
Bistros Everywhere, Helens' Business Is Tough
Looking at the 2025 financial report, Helens' full-year revenue was RMB 540 million, down 28.3% year-on-year; net profit attributable to the parent was RMB 33.954 million, successfully turning losses into profits. Self-owned beverage revenue share and gross profit rate improved year-on-year; store-level contribution gross margin increased to 73.77%, indicating overall operating conditions improved over the previous year.
However, Helens still faces a decline in average daily sales per store. In 2025, same-store average daily sales at directly operated and franchised cooperation stores were RMB 8,500, down over 18% year-on-year; the overall average daily sales for individual partner stores were only RMB 4,100, with average daily sales declining across all store types.
In the catering track where per-store daily revenue often exceeds 10,000 yuan, Helens' dominant franchise store type earns relatively little. More notably, nearly 70% of Helens' stores are in third-tier and below cities, with profitability under pressure.
On the other hand, young people now have too many places to drink; the appeal of low prices is weakening. According to the Narrow Door Dining Eye, over the past year, as many as 38,000 new pubs have opened. From Homebars, craft beer pubs, Livehouse-style pubs to various bistros, consumption scenarios are becoming diversified.
Among them, bistro-style establishments combining "food + alcohol" have risen strongly in recent years. In this track, Fantasy (Huan Shi), which operates a "food + wine" model, is developing aggressively. Its parent company, Extreme Object Thinking, submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in January this year. Fantasy currently has over 100 stores in China; the company's revenue exceeded RMB 1 billion in 2024.
Compared to Helens, which opened the market with low prices and scale, Fantasy takes a different approach. Its environment is more atmospheric, product pricing is higher, and per capita consumption exceeds 100 yuan. On social platforms, netizens' impression of Fantasy includes "pretty food." According to the prospectus, its average daily sales per store in the first nine months of 2025 were RMB 29,880.
Fantasy extends business hours to over 18 hours by providing brunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and nighttime bar service, thereby improving per-store utilization and operational efficiency. The prospectus discloses that in the first nine months of 2025, alcoholic beverages and drinks contributed about 45% of operating revenue, of which 85% were alcoholic beverages. During the same period, Fantasy's overall gross margin stabilized at 68.7%, above the industry average.
However, Fantasy also has its challenges. High store costs also squeeze profits, and consumer complaints about dish taste and quality can affect brand reputation.
Zhu Danpeng, an analyst in the Chinese food industry, believes that like the coffee track, low-, mid-, and high-end brands each have their own market. The same applies to pubs. Pubs are increasingly popular among the younger generation, so this format is in a high-speed expansion period, but overall concentration is not high. Perhaps after another five years, with capital promotion and consumption dividend support, leading brands and a clearer competitive landscape will emerge.
Zhu Danpeng stated that product pricing is not the only key factor affecting brand trends. The hardcore factors determining the future development of the pub business are mainly brand effect, scale effect, fan effect, supply chain completeness, and single-store operation capability. Because each store's location differs, strategies should also be differentiated.
For Helens and others, how to run each store well may be the biggest challenge.
