Helen's Chinese trademark ruled invalid: market cap down over 90%, young people's pub is no longer young

Have you been to Helen's? Known as 'the first pub for young people', China's pub chain Helen's recently lost its Chinese name. The three Chinese trademarks '海伦司', '海伦司小酒馆', and '海伦司越大排挡' were ruled invalid by the final court judgment.

But more than losing its Chinese name, Helen's bigger crisis may be that it is being abandoned by the young people it once represented.

Helen's trademark battle: Chinese trademark dispute ultimately invalid

Founded in 2009, Helen's first opened in a remote shop at Wudaokou, Beijing, near Tsinghua and Peking Universities. Founder Xu Bingzhong, a veteran from the 1970s, initially targeted foreigners, such as overseas students.

Perhaps for this reason, Helen's initially used English trademarks like 'Helen's' and applied for related English trademarks in 2013; its core Chinese trademarks were not registered until 2018, laying a hidden risk for later trademark crises.

According to Interface News, the trademark dispute over '海伦司' mainly arose between Chengdu Helen Brilliant Hotel Co., Ltd. and Helen's. The former successfully registered two '海伦' trademarks in 2016 under Class 43 for restaurant and bar services. Subsequently, on May 23, 2023, it filed invalidation requests against the '海伦司' trademark, and on August 7, 2024, against '海伦司小酒馆' and '海伦司越大排挡' trademarks with the National Intellectual Property Administration, claiming that these trademarks were similar to the citation trademarks and could cause confusion among the public about service origin.

After a three-year tug-of-war, on the evening of June 25, Helen's announced that the three Chinese trademarks were ruled invalid by the final court judgment. The announcement stated that based on current assessment, the dispute does not have a material impact on the group's overall business, daily operations, or financial condition, as the group can continue to use its undisputed trademarks in daily operations.

Blue Whale News reporters found that currently, Helen's offline stores and online communications still use its 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.

After the news, the stock opened lower on June 26, falling over 6% at one point. By the close, Helen's stock fell to HK$1.58. Helen's market cap once reached HK$30 billion in the year of listing, but now stands at only HK$2 billion, a decline of over 90%.

'The first pub for young people' is no longer young: from cheap expansion to loss-making store closures

Helen's first stores were near university districts, initially serving foreigners and international students. Later, founder Xu Bingzhong shifted focus, positioning Helen's as a 'space for young people to socialize offline' while offering 'extreme cost-effectiveness': all bottled beers priced under 10 yuan, and cocktails slightly higher but still over 20 yuan.

The 'young + cost-effective' model proved replicable. By the end of 2021, Helen's had 782 stores; that year, it went public in Hong Kong wearing the halo of 'China's largest chain pub'.

According to Helen's IPO prospectus filed in 2021, from 2018 to 2020, Helen's revenue was 115 million yuan, 565 million yuan, and 818 million yuan respectively; net profits were 9.734 million yuan, 79.136 million yuan, and 70.072 million yuan. Although Helen's drinks were cheap, it did not mean they weren't profitable.

The prospectus showed that self-owned drinks with gross margins above 70% contributed over 60% of Helen's beverage revenue; also, through factory direct sourcing and economies of scale, Helen's could obtain relatively cheap purchase prices for third-party brand drinks.

Thus, one of Helen's advantages was actually scale. However, while aggressively expanding, Helen's also faced soaring store opening costs; combined with pandemic factors, in 2021 Helen's net loss reached 230 million yuan, and the next year net loss expanded to 1.601 billion yuan.

After cumulative losses exceeding 1.8 billion yuan, Helen's began closing stores to self-rescue. As of the end of 2023, Helen's had 479 pubs, down 288 from a year earlier; compared to the peak of over 850, it was a reduction of over 40%.

At the same time, Helen's launched a strategic transformation from a full direct operation model to opening franchising, i.e., the 'Happy Beer Partner' plan. The initial capital threshold for this plan started at a minimum of 600,000 yuan; but by 2024, the investment threshold for new store types was lowered to around 400,000 yuan, reflecting pressure on Helen's expansion and business improvement.

Bistros everywhere: Helen's business is not easy, single-store sales decline and low-price appeal weakens

These transformation measures have brought some effects. From the 2025 financial report, Helen's full-year revenue was 540 million yuan, down 28.3% year-on-year; net profit attrib. to parent was 33.954 million yuan, successfully turning losses into profits. Self-owned drink revenue share and gross margin improved year-on-year, store-level contribution gross margin increased to 73.77%, and overall operations improved over the previous year.

But in reality, Helen's still faces declining average daily sales per store. In 2025, the same-store average daily sales for direct and franchise stores were 8,500 yuan, down over 18% year-on-year; the overall average daily sales for individual partner stores were only 4,100 yuan, with all store types seeing declines. In the dining track where average daily revenue often exceeds 10,000 yuan, Helen's main store type—franchises—earn too little; also, nearly 70% of Helen's stores are in third-tier and below cities, facing profitability pressure.

On the other hand, there are too many places for young people to drink now, and the appeal of low prices is diminishing for consumers. According to Zhaimei Restaurant Eye, nearly 38,000 new pubs opened in the past year. From Homebar, craft breweries, Livehouse pubs to various bistro types, consumption scenarios are diversifying.

Among them, bistro-style 'food + drink' has risen strongly in recent years. In this track, the bistro brand Huanshi, which operates 'food + wine', has developed rapidly. Its parent company Jiwu Thinking has submitted a prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in January this year. Huanshi currently has over 100 stores in China, and its 2024 revenue exceeded 1 billion yuan.

Unlike Helen's which opened the market with low prices and scale, Huanshi takes a different path: its environment is more atmospheric, pricing is higher, and per capita consumption exceeds 100 yuan. On social platforms, many netizens describe Huanshi as 'beautiful food'. The prospectus disclosed that in the first nine months of 2025, its single-store average daily sales were 29,880 yuan.

Different from traditional bar and pub models, Huanshi extends operating hours to over 18 hours by offering brunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and evening drinks, to improve single-store utilization and operating efficiency. Prospectus data shows that in the nine months ended September 30, 2025, beverages contributed about 45% of revenue, of which 85% were alcoholic drinks; during the same period, Huanshi's overall gross margin stabilized at 68.7%, above the industry average.

However, Huanshi also faces challenges. High store costs similarly squeeze profits, and consumer complaints about dish taste and quality can affect brand reputation.

Zhu Danpeng, a food industry analyst, believes that like the coffee track, brands at different price levels have their markets; the same applies to pubs, where brands at various price points will exist. Pubs are increasingly popular among the younger generation, so the sector is in a high-speed expansion phase, but overall concentration is low. Maybe after another five years, with capital push and consumer dividend support, leading brands and clearer competition patterns will emerge.

Zhu said product pricing is not the only key factor affecting brand trends. The hardcore factors determining the future development of pub businesses mainly include brand effect, scale effect, fan effect, supply chain completeness, and single-store operation capability. Since each store is in a different location, strategies should be differentiated.

For Helen's and others, how to operate each store well may be the biggest challenge.