Helens Chinese Trademark Ruled Invalid; Stock Price, Market Cap Drop Over 90%
Have you been to Helen's? Helens recently lost its "Chinese name" after the three Chinese trademarks "Helens," "Helens Small Bar," and "Helens Yue Da Paidang" were ruled invalid by a final court judgment.
However, compared to "losing the Chinese name," Helens' bigger crisis may be that it, once representing young people, is being abandoned by them.
Helens' Trademark Defense Battle
Founded in 2009, Helens first opened in a remote storefront at Wudaokou, Beijing, adjacent to Tsinghua and Peking University. The founder is Xu Bingzhong, a retired soldier born in the 1970s. Initially, the business targeted foreigners, such as overseas students.
Perhaps for this reason, Helens initially used English trademarks like "Helen's" and applied for related English trademarks in 2013. But its core Chinese trademarks were not registered until 2018, laying a hidden danger for the subsequent trademark crisis.
According to Interface News, the trademark dispute over "Helens" mainly arose between Chengdu Helen Binfen Hotel Co., Ltd. and Helens. The former successfully registered two "Helen" trademarks in 2016, belonging to Class 43 restaurant and bar services. On May 23, 2023, and August 7, 2024, they filed invalidation requests against the "Helens" trademark and the "Helens Small Bar" and "Helens Yue Da Paidang" trademarks with the CNIPA, arguing that the disputed trademarks constituted similar trademarks to the two cited "Helen" trademarks on similar services and could easily cause confusion among relevant public.
After three years of back-and-forth, on the evening of June 25, Helens announced that the three Chinese trademarks were ruled invalid by the final court judgment. The announcement stated that according to current assessment, the dispute has no material impact on the group's overall business, daily operations, or financial condition, as the group can continue to use its non-controversial trademarks in daily business.
Blue Whale News reporters found that as of now, Helens' offline stores and online communications still use its Chinese name "Helens" and related expressions. The impact has not yet affected specific stores, but the capital market is more sensitive than the physical stores.
After the news, the stock price opened lower on June 26, falling over 6% intraday. By close, Helens stock price fell to HK$1.58. Helens' market value once reached HK$30 billion in the year of its listing, but now it is only HK$2 billion, shrinking over 90%.
"The First Small Bar for Young People" Is No Longer Young
Helens' earliest stores were located near university areas, with the main consumer group initially being foreigners and overseas students. Later, founder Xu Bingzhong changed his thinking, positioning Helens as a "space for young people to freely communicate offline," and offered "extreme cost-effectiveness." All bottled beer at Helens was priced under 10 yuan, cocktails slightly more expensive at just over 20 yuan.
The "young people + cost-effectiveness" model was successfully replicated. According to public information, by the end of 2021, Helens had 782 stores. That year, Helens landed on Hong Kong stocks with the halo of "China's largest chain of small bars."
According to Helens' 2021 IPO prospectus, revenue from 2018 to 2020 was 115 million, 565 million, and 818 million yuan respectively; net profit was 9.734 million, 79.136 million, and 70.072 million yuan. Although Helens' alcohol prices were low, it didn't mean it wasn't profitable.
The prospectus showed that own-label alcoholic beverages with gross margins above 70% contributed over 60% of Helens' alcohol revenue. By leveraging factory direct sourcing and economies of scale, Helens could also get relatively cheap third-party brand alcohol purchase prices.
Therefore, one of Helens' advantages was scale. While expanding aggressively, Helens also faced soaring store costs. Combined with factors like the pandemic, Helens suffered a net loss of 230 million yuan in 2021, which expanded to 1.601 billion yuan in 2022.
After cumulative losses exceeded 1.8 billion yuan, Helens began closing stores to save itself. Financial data shows that as of the end of 2023, Helens had 479 stores, down 288 from a year earlier, and down more than 40% from the peak of over 850.
Meanwhile, Helens initiated a strategic transformation from a fully direct-operated model to opening franchises, namely the "Hey Beer Partner" plan. Initially, the minimum investment threshold was 600,000 yuan. But by 2024, the investment threshold for new store formats was lowered to around 400,000 yuan.
Bistros Everywhere, Helens' Business Gets Tougher
In its 2025 financial report, Helens posted full-year revenue of 540 million yuan, down 28.3% year-on-year; net profit attributable to parent was 33.954 million yuan, successfully turning a profit. The proportion of own-label alcohol revenue and gross profit margin improved year-on-year, with store-level contribution gross margin rising to 73.77%, and overall operating conditions improving year-on-year.
However, the decline in average daily sales per store remains a harsh reality. In 2025, Helens' direct-operated and franchise co-op stores' average daily sales per store was 8,500 yuan, down over 18% year-on-year; the overall average daily sales for a single partner store was only 4,100 yuan, with all store types seeing declines. Nearly 70% of Helens' stores are in third-tier and below cities, putting objective pressure on profitability.
On the other hand, young people have too many drinking places to choose from; the appeal of low prices is weakening. Narrow Door Dining showed that over the past year, as many as 38,000 new bars have opened. From Homebars, craft beer bars, Livehouse-style bars to various bistros, consumption scenarios are gradually diversifying.
Among them, bistros operating "food + alcohol" have risen strongly in recent years. Within this track, the fast-growing brand Huan Shi (Fantasy Master), whose parent company Extreme Material Thinking submitted an IPO prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in January this year, has over 100 stores in China and exceeded 1 billion yuan in revenue in 2024.
Different from Helens, which opened the market with low prices and scale, Huan Shi takes a different path. Its environment is more atmospheric, pricing higher, with per capita consumption over 100 yuan. On social platforms, one of the impressions of Huan Shi is "beautiful food." The prospectus disclosed that in the nine months to September 2025, its average daily sales per store was 29,880 yuan.
Huan Shi extends its operating hours to over 18 hours by offering brunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and late-night bar, improving store utilization and operational efficiency. In the nine months ended September 30, 2025, drinks and beverages contributed about 45% of operating revenue, with 85% being alcoholic drinks. During the same period, Huan Shi's overall gross margin stabilized at 68.7%, higher than the industry average.
However, Huan Shi also has its own difficulties. High store costs also squeeze profits, and consumer complaints about dish taste and quality can affect brand reputation.
Zhu Danpeng, an analyst at China Food Industry Analyst, believes that just like the coffee track, low, medium, and high-end brands each have their own market. The same is true for small bars. Bars are increasingly sought after by the new generation, so the business is in a period of rapid expansion, but overall concentration is not high. Perhaps after another 5 years, with capital promotion and consumption dividend support, the market will see leading brands and a clearer competitive landscape.
Zhu Danpeng said that product pricing is not the only key factor affecting brand trends. The hardcore factors determining the future development of small bar businesses mainly include brand effect, scale effect, fan effect, supply chain completeness, and single-store operation capability. Because each store is located differently, strategies should also be differentiated.
For Helens, how to operate each store well may be the biggest challenge.
