Helens Trademark Invalid Final Ruling Sinks Market Cap: Young Pub's Predicament

Have you been to Helen's? The Chinese pub once called 'the first pub for young people' recently lost its 'Chinese name'. Three Chinese trademarks—'Helensi', 'Helensi Xiaojiuguan', and 'Helensi Yue Dadang'—were ruled invalid by final court.

But compared to losing the Chinese name, Helens' bigger crisis may be that it is being abandoned by the very young people it once represented...

Helens' Trademark Defense Battle

Founded in 2009, Helens' first store opened in an obscure location in Beijing's Wudaokou, near Tsinghua and Peking University. Founder Xu Bingzhong, a 70s-born veteran, said in interviews that initially they targeted foreigners, including overseas students.

Perhaps for this reason, Helens originally 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. This laid the groundwork for the later trademark crisis.

According to Interface News, the trademark dispute mainly involved Chengdu Helen Binfen Hotel Co., Ltd. and Helens. The former registered two 'Helen' trademarks in 2016 under Class 43 (restaurant, bar services). On May 23, 2023, it filed invalidation requests against the 'Helensi' trademark, and on August 7, 2024, against 'Helensi Xiaojiuguan' and 'Helensi Yue Dadang' trademarks, claiming they were similar to the cited 'Helen' trademarks for similar services, likely causing public confusion.

After three years of back-and-forth, on the evening of June 25, Helens announced that three Chinese trademarks were ruled invalid by final court. The announcement stated that based on current assessment, the dispute has no material impact on overall business, daily operations, or financial condition, as the group can continue using undisputed trademarks in daily operations.

Blue Whale News reporters found that as of now, Helens' offline stores and online communications still use the Chinese name 'Helensi' and related expressions. The impact has not yet affected physical stores, but capital markets proved more sensitive.

After the announcement, on June 26, the stock opened lower, falling over 6% intraday. By close, Helens shares fell to HK$1.58. Helens' market cap once reached HK$30 billion in its listing year, but now stands at only HK$2 billion, down over 90%.

'The First Pub for Young People' No Longer Young

Helens' earliest stores were near university districts, with main customers being foreigners and international students. Later, founder Xu Bingzhong shifted strategy, positioning Helens as a 'free communication space for young people offline' with 'extreme value for money'. All bottled beer at Helens is priced under 10 yuan, cocktails slightly higher at just over 20 yuan.

The 'youth + value' model was successfully replicated. By end of 2021, Helens had 782 stores. At the same time, Helens was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with the halo of 'largest chain pub in China'.

According to Helens' 2021 prospectus, from 2018 to 2020, its revenue was 115 million, 565 million, and 818 million yuan respectively, with net profits of 9.734 million, 79.136 million, and 70.072 million yuan.

Although Helens' drinks are cheap, it doesn't mean it doesn't make money. The prospectus shows that own-brand drinks with gross margins above 70% contributed over 60% of drink revenue. Through factory-direct sourcing and economies of scale, Helens also obtained favorable wholesale prices for third-party brand drinks.

Thus, one of Helens' advantages is scale. While expanding aggressively, Helens faced rising store opening costs. Combined with the pandemic, in 2021, Helens suffered a net loss of 230 million yuan; the next year, the net loss widened to 1.601 billion yuan.

After cumulative losses exceeded 1.8 billion yuan, Helens began closing stores for survival. Financial data shows that by end of 2023, Helens had 479 pubs, down 288 from a year earlier, a decrease of over 40% from the peak of over 850.

At the same time, Helens initiated a strategic shift from full direct operation to franchising, i.e., the 'Happy Beer Partner' program. The initial investment threshold for the program started at 600,000 yuan. By 2024, the threshold for new store types was lowered to around 400,000 yuan.

Bistros Everywhere: Intensified Competition & Single-Store Decline

These transformation measures had effects. From the 2025 financial report, Helens' full-year revenue was 540 million yuan, down 28.3% YoY; net profit attributable to parents was 33.954 million yuan, turning profitable. Own-brand drink revenue share and gross margin improved YoY, with store-level contribution gross margin rising to 73.77%. Overall operations improved over the previous year.

However, Helens still faces severe same-store daily sales decline.

In 2025, same-store single-store daily sales for Helens' direct and franchise stores were 8,500 yuan, down over 18% YoY; single partner store daily sales averaged only 4,100 yuan. All store types saw daily sales decline. In the catering sector where single-store daily revenue often exceeds 10,000 yuan, Helens' mainstay franchise stores earn very little. Notably, nearly 70% of Helens' stores are in third-tier and below cities, objectively under profit pressure.

On the other hand, young people now have many places to drink. Low price alone is losing appeal. Zhaimenyanyan shows that over the past year, nearly 38,000 new pubs opened. From Homebars, craft beer pubs, Livehouse pubs to various bistros, consumption scenes have diversified.

Among them, bistros operating 'food + drink' have risen strongly. In this segment, Huan Shi, operating 'food + drink', has developed vigorously. Its parent company, Jiwu Thinking, submitted a prospectus to HKEX in January this year. Huan Shi currently has over 100 stores in China, with 2024 company revenue exceeding 1 billion yuan.

Compared to Helens' low-price and scale strategy, Huan Shi takes a different path. Its environment is more atmospheric, product pricing higher, with per capita consumption over 100 yuan. On social platforms, many netizens associate Huan Shi with 'beautiful food'. The prospectus disclosed that for the first nine months of 2025, its single-store daily sales averaged 29,880 yuan.

Unlike traditional bar/pub formats, Huan Shi extends operating hours to over 18 hours by offering brunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and night drinks, improving store usage efficiency and profitability. For the nine months ended September 30, 2025, drinks and beverages contributed about 45% of revenue, 85% of which were alcoholic drinks. During the same period, Huan Shi's overall gross margin stabilized at 68.7%, above industry average.

But Huan Shi also has its own challenges. High store costs squeeze profits, and consumer complaints about taste and quality can affect brand reputation.

Chinese food industry analyst Zhu Danpeng believes, like the coffee sector, brands at low, mid, and high tiers each have their market. Same for pubs—brands at different price levels coexist. The pub sector is now highly sought after by the younger generation, so it is in a period of rapid expansion but with low overall concentration. Perhaps after about 5 years, driven by capital and consumption dividends, leading brands and clearer competitive landscapes will emerge.

Product pricing is not the only key factor. Zhu says the hard core factors determining pub business development are 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 Helens and peers, how to run each store well may be the biggest challenge.