The Chinese internet celebrity baking brand KUMO KUMO, once known as the “Hermes of the cake industry,” is now accelerating its store closures. Over the past year, the brand has shut down approximately 180 stores, leaving only 56 operating stores nationwide. Currently, Beijing has only two stores left, with one set to not renew its lease after it expires.
According to a report by “Jiemian News” on July 16th, KUMO KUMO previously had stores in popular business districts such as Sanlitun Taikoo Li, Chaoyang Joy City, and Xidan Joy City in Beijing. Currently, only the Hesheng Mall store and the Xidan Jun Tai Department Store remain, one of which is a directly operated store and the other a franchise store.
Employees at the franchise store stated that the lease will not be renewed after it expires. At that time, KUMO KUMO in Beijing may only have one directly operated store left.
Data from the restaurant store platform “Zhaomen Catering Eye” shows that as of the end of June, KUMO KUMO only has 56 operating stores nationwide, a decrease of over 70% from its peak of over 200 stores, and has exited locations such as Tianjin, Sichuan, Shanxi, Anhui, and Gansu.
KUMO KUMO opened its first store in Shanghai at the end of 2020, specializing in freshly baked cheesecakes priced between 39 and 49 yuan. With marketing tactics such as orange packaging, ringing a bell when cakes are ready, and on-site stamped words, the brand once attracted consumers who queued for hours and was dubbed the “Hermes of the cake industry.”
During its peak, data showed that a store of just over 20 square meters had a monthly sales exceeding 1.78 million yuan. Reports indicated that KUMO KUMO’s sales exceeded 500 million yuan in 2024.
During high traffic periods, KUMO KUMO began expanding rapidly. In 2024, the brand introduced the “Business Partner” program and set a goal to add 500 new stores in a year. The investment budget for a single store was around 348,000 yuan, not including rent and renovation costs. Prior to the franchise program announcement, the brand had received over 20,000 applications.
However, the popularity of being an internet celebrity did not translate into sustainable business. Operators who exited mentioned that after the novelty wore off for consumers, foot traffic and repeat purchases significantly decreased, while challenges of shopping mall rents, labor costs, and waste from unsold cakes still needed to be addressed.
A key issue facing store operations was the limited product range. KUMO KUMO mainly relied on cheesecakes to attract customers, but the purchase frequency for these products was low. Meanwhile, supermarkets’ bakery sections, chain bakeries, and home bakeries began offering similar products at lower prices, putting pressure on KUMO KUMO’s around 40 yuan pricing.
Currently, the official WeChat account of KUMO KUMO has not been updated since the end of 2025, the franchise page cannot be accessed, and the public franchise hotline has gone unanswered multiple times.
Another brand under the same group, the handmade Swiss roll brand “the Roll’ING,” is also contracting. As of June 16th, its nationwide stores decreased from around 70 a year ago to 31, a reduction of nearly 40 stores.
At a time when KUMO KUMO is significantly reducing its stores, mainland China’s consumption growth continues to be weak. The latest data from the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics shows that in the first half of 2026, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by only 1.3% year-on-year, significantly slowing down from 2.8% in January-February. In May, total retail sales of consumer goods decreased by 0.6%; and in June, the growth was only 1.0%, with retail sales of consumer goods above a set limit declining by 2.0%. Restaurant revenue in the month grew by 1.2%, with revenues at dining establishments above a set limit almost stagnant, increasing by only 0.1%.
Data from “Zhaomen Catering Eye” shows that as of May this year, the baking industry in mainland China has seen a net decrease of approximately 88,000 stores in the past year, with a closure rate of 25%; of the closed stores, about 57% had been operating for less than two years.