A 21-year-old asked his grandmother for money to open a street-food stall. Now, it's the world's largest fast-food chain, eclipsing McDonald's

People holding an ice cream cone and boba tea from Mixue, the world's largest fast-food chain by number of store locations (Credit: May James / SOPA Images / LightRocket—Getty Images)

• It may surprise you to learn that the world’s largest fast-food chain isn’t an American staple like McDonald’s or Starbucks. It’s actually Mixue, an ice cream and boba shop founded in 1997 that has exploded in popularity in China and throughout Asia. Zhang Hongchao was a university student when he created the first Mixue stall; now he’s a billionaire.

McDonald’s was founded 85 years ago in San Bernardino, Calif. It’s the world’s second-largest private employer—behind only Walmart, No. 1 on the Fortune 500 again this year—and has over 40,000 locations worldwide.