you like chinese the food yeah panda express is the largest asian food chain in america
so how did it get to the top here are 10 untold truths why panda express is so successful
family owned down through the generations some of the most successful businesses are family-owned
businesses and panda express is one of these andrew cherng met his future wife peggy at
baker university in kansas both had emigrated from communist china to america in the 1960s
in search of better lives and most people would agree that they found it jackpot after graduation
the couple moved to los angeles to follow their dreams andrew's first job in l.a was helping his
cousin run a restaurant but the two men disagreed on many things eventually andrew grew frustrated
and decided to strike out on his own with an idea he had for his own restaurant in 1973 andrew and
his father opened panda inn and pasadena the first restaurant location with the name panda express
was open in the glendale galleria which is a popular mall in the los angeles area this modest
start has grown into more than two thousand panda express locations spread around the world the
churnings have worked hard to keep panda express a family business and their daughter works in a key
position as the chain's chief marketing officer unlike many fast food chains the family hasn't
franchised the business it's nice to know they still run the company themselves which probably
has something to do with why panda express is so successful authenticity thought it would be fun to
use garibaldi's ultra authentic recipe authentic cuisine is always coveted when it comes to food
but the definition of authentic can be a little tricky does panda express cook authentic chinese
food maybe but this restaurant chain touts itself as offering its customers chinese american cuisine
so what exactly is authentic chinese american cuisine it really doesn't matter if the foods
served by panda express meet some arbitrary definition of authentic cuisine same same but
different but still same no one can argue with the fact that a lot of people love what panda express
has been serving since the 1970s so the argument about authenticity is pretty much irrelevant at
this point part of what makes america great is the willingness to embrace parts of other cultures
americans have definitely embraced chinese food and the fact that panda express has adapted it to
appeal to american tastes shouldn't bother anyone the fast food chain's cuisine is authentically
chinese-american and this american take on chinese food is what makes panda express
special the question of authenticity is overblown because the important thing is that people
like the kung pao chicken and a lot of the other dishes served up at panda express high class
sounds sweet panda express has been a popular fast food chain for decades and it has a
pleasant atmosphere that allows customers to enjoy their meal and comfortable surroundings however
most people would not describe panda express locations as high class or upscale the original
chinese-american restaurant opened by andrew cheung and his father ming cychong was actually
pretty fancy by comparison the father and son team opened a place called panda inn in 1973
and they worked hard to create a high-class atmosphere even though they were operating
on a shoestring budget although they could only afford a modest space for their first restaurant
they quickly transformed it into an upscale establishment that attracted customers right away
unfortunately the original chinese-american restaurant they opened was so small it would
quickly fill up geez look at this line yeah no kidding and it's not moving mr cheering realized
he needed to keep would-be customers from leaving before they could be seated so he tempted them to
wait outside for the next available table with offers of free cocktails right from the start
the churns showed a willingness to go the extra mile for their customers the killers
wrote a song santiago loves cantaloupe time we wrote a song about it cantaloupe just about
everyone would rather have free chicken than pay for it but the band the killers made their
case to get free chicken for life from one of their favorite fast food chains panda express
the back and forth between the musicians and the fast food chain began when the band named one of
its songs smile like you mean it after they found the phrase written on a slip inside a fortune
cookie they bought at a panda express the killers took their case public joking on twitter that they
felt like they had earned free orange chicken for life from panda express for their musical efforts
yeah that's what you wish steve although panda express probably welcomed the publicity generated
on social media by the band the fast food chain decided not to provide the hungry bandmates
with any free food however panda express did come through with a generous donation to the
band's favorite charity this fun but important interaction with the killers demonstrated the
fast food chain's prominent place in american popular culture even if the chain will never be
as well known as a behemoth chain like mcdonald's it has carved out a place for itself with fans
all over show your support by hitting that like button we do appreciate it now let's keep going
the show goes on innovation kitchen challenge it even though the panda express chain has been
more successful than the churns could ever have imagined when they opened their first restaurant
in the 1970s the family has refused to sit back and rest on its laurels he's always wanting more
more more one example of this is their less well-known take on the chinese american
restaurant they call innovation kitchen the one and only location was opened in 2019
in pasadena california the experimental restaurant was met with mostly positive reviews by customers
and industry insiders alike this unique restaurant is described by panda express as a tool the chain
can use to experiment with new recipes new ways of offering services and even for testing some
ideas that eventually might find their way into stores in a word innovation kitchen is a test
outlet for fast food innovation and it seems to have worked out pretty well for panda express
this alternative take on the familiar quick service chinese american restaurant offers many of
the panda express favorites customers expect such as orange chicken broccoli and beef and lo mein
businesses like panda express are always looking to improve the way they do things so they can
try to stay one step ahead of the competition innovation kitchen helps the franchise compete
more effectively and is one of the reasons why panda express is so successful values employees
your work is appreciated eat some corn the relationship between employers and employees
can be a complicated one for both sides but generally both groups want to be part of a
positive experience no job is perfect and the work can be a challenging and sometimes a downright
unpleasant endeavor the founder of panda express andrew cheung has given interviews where he has
talked about the importance of treating the people who work at panda express as valued members of a
team beyond the obvious reason that treating people well is the decent thing to do mr chung
has always been convinced that his employees will do a better job for panda express if they feel
valued and respected by the people they work for indeed indeed other employers would do well to
heed the insights mr cheung has expressed about the employer employee relationship he also made
the point that employers have to be able to hire good workers or at least people that are right for
the particular job they're being hired to do with these factors in place customers win because they
will be treated better and will want to return to panda express fortune cookies hey it's my
lucky day you're luck just ran out for many people enjoying a fortune cookie or two is an important
part of eating at a chinese restaurant in america however americans might be surprised to learn that
these little vanilla flavored cookies with sayings and observations printed on tiny slips of paper
probably originated in 19th century japan what did you say in the 1870s bakeries in kyoto japan were
making little folded cookies with a fortune placed inside the japanese called them fortune crackers
and the key ingredients were sesame and miso instead of sugar and butter these fortune crackers
probably arrived in hawaii and california in the 1880s with the arrival of japanese immigrants
soon japanese restaurants in san francisco and los angeles were both serving versions
of fortune crackers but some were using sugar butter and vanilla instead of the
traditional japanese ingredients american tastes started to shift in the early 20th century as
other foreign foods were becoming more available both japanese and chinese immigrants responded
to this shift the best they could by opening chinese-american restaurants and some of them
served fortune crackers renamed fortune cookies the name change came about because some restaurant
owners decided to serve the little treat at the end of the meal as a dessert panda express
gives more than 280 million fortune cookies to its customers every year and the little cookies with a
little piece of wisdom inside is a big reason why panda express is so successful technology today's
technology is beyond me not so lifelike yeah businesses are often the first to adopt emerging
technologies because they're seen as ways to help increase efficiency as well as increase profits
peggy chern who co-founded the panda express fast food chain with her husband andrew earned degrees
in mathematics computer science and engineering mrs cheung was well suited to introduce the latest
technologies into their growing fast food chain for example she pushed for portable computers to
be put in every panda express location to help facilitate ordering and other tasks this early
adoption of critical information technology keeps panda express on the cutting edge the fast food
industry in recent years has increasingly moved toward using the latest technology to address
challenges such as cost cutting one of the ways chains have done this is to start using robots
in the kitchen robots that can flip hamburgers make french fries or whip up a batch of lo mein
faster and cheaper than humans will save fast food chains a tremendous amount of money
in the long run using computers to handle critical but mundane tasks like tracking
inventory has become standard procedure in the business world today but peggy chern was one of
the first to embrace computers in the fast food industry computer technology and increasingly
artificial intelligence will play a bigger and bigger role in how businesses like panda express
operate in the future orange chicken maybe i'll get you some a little uh orange chicken
oh huh yeah sounds wonderful does that sound good yeah even if you don't consider yourself much of
a fan of chinese food you might want to reconsider and give the orange chicken at panda express a try
the fast food chain's version of orange chicken made its debut in 1987 and the uniquely sweet
and savory dish was immediately a big hit with customers andy cow the former executive at panda
express came up with the winning recipe which originally included bone-in chicken however a
lot of people prefer boneless chicken so boneless chunks of chicken became the standard at panda
express orange chicken continues to be a top seller at panda express and customers eat about
70 million pounds of this delicious dish every year it's so popular in fact that as many as
50 percent of customers order orange chicken as at least part of their meal the exact recipe is
kept a secret by the fast food chain but the chicken dish definitely contains a range of
tasty ingredients that includes chilis orange peel honey and ginger for those who want another option
the panda express in mumbai india for example serves a vegetarian version of the popular dish
that substitutes paneer an indian version of cottage cheese for the pieces of boneless fried
chicken 25 years after it made its debut orange chicken is still a customer favorite at panda
express success breeds success i'm rich i'm rich fast food chains had been popular in
america for decades when the churns got into this highly competitive industry back in the 1970s
from mcdonald's to burger king and everything in between there were plenty of places to get
hamburgers and french fries however chinese food was definitely not on any fast food chains menus
at the time this all started to change in 1983 when the churns opened their first panda express
restaurant in california chinese american cuisine was a welcome alternative for many
who were getting a little tired of the usual fast food fare because of this demand panda express
quickly became a hit in the early 1990s the churns were concerned japanese restaurants would
threaten their business in 1992 they decided to go head-to-head with the competition by opening their
own japanese restaurant chain the chain was called hibachi-san and its purpose
apparently wasn't so much to be successful but to keep customers going to panda express
i see what you did there good one this was a pretty shrewd move by the churn family
working hard to become your own competition is certainly one way to succeed in business and it's
also one of the untold truths why panda express is so successful can we stop at panda express
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