The Truth About Eating At Panda Express

There is a Chinese saying that says: "Food is the first need of the people." Anyone who's exhausted after a long day knows it's true, and sometimes some Panda Express beef and broccoli hits the spot. Here you will find everything you need to know before the next time you go. Once upon a time in Kansas, two Baker University students met and fell madly in love. From this love was born one of the most delicious Chinese meals you'll ever eat, and we all lived happily ever after stuffing our faces with broccoli meat and orange chicken. It seems like a fairy tale, but it is absolutely true.

Panda Express is a true American success story, as co-CEOs Andrew and Peggy Cherng came to the United States as immigrants in the mid-1960s. Although Andrew earned his degree in mathematics and Peggy earned hers in electrical engineering, they ended up in the restaurant business. It all began in 1973, when Andrew and his father opened the Panda Inn in Pasadena, running it with the entire family on staff. More than four decades later, the Cherng family has more than 2,000 Panda Express restaurants in North America, as well as locations in Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Guatemala and Aruba. And just because Panda Express is a huge success doesn't mean the Cherngs have forgotten their roots.

Their daughter Andrea is the company's marketing director and they own and operate all of the restaurants they do not franchise to others, except for a few select locations. At Panda Express, it is truly a family business. Panda Express co-founder Peggy Cherng has degrees in applied mathematics, computer science and electrical engineering, so when the restaurants first opened, she was instrumental in implementing a laptop computer system to process orders at each location. Of course, most restaurants you frequent today have computerized systems for taking orders and managing data, but Panda Express was one of the first restaurants to do so.

While her husband was busy adding locations to her growing empire, Peggy Cherng was developing ways to track everything from how well things were selling to streamlining the ordering process. Around 1983 she introduced the idea of ​​the point of sale system. She told the Los Angeles Times: "I think we were one of the first to use POS. It was confusing at first, especially when everyone got nervous and pressed the wrong buttons. But it made everything more efficient." All that number crunching gave Panda Express a huge advantage, particularly because it allowed them to determine fairly precisely how much of each ingredient they needed to order, which minimized spoilage while also helping to ensure a fresh product.

She also set a precedent for other restaurants to follow, and today, Peggy Cherng is one of the wealthiest, most self-made, foreign-born entrepreneurs in America. One of the criticisms you'll see lobbied against Panda Express is the question of its authenticity. Is it Chinese food? Is it American food? “Something stereotyped so I can understand it quickly…” Okay, I like your food.” "Outback Steakhouse! I'm Australian, mate!" Technically, it's both. It was founded by Chinese immigrants who adapted Chinese food to the American palate, and for many Americans, it has been their first introduction to Chinese cuisine. Andrea Cherng, marketing director, said: "In the beginning everything was translated by chef Ming-Tsai Cherng.

And the way he cooked always had that Chinese heritage." Panda Express culinary director Jimmy Wang told Restaurant Drive: "American Chinese cuisine is very authentic to Panda Express. Our ever-evolving style of food was born from adapting traditional Chinese recipes, flavors and cooking techniques to the American ingredients and tastes. And at the heart of the matter is something that is as authentic as possible. It's an authentic story, and as Andrea Cherng told Business Insider, Panda Express is "...a story of Chinese immigrant chefs and families coming to the US in search of what they hope is a better life.

It's an history of taking the recipes and repertoire of one's own culinary skill set and making it appealing to a national palate." "If there's an opportunity to do more, to earn more, to get more, I was up for it." Any Panda Express fan knows how good the chain's orange chicken is, and it should have been on the menu since 1987. However, when it was first introduced by former executive chef Andy Kao, it was served bone-in, in instead of the classic boneless dish that you can find today at any Panda Express. And you'll find plenty of them, because the chain sells millions of pounds each year.

The dish turned 30 years old in 2017, and that year they sold a whopping 80 million pounds of it. It's so popular that more than 50 percent of Panda Express diners choose orange chicken as part of their meal. “There is nothing tastier than Panda Express orange chicken!” Panda Express Orange Chicken is all delicious in one savory meal: boneless fried chicken tossed in a sauce that's a little spicy from the dried chiles, but sweet thanks to the orange peel, honey, and ginger. The orange chicken recipe has remained fairly consistent over the years, except for one adjustment made by adding bacon that left many fans quite upset.

They also offered orange chicken and waffles at their food truck to celebrate the famous dish. That sounds like a meal out of an orange chicken dream. Express hands out 282 million fortune cookies each year, which is equivalent to about a million dollars each month, but they aren't always your standard fortune cookies: “You're going to be eaten by a big greasy monster. Have a nice day." No, that's not it either... quite the opposite... For a 2016 campaign, the restaurant changed the name of the classic delicacy Fortunate Cookies and included FortuNotes inside, white notes that

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ed gratitude and kindness, in Instead of the typical proverb or prophecy, Andrea Cherng told Fox News: "The goal is to pause, stop and recognize the people in your lives for whom you feel luckiest.

The habit of pausing and telling someone that you are important, that is wealth, that is the fortune of life." Some of the fortunes say: "You will help someone in need this week", "Your kind attitude will keep others afloat" and "You're exactly where you're supposed to be." For the restaurant's guests, those cute messages probably made the cookies taste even sweeter. For the first time in the chain's history, Panda Express added vegan elements to its menu in 2019. New plant-based items include spring rolls, eggplant tofu, chow mein and Super Greens mixed vegetables. Until this menu change, Panda Express seasoned its dishes with chicken broth and other seasonings from animal products.

According to PETA, this change is due to Their followers stated: "When Panda Express told PETA that its plant-based dishes were still prepared with meat-based flavorings, we urged the company to move with the times and offer vegan options. in its 2,000 stores around the world. When he continued to give us excuses, we sent out an alert and our followers wrote to the company more than 234,000 times demanding a change. "But one problem that strict vegans may have with these new dishes is that, although they do not contain meat or animal by-products, Panda Express points out that they are still prepared in the same kitchen as meat products, using the same kitchen space and equipment.

Some vegetarians discussing the topic of cross contamination on Reddit have problems with the idea of ​​their food being cooked in the same kitchens. pans that have prepared meat, while others have not, but the company has been transparent about this, so that the diner can make their own decision based on their dietary preferences and any allergies they may have. If you are worried about competition in the mall food court, they could always do what the Cherngs did: open their own competing restaurant. According to Fortune, Andrew Cherng said, "We started Hibachi-San in malls in 1992 as a defensive strategy." to prevent Japanese restaurants from selling in front of our Chinese food at Panda Express." Hibachi-San is a Japanese fast-casual restaurant, and with the growing popularity of both Japanese cuisine and fast-casual food, it simply has "It made sense.

Especially to the Cherngs, who knew that starting their own Japanese chain would mean that whether a customer decided between Panda Express or Hibachi-San, they would always win. Do you think you're obsessed with Panda Express orange chicken?" I want to go there." In 2017, The Killers were

eating

a meal from Panda Express and found the phrase "Smile Like You Mean It" on a fortune cookie that also happened to be the name of a song from their Hot Fuzz album. 2004. How did the band react to this? Jokingly blowing up Panda Express by tweeting: "I'm thinking orange chicken for life and we'll let you off the hook for using our stuff." The band's claim to have invented the phrase seems a little dubious considering that any third grader posing for school picture day probably heard the same words spoken by the photographer, but you can't blame The Killers for wanting to swim in that delicious, sticky orange chicken. .

The stunt worked better in the end, and Panda Express eventually made a financial donation to a charity of the band's choosing. Panda Express founder Andrew Cherng told Los Angeles Magazine that his job is to develop people. "When you have a good group of people, and they're in a good place inside and out in how they live and who they are, then they're likely to serve the customer better." Panda Express employees receive healthcare, paid time off, 401(k) plans and company-subsidized continuing education. They also receive discounts at theme parks and gym memberships, among other benefits. The Cherngs even purchased a Robert Indiana sculpture that sits outside their corporate headquarters and embodies the driving force behind everything they do, in one simple word: "love." Peggy Cherng told The New York Times: "We are building a culture based on trust, and the goal of trust is love.

Love is the verb we emphasize in our Panda family. We must respect and care for each other. We must strive and strive." "It's that kind of corporate statement that makes it seem like being part of the Panda family makes it a very nice place to work and, ultimately, a nice place to visit. And that's the ultimate goal. Peggy Cherng told Los Angeles Magazine: "The restaurant business is the people business, and the people are our investment. If we want to be loved by guests, we have to focus on food with passion and service with heart, atmosphere and pride." And they do invest in their employees, like Daniel Pelagio.

They hired him when he was just 18 years old, having recently settled in Santa Ana after moving from Mexico. Pelagio, with Cherng's help, went from not speaking English to working in classes and school to becoming the regional director for the chain's northwest-south region. The Panda Express more profitable is located in the Ala Moana Center food court in Honolulu, Hawaii, and generates about $4 million a year, more than any other Panda Express restaurant. That's a lot of orange chicken! But not just in the malls You can find Panda Express, they also have locations as independent restaurants, as well as in airports, universities, theme parks, casinos and military bases.

With new restaurants opening around the world, it's safe to say that the Cherngs have come a long way from who opened their first location. According to Los Angeles Magazine, Andrew recalled that he once told his mother that he had plans to open 99 more restaurants. His mother said she remembered being shocked and telling him, "You only eat three meals a day. Why do you need 100 restaurants? He was a good kid who usually listened, but in that case he didn't." Thank God he followed his dreams so that we can all enjoy orange chicken and broccoli steak all over the world.

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