Panda Express

Husband and wife stories are always fun. Andrew is from Yangzhou Province in China, and his wife Peggy grew up in Hong Kong, but they met at Baker University in Kansas. Andrew first went into the restaurant business with his dad opening Panda Inn in Pasadena, CA. The restaurant didn’t do well, and Andrew was forced to offer special deals to entice customers. Peggy joined them in 1982, and it was a connection with then UCLA head football coach Terry Donahue that ended up leading to the development of the restaurant, Panda Express as we know it today.

 

General Restaurant Information

Food Type: Asian

Restaurant Type: Fast Casual

U.S. Locations: 1,893

States: 49 states, Panda Express Locations

Company Slogan: A Fast Casual Chinese Restaurant

 

Contact Information

Website: pandaexpress.com

Questions: Contact Information

Phone number: 800-877-8988

Email: Contact Form Only

Blog: Panda Express Blog

FAQ Page: No

 

Ownership

Who Owns Panda Express? Panda Restaurant Group (Cherng Family)

Headquartered: Rosemead, CA

Contact Information: 

Website: pandarg.com

Email/contact page: Panda Restaurant Group Contact Page

Phone: 626-799-9898

Address: P.O. Box 1159, Rosemead, CA 91770

Do They Franchise? No

 

Andrew (Cherng) hosts programs for his employees to do Zumba, hear motivational speeches, and learn self-defense skills. He also created a mandatory program for employees, The Panda Way, requiring a healthy lifestyle, continuous learning, and interpersonal relationship skills. (source)

 

What Is It Like To Work At Panda Express?

Employment Page (pandacarrers.com)

3.7/5 or 74%; 2,529 Reviews (indeed.com)

3.5/5, or 70%; 1,613 Reviews (glassdoor.com)

What to expect when working at Panda Express (job-applications.com)

 

 

The History of Panda Express

Original Location: 100 W Broadway (Glendale Galleria Mall), Glendale, CA 

Founded: October 30, 1983

Founded By: Andrew and Peggy Cherng

Biography Articles:

Andrew & Peggy Cherng (forbes.com)

Profile, Andrew Cherng (seattletimes.com)

Founder Obituary: Still Living

Name Origin: No resources found

History Page: Company History Page

Current View of Original Location: 100 W Broadway (Glendale Galleria Mall) as it is today (link may not work on mobile devices without Google Maps)

Historical Articles: 

Overview and History (pandarg.com)

Panda Express’ billionaire CEO dishes up a stir-fry empire (latimes.com)

Meet the billionaire couple who run nearly 2,000 restaurants and sell 90 million pounds of orange chicken a year (businessinsider.com)

Sometimes the American Dream is made in a Chinese kitchen (baileylauerman.com)

How Panda Express Grew From Family Business to Global Empire (nbcnews.com)

For Panda Express Owners, It’s About Family (nbcnews.com)

 

Social Awareness

Charity Focus: Children & Disaster Relief; the organization has raised $50 million for children’s hospitals and disaster relief (source)

Green | Eco-Friendly: No resources found

Animal Cruelty: No resources found

 

 

Discounts At Panda Express

Rewards Program: The chain does not offer a rewards program

Do Kids Eat Free at Panda Express?

What day do kids eat free? Panda Express does not have a kids eat free discount 

Does Panda Express Offer Military Discounts?

Summary: The following resources were found relating to military discounts – 

“Panda Express offers a 10% off discount to military members who are currently serving or have served” (hustlermoneyblog.com)

“Discount varies, simply ask and have a valid military ID with you.” (bradsdeals.com)

“Discount varies, simply ask and have a valid military ID with you.” (militaryconnection.com)

What Does Panda Express offer for My Birthday!?

Summary: No resources found

Do They Offer First Responder Discounts?

Summary: No resources found

Do They Offer Senior Citizen | AARP Discounts?

Summary: No resources found

Are There Any Other Discounts or Benefits?

Summary: No resources found

 

Amenities

Order Online: Online Order

WiFi Available: Yes

Use Apple Pay: No 

Reservations: No 

Catering: Panda Catering  

Drive-Thru: Some locations

Open 24 Hours: No  

 

Customer Reviews of Panda Express

Yelp: 2.55/5 or 51%, 349 reviews sampled

Tripadvisor: 3.10/5 or 69%, 315 reviews sampled

Facebook: 3.69/5 or 74%, 417 reviews sampled

Overall Average: 2.97/5 or 59%, 1,081 reviews sampled

 

Panda Express & Related Items on Amazon

Food & Nutrition

Menu:  Panda Express Menu

Kids Menu:  Panda Express does not offer a kids menu

Secret Menu:  Secret Menu (menu-price.net)

Most Popular Menu Item:  Orange Chicken

Coke or Pepsi: Pepsi

Do They Serve Alcohol: No

Nutritional Information: Panda Express Nutrition Guide

Vegetarian | Vegan Options: The website states the following – “Panda Express does not have any vegetarian or gluten-free dishes”. There is one external resource listed here that you can read as well. 

6 Panda Express Vegetarian Menu Items You Should Be Ordering (spoonuniversity.com)

Clean Eating (farm to table, organic options, non-GMO, etc):  No resources found at this time.

Miscellaneous Nutrition Resources: Their own website states the following related to their food and ingredients –  “…No MSG added except for that naturally occurring in certain ingredients.” In addition to that, here are some good external resources. 

The Top Swap (eatthis.com)

Is Panda Express Healthier Than Other Fast Food Restaurants (fastfoodprices.com)

Healthy Menu (bodybuilding.com)

 

Allergy Information

Allergen Information: Allergen Guide

Gluten Free Options: Their website states the following – “Panda Express does not have any vegetarian or gluten-free dishes.”

Dairy Free Options: No resources found, but the following may be helpful to you.

Panda Express Dairy Free (godairyfree.org)

Dairy Free Menu (urbantastebud.com)

Restaurant Guide For Dairy-Free Dining (godairyfree.org)

Peanut Free Options: No resources found, but the following may be helpful to you.

Food Allergy Guides For Many Chain Restaurants (verywellhealth.com)

Ways to Eliminate Risks of Peanut Allergy When Dining Out (healthguidance.org)

 

Does Panda Express Have Any Secret Recipes?

Secret Recipes:  

Cream Cheese Wontons (copykat.com)

Orange Chicken (tasteofhome.com) (delish.com) (genuiskitchen.com) (dinnerthendessert.com)

Chow Mein (eatcakefordinner.blogspot.com) (copykat.com)

Cheese Rangoon (highheelsandgrills.com)

Broccoli Beef (copykat.com)

 

Did You Know?

Fun Facts: 

Their signature dish is the Orange Chicken inspired by the flavors of the Hunan Province, and they served 80 million pounds of it in 2016.

The restaurant group also owns and operates a lesser known Japanese restaurant called Hibachi-San that has locations across the United States. Created in 1992, the chain was formed to protect them from competition with Panda Express. (source)

Boston Market, as well as Au Bon Pain, use the same background music. (source)

What state would you guess to host their most popular location? If you said Hawaii, you’d be correct. Honolulu has the store which brings in the most revenue for the chain. (source)

The chain may have started in a shopping mall (Glendale, CA); now only 2% of their locations are based in malls. One of those stores in the 2% is the location in Honolulu mentioned above. (source)

Panda Express was born from Andrew’s original restaurant, Panda Inn Mandarin Cuisine which still has four locations, all in California. (source)

They also pride themselves on not using or purchasing food with the MSG additive.

Interesting Articles:

11 Things You Might Not Know (mentalfloss.com)

13 Things You Didn’t Know (thedailymeal.com)

For Panda Express Owners, It’s About Family (nytimes.com)

 

Panda Express & Related Items on Amazon

 

Social Media

Followers (as of August 2018) –  

Facebook: 3,133,057

Twitter: 51,400

Instagram: 130,000

Mobile Apps

Alternatives

Better Options: Coming Soon

Similar Restaurants: Coming Soon

 

In Summary

If your family loves Asian and you need a night out, Panda Express may be a good choice for you or maybe not. If chains are your thing and you like knowing what you’re going to get, you have a pretty safe pick here. An alternative would be finding that hole in the wall Chinese restaurant in your town and cultivating a relationship with them. You may get better food, and you probably won’t pay any more. On a very positive note, Panda doesn’t offer food containing MSG (an unhealthy additive for both you or your kids) which most Chinese restaurants do and that they are dedicated to helping children and other causes.  They also offer a drive-through option in many locations so that may be ideal on a rainy Tuesday night for take-out.

I hope you found the information on Panda Express helpful, I know I did. The more we know and understand about the restaurants we eat at, the better decisions we can make of where and what we should eat. If you found this article helpful, would you please help others by sharing this with your friends and family. If there is anything you would like to see about a restaurant that’s not already listed or if there is anything I can do to make your restaurant experiences better, please leave a comment below, I would love your feedback! You can also email me at anytime backofthemenu @ gmail.com. Thanks so much for your time, I know how valuable it is. 

 

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