Panda Express: The Restaurant Franchise's Top 5 Secrets to Success

How Panda Express's Founder Andrew Cherng Turned Bad Luck into Good Fortune

If a fortune cookie could have predicted Andrew Cherng's future back in 1973, chances are it would have advised him to get a day job. Owner of a floundering sit down Chinese food restaurant in Pasadena, Cherng's business prospects seemed gloomy. Fast forward 35 years, and today Cherng sits atop a thriving privately held restaurant empire that will earn revenues of over one billion dollars this year. So, why did Andrew Cherng and his Panda Express Chinese fast food chain succeed when so many other entrepreneurs and restaurants fail?

Andrew Cherng's Panda Express Restaurant Secret #1:
Do the opposite of what your competitors are doing

When Panda Express's competitors such as McDonald's and KFC were all featuring white meat chicken nuggets on their menus, Cherng saw an opportunity for getting a good deal on the part of the chicken that was not being used: the dark meat. Not only was he able to purchase his meat at a better price, his chicken dishes were moister due to the dark meat's higher fat content.

Andrew Cherng's Panda Express Restaurant Secret #2:
Be open to opportunities

Not a big shopper, Andrew Cherng rarely frequented malls (in fact, he had no idea what a mall food court was). However, he was open-minded enough to consider an idea proposed by one of his regular customers, a developer who was building a new mall near Los Angeles and thought Cherng's food could be a hit with food court connoisseurs. Despite the fact that no Chinese restaurant had ever done this before, Cherng had the vision to take a limited array of his full-service restaurant lunch dishes and convert them to fast food entrees in a mall setting.

Andrew Cherng's Panda Express Restaurant Secret #3:
Pay attention to detail