Panda Restaurant Group

Panda Restaurant Group, Inc. is the parent company of Panda Inn, Panda Express and Hibachi-San. It was founded by Andrew and Peggy Tsiang Cherng and Andrew's father, Master Chef Ming-Tsai Cherng; the family originated from the Yangzhou region of China's Jiangsu province. They started their first Panda Inn restaurant in 1973 in Pasadena, California. Ten years later a developer of the new Glendale Galleria mall, a frequent patron of Panda Inn, asked Andrew to start a fast-service version of his restaurant in the new mall. In 1985 the store went from five locations to nine in just one year. The group's headquarters is located in Rosemead, California. Panda Express is the largest Asian-American restaurant chain in the United States, with 2,200 branches. In 2019 Panda Express opened its first branch in Manila, Philippines, as a joint venture between the Panda Restaurant Group and Jollibee Foods Corp., JBPX Foods. Andrew Cherng and his wife Peggy Tsiang Cherng met at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas. Peggy Cherng went on to receive her B.S. degree in Mathematics from Oregon State University in 1971 and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri. The company debuted on Forbes' 2016 edition of America's Largest Private Companies The Cherngs invest their personal wealth out of their family office, the Cherng Family Trust.