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We realize that Panda Express isn't exactly serving up authentic Chinese cuisine, but once you get past that, there's no denying that the food is insanely tasty. We're all guilty of dropping by the mall just to get some of their irresistibly tangy Orange Chicken from the food court, and flight delays would be way more miserable if we couldn't drown our sorrows in egg rolls and fried rice. There's lots you don't know about the American Chinese chain—grab your chopsticks and dig in.
1. The founders were college sweethearts.
Peggy and Andrew Cherng both came from humble beginnings as immigrants from Burma and China. They met during their college days at Baker University in Kansas and later moved to the Los Angeles area, where the couple first got into the restaurant business.
2. It all started with a sit-down restaurant.
Before creating the food court staple we all love, the Cherngs opened their first restaurant in 1973. Panda Inn, a sit-down spot in Pasadena, is a full-service restaurant serving dishes inspired by the flavors of Mandarin and Sichuan cuisine. The original spot led to several more locations in California.
3. Panda Express didn't open until 10 years later.
Panda Inn's first fast-casual offshoot opened in 1983 at the Glendale Galleria in Glendale, CA, luring shopping mall customers with the tantalizing smell of their Americanized Chinese food.
4. It's part of the largest Chinese-restaurant group in the U.S.
Panda Restaurant Group Inc., which includes Panda Inn, Panda Express and Hibachi-San (a Japanese teppanyaki grill and sushi restaurant), has a huge presence in the United States. Panda Express has more than 1,900 locations across the country, as well as in Puerto Rico, Guam, Canada, Mexico, Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Korea, and they're raking in the dough—U.S. sales are more than double that of competitors like P.F. Chang's, Noodles & Co, Pei Wei and Benihana.
5. You don't have to go to the mall to get it.
There's nothing better than working up an appetite shopping and chowing down on some Panda Express, but the chain actually has more freestanding restaurants than food-court spots! Find locations at airports, stadiums, college campuses, theme parks and more—many have big dining room, flatscreen TVs and even drive-thru windows.
6. Orange Chicken is the top seller ... by far.
Former Panda Express executive chef, Andy Kao, created the chain's secret Orange Chicken recipe in 1987, and it's been the most popular menu item since. The restaurants serve over 70 million pounds of it per year! Customers also love grilled teriyaki chicken and broccoli beef, but nothing comes close to those sauce-coated nuggets of bliss.
7. One location serves some amazing off-menu items.
The Panda Express Innovation Kitchen is a special restaurant in Pasadena where the chain experiments with new dishes, design and décor ideas. Customers can build their own salads and scallion pancake wraps with favorites like honey-walnut shrimp and Beijing beef, paired with tasty sauces and crunchy add-ons like pickled cucumbers, green papaya slaw and crispy wontons. Online ordering through the mobile app is also available—seems worth the trip to us!
8. Panda Express is breaking into bubble tea.
Select restaurant locations offer Asian-inspired drinks at the Panda Tea Bar. Sip on teas, coffees, shakes, smoothies and milk tea. You can even add boba, jelly, aloe vera, pudding or chia seeds to your beverage.
9. And expanding into the pizza and salad business.
Panda Restaurant Group Inc. has stepped outside of the American-Asian food category and invested in small restaurant companies like Pieology Pizzeria and Just Salad. If they're as successful with those ventures, we can expect plenty of greens and pepperoni pies to be within reach soon!
10. They give out 282 million fortune cookies per year.
The crunchy cookies with messages folded inside are our favorite way to end a meal at Panda Express, and the chain's new #ShareGoodFortune campaign makes the experience even more pleasant. The iconic cookies have been renamed "Fortunate Cookies" and now contain themed messages like "Fortunate that you believe in me" to inspire generosity among guests, staff and beyond.
11. You can eat there without blowing your calorie count.
If you're watching your waistline, there are plenty of Wok Smart entree options on the menu, which have 300 calories or less, plus 8 grams of protein. You should still keep an eye on the sodium level though—or just whip up our recipe for Skinny Panda Express Chow Mein to hold you over 'til your next trip to the mall.
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