You’ve probably heard of Panda Express but do you really know Panda Express? They aren’t like any other Chinese food take-out restaurant. They have so much more to offer. Here, we dive into just ten things that you probably don’t already know about Panda Express.
- They have an app! Need to grab your food in a hurry? Now you can get great Chinese food even faster! Download the Panda Express app and you can order straight from your phone. You get the same low menu prices as your local store and you can jump the line to get your food when you arrive. Even if you have more time and don’t need to order ahead, you can scan the app in-store to earn Panda Points with every meal.
- You can get rewards! So what are Panda Points? Everytime you login to their website or mobile app to order or scan at checkout, you earn Panda Points. For every $1 spent, you get 10 Panda Points that can be turned into rewards. These rewards can be upgrades to entrees all the way up to an entire family meal – just for scanning the app when you order! The rewards program also sends you a first time user welcome gift, a birthday gift, exclusive member only offers, and surprise gift every month – all just for eating the food you already love.
- You can order delivery! Stuck at the office? Sick at home? You can still get great food from Panda Express with delivery. Using the mobile app or website, you can easily get Panda Express delivered right to you. With low-cost delivery on their already low-cost food, you may just want to stay in your pajamas and let the food come to you.
- They are serious about safety and cleanliness. In an independent study by Ipsos where restaurants were evaluated for health and safety protocols following the COVID-19 pandemic, Panda Express was ranked #1 in health and safety protocols for the food and beverage industry for two years in a row. The make sure that every aspect of the store is being cleaned to proper standards. They ensure frequent deep cleaning, air quality checks, hand sanitizer for guests, limited dining tables, and even tamper evident seals for the customers’ orders. To make sure they are staying on top of all of these steps in every store, they have a dedicated associate as Hospitality and Sanitation Lead. That’s going above and beyond for safety.
- They are family founded and owned. In 1973, Andrew Cherng and his father, a masterchef, started their first sit-down restaurant in Pasadena, California. This sparked an interest in Andrew so he and Peggy, started their first Panda Express store California in 1983. The famous Orange Chicken came on board in 1987 and the rest was history. They are now an international store and in 2020 opened their 2,000th store. Today, Andrew and Peggy Cherng are still the proud owners and hope to inspire other immigrants to succeed and lead to a stronger, multicultural America in the future.
- They are philanthropic. Through their foundation Panda Cares, Panda Restaurant Group has helped underwrite all the administrative costs so the $329 million raised can go directly towards the health, education, and disaster relief that directly affect children. The foundation has donated to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and the Red Cross and has helped target efforts to increase character building skills, academic success, and College access and success impacting over 3.7 million students. For more information, you can visit https://www.pandacares.org/.
- They have a test kitchen that is open to customers! Located in Pasadena and Arcadia, the Panda Express Innovation Kitchen has four locations (two in each city) and is open to customers. Here is where they explore new recipes and even have experimental design and decor. This is the place where some of customers’ favorite recipes have gotten their start.
- They want you to eat their food in imaginative ways. If you’ve ever talked to a chef, you know that they usually want you to eat their food the exact way it comes out, right? With Panda Express, they want you to get creative. They have a section of their website that shares some of their “Panda Express Re-Imagined” recipes. These recipes include Honey Sesame Chicken Breast Shepherd’s Pie, Orange Chicken and Bacon Biscuit Sandwich, and more. The recipes are online for these but they want you to feel free to find new, exciting ways to eat their food too. So grab some of your favorite orange chicken and get to creating!
- They have their own swag shop. If the boxes from your Panda Express meal aren’t quite enough to show your Panda pride, fear not. The Panda Express Swag shop offers all the swag you can dream of. The shop has infant onesies, hoodies, and even a Honey Sesame Chicken Love Blazer. With items starting at just $15, there is something for everyone to love.
- Every dish is inspired by Chinese regional cuisine. What’s your favorite meal from Panda Express? Did you say Orange Chicken? Their most popular dish is inspired by a well-known appetizer known as chenpi niurou – tangerine peel beef. They’ve swapped the beef out for chicken in this case but the original idea behind the idea is the same as the recipe that comes out of the Sichuan Province. They have all of the regions listed that each recipe comes from on their website. Some of these places include Hong Kong, Beijing, and the Guangdong, Yunnan and Anhui Provinces. You can basically go on a tasting tour of China via the Panda Express menu.
So now you know ten more things about Panda Express that you didn’t know before but what are you going to do with that knowledge? Obviously, you’re going to order some Panda Express but now you will do so with the knowledge of where that food came from and how it has changed the way we see Chinese take-out forever. As they say in Chinese, Qǐng xiǎngyòng – Enjoy your meal!
