The founders of Panda Express, Andrew and Peggy Cherng, are seeking to make employee welfare a key part of the restaurant chain’s success, with a particular focus on helping workers achieve homeownership.
The couple, who co-founded the popular Asian fast-casual restaurant brand, said they measure part of their success by the number of employees who progress into well-paid management roles and eventually become homeowners.
“I always believe that when you do well, you know, personally, then you can go out and take care of other people,” Andrew Cherng, who serves as co-chair and co-CEO alongside his wife, said.
“You want people to do well,” he added. “And you want to treat them well.”
Cherng said one of the indicators he monitors is the number of Panda Express managers earning at least $100,000 annually. He also pays attention to whether those managers are able to purchase homes, which he regards as an important measure of the company’s impact on their lives.
The goal comes at a time when homeownership has become increasingly difficult for many middle-class Americans. Limited housing supply, mortgage rates around 6.8%, and elevated home prices have continued to make purchasing a property challenging in several parts of the United States.
Immigrant households face additional barriers. Census data shows that families headed by immigrants have lower homeownership rates than those headed by people born in the US. Experts attribute the gap to factors such as income and employment limitations, language difficulties and challenges accessing financial institutions and mortgages.
The Cherngs said their own immigrant backgrounds help them understand some of the difficulties faced by their workforce.
“Most of our associates are first-generation immigrants,” Peggy Cherng said.
Andrew was born in China and moved to the US in 1966 after spending part of his childhood in Taiwan and Japan. Peggy was born in Myanmar and grew up in Hong Kong.
The pair met while studying at the University of Missouri. In 1983, they opened the first Panda Express in Glendale, California, initially viewing the business as a more casual extension of Panda Inn, a Chinese restaurant Andrew had established with his father in the early 1970s.
Their personal experiences as immigrants have continued to influence their approach to running the company, particularly their emphasis on developing employees and treating them as part of an extended family.
Panda Express has since grown into the largest Asian restaurant chain in the US, with more than 2,500 outlets across 49 states and locations in 12 countries. The privately owned company employs approximately 55,000 people and records about $7 billion in annual sales, according to Technomic data.
For Andrew, however, the company’s success is closely tied to the opportunities it creates for its workers.
“How do we help these people to have a better life? That’s our mission,” he said during an interview at the company’s headquarters outside Los Angeles as part of NBC News’ “Business in America” initiative.
Peggy said the company’s broader objective goes beyond helping employees advance professionally.
“Our mission, our calling, is how we are able to help more associates realise their American dream, establish their business, their career, but most importantly, mark that accomplishment by owning a home,” she said.
Andrew said many newly hired managers initially regard their positions simply as jobs rather than the beginning of long-term careers. He said the company seeks to change that mindset by teaching them skills that can benefit them beyond their workplace responsibilities.
Managers “have to do a lot of things,” he said. “We teach them [those skills], but to have a good life, you turn that person from being sort of ‘task-based’ to ‘life-based.’”
According to Andrew, helping employees develop this broader outlook can give them a stronger sense of purpose and encourage them to contribute to their families and communities.
“We get people to see that quickly and see it clearly,” he said.
