THE MONEY: Co-owners and co-founders of the largest Asian restaurant chain in the U.S., Panda Express. The fast-food chain, with annual sales reaching $6.2B, has more than 2.5K locations and 50K employees. Last year, Panda Express was ranked No. 11 among the largest 500 chains in the U.S. and is expected to crack the Top 10 next year, according to industry trade publication Restaurant Business. Company’s headquarters and other operational facilities are based in Rosemead.
HISTORY: Andrew Cherng and Master Chef Ming-Tsai Cherng opened Panda Inn in 1973 in Pasadena. Ten years later, the Cherngs opened the first Panda Express at the Glendale Galleria. Leveraging her engineering background, Peggy Cherng developed the restaurant’s operating systems to assure a consistent and speedy dining experience for guests. In 1992, the first Hibachi-San, a teppanyaki and sushi concept, opened in Bloomington, Minnesota. Peggy and Andrew Cherng, who own property in OC, serve as the company’s co-chairs and co-CEOs.
GROWTH: The couple opened their 100th store in 1992, 500th in 2002 and by 2007, they had reached 1K locations and $1B in revenue. While the company does franchise, most of its stores are company-owned. Each store, on average, pulls in about $2.6M a year, according to QSR Magazine. Airport locations average about $3.2M in annual sales.
WEEKEND WEALTHY: The Cherngs have a residence in the oceanfront Strand at Headlands neighborhood in Dana Point, according to property records. It’s not believed to be the primary residence of the couple, who also have pricey homes in and around Pasadena, Las Vegas and Hawaii, according to reports.
PHILANTHROPY: In 1999, the company launched Panda Cares, which provides food, funding and volunteer services to children’s organizations. In 2023, Cherngs made a $100M donation to the City of Hope, which is building a $1.5B campus in Irvine that is expected to open later this year. It has raised more than $415M. In February, the Cherngs provided a historic $17M donation to St. Rose Dominican Health Foundation in Henderson, Nevada, the largest single gift in the hospital’s 87-year history. The gift from the couple, who have a home in Henderson, enabled the nonprofit to purchase a building, now named the Cherng Family Medical Building. “We help when we can; we help when there’s a need,” Andrew told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Everybody has needs and anytime we can add to that, to make the hospital better for the community, that’s something we take on.”
LOCAL INVESTMENTS: Family have put their money into commercial real estate. News reports indicate they’ve spent at least $170M on office and land purchases since 2017. In 2021, the family paid $22.1M for an office complex in Cypress, which they still own, according to CoStar. In 2016, the Cherng Family Trust invested in Tustin-based build-your-own pizza concept Pieology Pizzeria.
QUOTABLE: When Tom Davin was heading M&A at PepsiCo in the early 1990s, the company made a minority investment in Panda Express. A decade later, Davin sought to invest again, but the Cherngs wanted the Newport Beach resident as CEO. Davin accepted and wrote in a June Leader Board: “Over the next five years, we updated the company’s mission, invested in recruitment, training leadership development and physical fitness. These efforts, supported by menu innovation and improved marketing, led to accelerated growth; we doubled the restaurant count to 1,200 and grew revenue to more than $1.2 billion.”
