Andrew Cherng Biography

Andrew Cherng’s Biography

Jin Chan Cherng, the founder of one of the largest Chinese quick-service chain in the United States, Panda Express, was born in Shanghai, China in 1948. Most of his childhood he spent in Yokohama, Japan where he graduated an international high school. Then he moved to Baldwin, Kansas and in 1970 obtained his bachelor’s degree in mathematics at Baker University. At the University of Missouri where he continued his education and acquired a master’s degree in mathematics, he met his future wife, Peggy Tsiang. Peggy Tsiang immigrated to the United States from Burma and was obtaining her master’s degree in computer science at the University of Missouri. Cherng’s quick-serve food empire started in 1972 as a small Chinese restaurant Panda Inn in Pasadena, California. In 1983, he opened the quick-serve outlet in a large suburban mall. His wife designed the software programs for the company and carried out the administrative duties. In the consecutive years, the Cherngs opened more than 100 Panda Express outlets in all states (Hirahara 36). Currently, there are more than 1800 Panda Express branches in the United States, Japan, Mexico, Canada, and Puerto Rico (Leibowitz, “The Tao of Panda Express”).

The Cherngs’ Business Model

The Panda Restaurant

Their business approach is based on the segregation of duties: Andrew is responsible for the work with employees and their motivation, and Peggy is the so-called science technician of their team. It was interesting to learn how much company may invest in its human resources. Such business model is not new; many companies and corporations implement it in their workflow, developing the employees’ professional potential in order to receive more profits. On the contrary, the Cherngs seem to see their primary goal in the personal development of their workers, considering it as a determining factor in one’s good professional