Opening restaurants was a major means for early Chinese to survive in the United States. Even today, the first generation of immigrants from Fujian and Guangdong to the United States still use opening restaurants as the main economic means of primitive accumulation. However, in the past 11 years, Chinese restaurants have developed rapidly in the United States. According to statistics, there are about 28,111 Chinese restaurants in the United States, which is equivalent to the number of McDonald's restaurants in the world. This can also be felt from the American hit TV series "The Big Bang Theory", in which the protagonist eats China meal almost every week. Cheng Zhengchang started to make restaurants in the United States in 1973. Unlike Chinese restaurants in China City and Chinese areas, he targeted Americans from the beginning. He said, after all, China people in the United States are a minority, and only by doing American business can we make our business bigger. After opening two Jufengyuan restaurants, in 1983, panda express opened the first restaurant in a shopping mall in California, which grew to 9 in 1985 and 254 in 1997, with a revenue of $78 million. Since then, Panda has set a goal to become a $1 billion enterprise. In 2111, the panda's goal was achieved, with sales of 1.169 billion US dollars. Strengthening Management Like many Chinese restaurants, panda express is run by husband and wife, but Cheng Zhengchang and Jiang Peiqi are husband and wife, one is a master of mathematics, and the other is a doctor of electronic engineering. This combination adds a bit of legend to panda express. Of course, more importantly, the management of Panda is very different from that of Chinese restaurants in China City and even other fast food brands in the same period. His wife Jiang Peiqi joined the family business in 1982. Her previous knowledge and work experience made her pay great attention to planning and efficiency. As an engineer, I clearly know that we need a system, which can make ordering more convenient and let us know more clearly what customers like. Jiang Peiqi's participation makes the planning and management of pandas more systematic. She designed a software system that can automatically track the inventory of chain stores and automatically purchase ingredients. She constantly improved this system, named it Panda Automatic Workstation, and applied for a patent. In 1981s, Panda was one of the earliest restaurants in the United States that used computer management, and it was also the only Chinese restaurant that used automatic management system. In order to absorb the professional management experience of American restaurants and accelerate the expansion in the United States, panda express hired management expert Don in 1992. Don McComas became the president of the company, who was fully responsible for the chain promotion project in panda express, which broke the situation that the management of the company was all Chinese for the first time. Later, Cheng Zhengchang invited Joseph Micatrotto, the president of Chi-Chi chain, and Russell Bendel, the former executive director of El Torito, as the president, CEO and general manager of the company respectively. This talent plan has effectively accelerated the development of panda express. Up to now, panda express has no debt, and only had a loan record of $511,111 in 1983. After 41 years of catering, we haven't taken any money from investors. From the catering business, every time Cheng Zhengchang opens a store, it must make a profit first, and then use the profit to develop. At the beginning, you can basically invest $311,111 to $511,111 in a store, and usually you can recover your investment within three years. The knowledge of menu is quite different among Chinese cuisines, which are rich in raw materials and various dishes. Therefore, Cheng Zhengchang thinks that the most important thing to make Chinese chain fast food is to solve the contradiction between maintaining the characteristics and standardization of China food. Considering the store size, logistics cost and easy-to-understand menu, Panda Restaurant chose to cook fewer dishes. Panda express is mainly composed of Beijing and Sichuan cuisines, and orange chicken is its best-selling dish, with sour and sweet taste and spicy taste, accounting for about 31% of sales. There are only a dozen basic dishes in panda express. In addition to the special varieties retained throughout the year, two varieties will be innovated every month to keep customers fresh. The menu design is also concise and clear, and the materials and cooking methods are also indicated, so that customers can order at a glance without wasting time. The lack of variety also allows panda catering to be hand-made on the spot. It cooks with traditional Chinese open fire on the spot to maintain the original flavor and characteristics of the dish. After the cook fried the dishes, he put them on a plate and put them on the table for sale. The quantity of each dish is not large, so we can fry it after it is sold out. Cheng Zhengchang said, considering the characteristics of fast food, they gave up some time-consuming cooking methods, such as stewing and frying. In addition, they made a unified compound seasoning and sauce to achieve a unified taste. In terms of raw material processing, panda express has also done standardized processing, and the cleaning, cutting and transportation of food are all done by suppliers, which also reduces the pressure and area of the kitchen. There are only two kinds of meat in panda express, chicken and beef, which greatly facilitates the unified purchase and ensures that each branch can provide the freshest products. Cheng Zhengchang believes that the simplified menu plays a key role in both quality assurance and cost control. Most of panda express is directly operated. With the increasing number of branches, panda express has expanded from shopping malls to supermarkets, airports, universities, office buildings, casinos and even libraries. With the acceleration of development, the number of independent storefronts facing the street began to increase. In recent years, there are two most eye-catching branches in panda express, one is located in the public library in downtown Los Angeles on the west coast, and the other is located in the urban area of Wall Street Financial Unit in Manhattan, new york. Cheng Zhengchang believes that in the dynamic and competitive market environment of Chinese food, diversified corporate strategies are necessary. In addition to panda express, Panda Restaurant Group also operates full-service restaurant Jufengyuan, Japanese restaurant Hibachi-San, fast-food home-style restaurant Shuangshuang Panda, Kitchen Garden and Bookends Cafe. It is necessary to seize the initiative. In 1992, we decided to make a Japanese restaurant as a defensive strategy to prevent Japanese restaurants from serving the same Chinese dishes as Panda Fast Food Restaurant. For transnational operation, panda express is cautious and adopts a steady and gradual strategy. At present, it has only entered Japan and Mexico. Cheng Zhengchang believes that the American market is still not saturated, so we should first base ourselves on the domestic market and reduce the risk of foreign investment. For the China market, his attitude is very clear: China does not need such fast food, and the net increase is too intense. ("New Leader" Zhang Xin)