While many have tried to recreate their beloved orange chicken or smashburgers at home, the fact that they never taste quite the same helps feed into the wider mystery around the fast-food chain's menu.
Even though it calls itself "mom-and-pop Chinese food" (founders Andrew and Peggy Cherng are still involved with its day-to-day operations), the privately-held Panda Express is now the biggest Asian food chain in the U.S. with more than $5 billion in sales and 2,200 locations across the country at the end of last year. Much of its success comes down to certain menu items that were adapted for a wider audience from traditional Chinese flavors and quickly gained a cult following.
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As Executive Director of Culinary Innovation, Chef Jimmy Wang has the final say in what goes on the menu. In an interview with TheStreet, Wang talked about what goes into a winning recipe as well as how to test the market and understand what the customer needs. Earlier this month, Panda Express unveiled its new Chili Crisp Shrimp after several months of testing. This talk has been edited for length and clarity.
Panda Express
The man in charge of the Panda Express menu reveals its recipe for success
TheStreet: The million-dollar question: how are recipes developed?
Chef Jimmy Wang: At Panda, the Culinary Innovation Team stays ahead of trends and listens to our guest feedback to continually elevate Panda Express favorites, but also to create new ideas just like the Panda-Crafted beverages we launched earlier this year.
It all starts with culinary research through something we call Chef's Camp where we come together to ideate on future dishes. After that, we put our dishes through internal testing before we go into our operations and guest testing regionally to explore a national launch. Sometimes we use our Pasadena Innovation Kitchen (PXIK) to test these dishes first.
It's a long process because Panda is committed to serving quality food that our guests can count on. We go through multiple iterations and innovate with a two-year pipeline.
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Fast-food customers often expect stability and remain very tied to tastes they enjoyed before. How do you balance innovation with the wider brand?
Panda Express is the first gateway to Chinese culture and food for many people across the country and prides itself on delivering its American Chinese cuisine innovation and ability to create authentic, yet approachable Chinese-inspired dishes. There is a sense of responsibility and an amazing opportunity to introduce culture and our origins in an original way.
'Innovation isn't just about creating new dishes' (but also making existing ones better)
Innovation isn't just about creating new dishes but also making our existing dishes even better. For example, we changed the Mixed Vegetables dish to Super Greens with kale and garlic and even introduced a new core menu item Black Pepper Angus Steak made with premium beef and baby broccoli.
What are some changes in what customers are looking for and wider food trends that you've observed in the last few years?
In recent years, we've seen an increasing preference for spicy dishes, especially with younger generations. Our traditionally spicy dishes such as Kung Pao Chicken and our last LTO Sizzling Shrimp have been a big hit with our guests. We're continuously looking for ways to provide fresh menu offerings for guests to experience, which includes expanding into innovative hand-held dishes, like our new Apple Pie Roll, the Orange Chicken Sandwich and another popular PXIK item Orange Chicken Sandwich Bao, to better meet guests' needs and their evolving food and dining preferences.
