Tavis Smiley . Archives . Andrew Cherng . November 14, 2006 (original) (raw)

Andrew Cherng is founder and Chairman of the Board of the Panda Restaurant Group, which includes Panda Express, one of the fastest-growing Asian cuisine food chains in the restaurant industry today. His bachelor's and master's degrees are in mathematics, but Cherng chose to go into the food business - using the culinary training he received from his father who, before coming to the U.S., was a chef in Shanghai, Taipei and Yokohama. He opened the first Panda Inn in '73.

Andrew Cherng

Tavis: Andrew Cherng is the founder and chairman of the board of the Panda Restaurant Group, better known to fans of orange chicken everywhere as Panda Express. A native of China, he moved to the U.S. as a teen, and began his restaurant empire with one small store not far from this studio, in fact. Panda Express is now in 37 states, and is one of the largest family-owned businesses in the country. Mr. Cherng, nice to have you on the program.

Andrew Cherng: Well, thank you, nice to be here.

Tavis: Nice to have you here. One store, now, like, almost 900?

Cherng: Yes.

Tavis: Yeah. (Laugh) Quite a journey, huh?

Cherng: Well, it's been a wonderful journey. And it's been a wonderful learning experience. Every step of the way.

Tavis: Was that the plan from day one, when you started this one restaurant, to grow this into one of the fastest-growing chains in the country?

Cherng: Absolutely not. No, it's -I'm in a dream.

Tavis: Yeah?

Cherng: Yeah.

Tavis: Tell me, along the way - when you say you're in a dream, I get that. When you start out with a store literally miles down the road from here and you end up in almost 900 stores, if it's not a dream, if it's not something that you wanted to happen, how, in fact, did it happen? Where along the way did you figure out that maybe there's something more here?

Cherng: I think it really is about doing a better job every day. And you start out by doing one job to survive. To open one store to make a living. And along the way, well, you find out maybe there's a little bit more that you can do. And that's how it happens. And then pretty soon, when you have other pieces that comes together. And then it puts you on the road that that development happens.

And I don't think I start with a grandiose plan to say I wanted to do so many stores. And in fact, I think even today, I only focus on a lot of little details. Because if we figure out how to do the little things, and do them exceptionally well, the rest of it will take care of itself.

Tavis: Give me an example of what kind of details you're still focused on when you have 900 stores versus one, and you're telling me you're still focusing on the details. What kind of details are you talking about? Give me an example.

Cherng: I focus on whenever we do something, whether it's hiring people, whether it's getting a little thing done, making sure that someone, making sure we all set a good example that we follow through on every little things that we do. And in fact, things like sometimes, perhaps, we say we mean you have to be complete, but we don't mean it that way.

An example would be in terms of hiring people. We could say, oh, people are the most important things. But when it comes to hiring, we don't spend time interviewing people, we don't prepare ourself, we don't set the stage so that we can perhaps ask for more commitment, and things like that. Just learn to be more complete in each work, each little things that we do.

Tavis: You have a fascinating formulation on success as opposed to failure, and when I was reading this, it struck a chord with me. You have talked in the past about how when you started this one little store that started this Panda empire, you started one little store with your father, who was a chef. You tell the story about how failure was not an option, and one of the reasons why you have so many stores today and have been so successful was that the people who had invested in that one store, for you, for them, for your father, failure was not an option.

And it took you a while to figure it out, took you a while to get it right, but the reason why you stayed in it is because the hopes, the dreams, the aspirations, the money of people was involved, and you had to find a way to fail your way into success.

Cherng: Well, because failure is not an option, you want to do everything you can to be prepared, so that you don't even come near failure. Okay? You do the absolute best. Even when we're very busy, when people line up, and I don't want customer to leave. One of the very famous thing about Andrew Cherng is he actually chased a customer all the way out to the parking lot and asked them to come back, and sit in the bar and buy them a drink, okay?

I don't want to ever lose anything, and I don't want to chance the fact that I may lose. So you do everything you can, you prepare yourself, you position yourself so you don't get near the, the failure line.

Tavis: That example, though, is a consequence of being successful. I've been to any number of Panda Express locations around the country and it is one of the things that you have, on any given day, at any given time, you might catch a line at a Panda Express. And I hear your point about running into the parking lot to catch a customer who had gotten out of line, but isn't that like one of the consequences of being successful? That people want your food, that they wanna come get it, but that means there's a line. That's a good problem to have, isn't it?

Cherng: Well, when you start like I did, okay, when you start with zero, at 8:00, the dining room was empty. There's a different sense about appreciation for your customers. And today, of course, as we grow, well, the customer will frequent your place. However, the earlier training, the earlier suffering, it really makes you understand the value of treating customer right. So I never want to lose that. And I want all of our people to learn from that, too.

Tavis: Tell me one lesson about customer service that you have learned over the years that you think a lot of people don't appreciate, don't value, don't embrace, but there's just one thing about customer service, about treating the customer right, about serving the customer, that you think that people in business, or who are in the customer service business, ought to be more appreciative of.

Cherng: I think I always put myself in their own shoes. I want them to be feeling like hey, I'm being treated the way exactly I, as I would want to be treated. So, in the early days, for example, people come to Panda for lunch, and we were not very famous then. And they don't know much about Chinese food. So for $5.00, I will feed them for lunch, a big group.

And I will always make sure the plates are full. And in fact, I will walk by their table when the, when the plates are all empty, I will give them another couple dishes. They were, like, all blown away. They said, 'Well, we're too full already. Why are you doing that?' Well, because I was worried that they're not satisfied. And I think if you continue to put yourself in their shoes and be generous, be very giving.

Okay, today, I think a lot more about how do we make sure our customer are delighted with our service, rather than how much money I'm making. Money will take care of self, as long as you treat everybody well. And that is why today, at Panda, we talk about good life. What is good life? And the good life is take care of your employees first, and inspire them to have a better life.

So they would know how it feels to take care of others. When you're too poor, when you're not doing well, you can't do that. You worry about yourself too much. And the thing that we're trying to do is to set our company in such a way that people who come, they have a place, they have a platform to learn how to be successful.

Tavis: Speaking of the good life, you are one of those companies that has gotten it where others are just now starting to get it on this notion of healthcare. You provide subsidized healthcare for all of your employees, even the part-time employees. Every CEO I talk to is concerned about the long term sustenance and survival of their company around the issue of healthcare. Talk to me briefly about what you understand about healthcare and its impact on the American population.

Cherng: Well, we're very fortunate. I think the business really is not about me anymore. And I think it's an attitude that I like to promote, is about caring for your people. And we'll not only talk about providing health insurance, but also we pay more than minimum wage. So minimum wage for us is never an issue. We wanted to pay a dollar or two above the norm anyway. The idea really is about people, even at that very low level, I can't survive.

You can't survive. And what can we do to make it a little easier for these people? 'Cause we all have to live on something a little bit better. And I think my effort really revolves around how could I treat them a little bit better than other people can, so they will want to come and say, hey, even though we have a lot of opportunities, okay, I have to give you a taste of that opportunity first. And it just is not going to be a rat race.

Tavis: I got just a few seconds left here. Speaking of taste, how do you, when you go from one restaurant to 900, keep the taste the way you want it to be?

Cherng: Well, the business is not about control. The business is about showing other people how success really works. You don't have to force it on people, because it makes sense. You do it the right way, things will take care of self. And that's what I'm trying to teach people. There are too many people, we have 16,000 associates. There are too many people for me to tell them what not to do, okay? The only hope that I have is to be a good example, and set a good example of how good life could be lived.

Tavis: They started with one restaurant not far from here. Now almost 900 with plans to go up to 10,000, and still all these years later, he and his wife run the company, and own it. And apparently, the good life is working at Panda Express. Nice to have you here, congratulations.

Cherng: Well, thank you very much.

Tavis: Good to see you.

Cherng: Thank you.

Tavis: Up next on this program, from 'E.R.,' actress Maura Tierney. Stay with us.