The Panda Restaurant Group, parent company of Panda Inn, Panda Express & Hibachi-San, was founded by Andrew and Peggy Cherng and Andrew's father, Master Chef Ming-Tsai Cherng, all of whom used to live in the Yangzhou region of China's Jiangsu province. They started their first Panda Inn restaurant in 1973 in Pasadena, California. The group has its headquarters in Rosemead, California.
The privately-held Panda Restaurant Group, Inc. (PRG) is the largest and fastest growing Asian restaurant company in the nation. Today, under the leadership of Founder and Chairman Andrew Cherng and his wife, Co-Chair Peggy Cherng, PhD, PRG operates three concepts – Panda Inn, Panda Express and Hibachi-San – totaling over 1,500 units, with close to 20,000 associates in 42 states and Puerto Rico. Same store sales, the industry’s benchmark measurement of growth, have increased consecutively for 13 years from 1996 to 2008 with revenue exceeding $1.7 Billion in 2012.