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Article Excerpt
Panda Restaurant Group Inc., well known for its Panda Express fast food outlets, is going back to its roots--sit-down dining.
The Rosemead-based family-owned company recently opened its first full-service Chinese restaurant in 15 years. Called Andrew's Panda Inn after the founder and co-chairman of the company, Andrew Cherng, the new restaurant at Universal City Walk is only its sixth such Panda Inn restaurant. Before its excursion into fast food, Panda years ago started with sit down restaurants.
Expect more. Panda is promising to put more emphasis on its full-service restaurants as a new path to growth.
"It is time to put some resources back into Panda Inn and see where we can go with this," said Cherng.
But this time, Panda is facing a big competitor.
Publicly-held P.F. Chang's China Bistro has proved since its emergence in 1993 that there is plenty of room for an upscale chain of Asian restaurants. While Panda Restaurant Group has dominated the Chinese fast-food space, its Scottsdale, Ariz.-based competitor has been rapidly expanding the number of branded full-service Mandarin cuisine locations and expects to bring in revenues of about $850 million this year.
For its part, Panda says it is not concerned.
"P.F. Chang's is helping us grow chain Asian," said Tom Davin, Panda's chief executive. "They came after Panda Inn and are much bigger now. They've now educated a lot of people about sit-down Chinese in a chain environment, which...
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