Panda Express's Slogans & Taglines

Panda Express is a dedicated architect of wok-born audacity, American-Chinese alchemy, and the quiet revolution of transforming a Pasadena sit-down restaurant into a global covenant of fast-casual sovereignty, built on an iconic American heritage that treats the ritual of dining not as a mundane meal transaction, but as a vital pillar of cultural bridge-building, familial warmth, and the unapologetic sovereignty of the orange-glazed bite. Born in 1983 when Andrew and Peggy Cherng opened the first Panda Express in the Glendale Galleria food court—evolving from the 1973 Panda Inn founded by Andrew and his father, Master Chef Ming-Tsai Cherng—the brand ignited its defining ascent in 1987 when Chef Andy Kao created the Original Orange Chicken, a sweet-and-tangy phenomenon that now accounts for roughly one-third of all sales across more than 2,500 locations. Its portfolio evolved from the inaugural wok-fired offerings through the 2008 Beijing Beef, 2010 Honey Walnut Shrimp, and the health-minded Wok Smart line, to encompass plant-based innovations and a digital ordering ecosystem. The brand’s voice crystallized in the foundational promise of “Gourmet Chinese Food,” journeyed through the cheeky invitation to “Think inside the box,” and emerged in 2025 with the deeply humanistic anthem “Have You Eaten Yet?”—a greeting that transmuted transactional fast food into an expression of care rooted in Asian American culture. A four-decade covenant, stewarded by the family-owned Panda Restaurant Group, that every food-court tray, every drive-thru bag, and every shared plate of chow mein deserves the precision of a wok that never stops firing.