FAKE Panda Express confuses netizens

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•The copycat store is located in Kunming and was reported by various news outlets as the real thing.

•Andrew Cheng, founder of Panda Express, says that Panda Express will not be entering the Chinese market 

Recently, Chinese media found that a new Panda Express restaurant appeared on Dianping (China’s Yelp) as early as July 2020.

The fake Panda Express restaurant is located in a shopping mall in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province. According to the photos on Dianping.com, it uses both the name and branding of Panda Express.

So far, there have been twelve reviews about the restaurant. In the FAQ area of the site, one of the questions is: “Is this the American Chinese food? Is there General Tso’s chicken here? Does it taste the same as in America? “

The fake Panda Express has a score of 3.57/5 on Dianping.com. The rental director of the mall said in an interview that the store was operated by an agency company from Shenzhen. The agency company presented the brand authorization document from Panda Express when signing the contract with the mall.

Panda Express is the most popular Chinese food chain outside China. Founded by Chinese-American Andrew Cheng in 1983, it focuses on  “Fast Chinese food”. At present, there are 2200 stores worldwide.

However, large-scale modifications have been made in order to standardize Chinese food and promote in western market. Chinese people often do not recognize it as real Chinese food.

Andrew Cheng, founder of Panda Express, knows this, saying publicly that Panda Express will not enter the Chinese market because “the competition is too fierce in China. Panda Express is designed for foreign diners.”

In fact, P.F. Chang’s, a high-end American Chinese cuisine, opened a restaurant in Shanghai in 2018. But it was closed within a year because no one wanted to eat an unauthentic version of food in its place of origin.

Article Source: https://pandayoo.com/2020/10/15/panda-express-the-worlds-largest-chinese-fast-food-chain-enters-the-chinese-market/ 

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