Andrew and Peggy Cherng, now 65 and 62, respectively, opened their first Chinese restaurant in 1973 with $60,000 from savings and a Small Business Administration loan, plus relatives who worked for free. Today Panda Restaurant Group is the nation's leader in Asian fast-casual eateries, exceeding $1.7 billion in revenue in 2012. Their Rosemead, Calif., company now manages a total of 1,500 Panda Express, Panda Inn, and Hibachi-San restaurants in 42 states and Mexico City, and it is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. The co-CEOs' story:
靠着储蓄金和美国联邦小企业署的贷款凑起来的6万美元以及自家亲戚们的免费劳动，现年65岁的程正昌和62岁的蒋佩琪这对夫妇在1973年开办了他们自己的第一家中餐厅。如今，熊猫餐饮集团（Panda Restaurant Group）已经成为美国亚洲休闲快餐业的领军企业，2012年的营收超过17亿美元。这家总部位于加利福尼亚罗斯米德市的集团公司旗下管理着1,500多家熊猫快餐厅（Panda Express）、聚丰园餐厅（Panda Inn）和Hibachi-San日本料理餐厅，遍布全美42个州以及墨西哥首都墨西哥城。今年是熊猫餐饮集团成立40周年。这对夫妻档CEO分享了他们的创业故事：
Andrew Cherng: I was born in Yangzhou, China, two years after World War II started. I was 5 when my family escaped to Taiwan. Eight years later, we moved to Japan.
程正昌：二战开始之后的第二年，我出生在中国的扬州。5岁时，我们举家逃往台湾，8年之后，又移居日本。
Peggy Cherng: I was born in Burma, and my family went to Hong Kong, where I grew up. I came to the United States for college and met Andrew at Baker University in Baldwin, Kans.
蒋佩琪：我出生在缅甸，后来随着全家定居香港并在那里长大。之后到美国读大学，在堪萨斯州鲍德温的贝克大学（Baker University）学习时遇到了程正昌。
Andrew: We went on to the University of Missouri, where I got a master's degree in applied mathematics. Peggy stayed a couple of years longer to get her Ph.D. in electrical engineering. Every holiday I had, I worked in New York, waiting tables in a restaurant. My father was a chef but hadn't owned his own business. I didn't like that. In my heart of hearts, I knew I wanted to be in business.
程：我们后来又一起去了密苏里大学（the University of Missouri），我在那儿攻读应用数学硕士。佩琪比我多上了几年，拿到了电子工程学博士学位。当时我在纽约上班，每个节假日去餐厅吃饭都要排队等座。我父亲本身就是厨师但却一直未能拥有自己的餐厅。我不想那样，从内心来说，我知道我想要拥有自己的事业。
Peggy: I never thought about going into business. I was trained to be in the sciences.
蒋：我倒是从未想过做生意，我所受到训练是要投身科学事业。
Andrew: It's just dumb luck that my cousin leased a restaurant in Hollywood called Ting Ho. He didn't speak English and turned to me for help. So in 1972 I moved to California and worked seven days a week in the restaurant, getting paid $800 a month. After a few months, we had some work disagreements and I found a restaurant in Pasadena to take over. My dad and I borrowed some money from that same cousin and got an SBA loan, scraping together $60,000. We opened Panda Inn on June 8, 1973. The whole family -- my parents, a brother and sister -- all worked at the restaurant for free. We lived in a two-bedroom apartment in San Gabriel and didn't have any money. Peggy would come to visit, and we got married in 1975.
程：我有个表兄正好在好莱坞租了个叫Ting Ho的餐厅，但他又不会讲英语，所以就来找我帮忙。这对我来说简直是个天上掉馅饼的好事儿。1972年，我搬到了加州。在他的餐厅，我每周工作7天，月薪800美元。过了几个月，我们俩在工作上出现了一些分歧。当时帕萨迪纳市正好有一间餐厅要出租，于是我父亲和我就从我那位表兄那儿借了些钱，又向联邦小企业署借了一笔贷款，就这么一共凑了6万美元把那间餐厅盘了下来。1973年6月8号，聚丰园餐厅正式开张。我们全家，包括我父母、一个哥哥和一个妹妹，全都在餐厅里免费做事。当时，我们身上所剩无几，全家人就挤在圣盖博市的一间两居室的公寓里。佩琪常常来看我们。我们在1975年结婚。
Peggy: I worked in engineering for McDonnell Douglas and Comtal/3M until our third child was born.
蒋：我们第三个孩子出生前，我一直在麦道公司（McDonnell Douglas）和3M公司的工程部门工作。
Andrew: My dad passed away in 1981. I was very comfortable taking charge. I'm a driven person and I like to accomplish things. In 1982 we opened another Panda Inn in Glendale.
程：我父亲1981年去世，我很自然地担起了餐厅管理者的责任。我是个非常有干劲的人，喜欢成就感。1982年，我们在格兰代尔市开出了第二家聚丰园餐厅。
Peggy: That's when I joined the family business.
蒋：我就是在那时加入了家族生意。
Andrew: Through my connections, I met the Donahue family. Terry Donahue was the head football coach for UCLA, and his brother Dan was the developer for the Glendale Galleria. They invited me to open a Panda Express in the mall. It was October 1983, and the first Panda Express worked out okay. So I opened more restaurants. In 1985 we went from five to nine stores in one year.
程：我通过人脉结识了唐纳修家族。特里?唐纳修是加州大学洛杉矶分校（UCLA）橄榄球队的总教练，而他的弟弟则是幽谷拱廊商场（the Glendale Galleria）的开发商。他们邀请我在商场里开一家熊猫快餐厅。我记得那是1983年10月的事儿，而这第一家熊猫快餐厅经营得不错。因此，我又开出了更多的餐厅。1985年那一年，熊猫快餐厅的门店数就从5家增长到了9家。
Peggy: It was opportunity driven. In the first 10 years, we were mall-based stores.
蒋：当时的机会很好。前十年，我们都是在商场里开店。
Andrew: At first we looked at them like a collection of individual restaurants. We didn't have much infrastructure or control. In the late '80s and early '90s we began to experiment. I talked to Bill Davila [president of Vons], who was a customer. I convinced him to put us in Vons supermarkets. Then we began to put Panda Express outside the malls. I was conservative, so we opened small spaces that averaged $6,000 to $7,000 a week in revenue back then.
程：一开始，我们把开出的这些熊猫快餐厅都视为一个个独立的门店，并没有太多的基本构造或是控制。到了80年代末90年代初，我们就开始实验一种创新。冯氏超市集团（Vons）总裁比尔?达维拉也是我们餐厅的顾客，我说服他将我们的餐厅开在冯氏超市内。那时才是我们第一次把熊猫快餐厅开在商场之外的地方。我当时很保守，所以店面都很小，每周的平均营收只有6,000到7,000美元。
Peggy: Inside the mall, shoppers are your customers. It was more challenging to drive traffic to the street locations. So we did street marketing with door hangers and a discount program. We made sure that Asian cuisine was desirable in the area and there was a reasonable rent to ensure profit. The best location was on a corner, for good daytime traffic and nighttime access.
蒋：在商场里，购物的顾客很自然地就会光顾餐厅。因此，要想在街道上吸引更多的客流量的确是个更大的挑战。所以当时我们就搞了一些街头营销活动，比如显眼的餐厅门牌，再比如打折促销等。我们可以肯定的是，亚洲菜肴在当地很受欢迎，而且房租也不贵，这样可以确保我们的利润率。最佳的位置就是街角，无论白天还是晚上，人流量都很大。
Andrew: I'm the one who dealt with getting the stores open and functioning. After that, Peggy took care of the rest of it.
程：我当时主要负责开新店和餐厅运营，而佩琪负责其他的事宜。
Peggy: It was clear to me as an engineer that you need a system. We were one of the first companies to use a computer in the 1980s, which made ordering easier. It could collect information about the most popular items people ordered by networking the stores to the corporate office. So we had more information.
蒋：作为工程师，我清楚地知道我们需要一个系统。我们是1980年代最早使用电脑的餐厅之一，这样可以使点餐更加便捷。电脑还可以搜集各家门店中哪些菜品最受顾客欢迎，同时汇总至总部办公室。我们借此可以获得更多的运营信息。
Andrew: In the process, we made the restaurants bigger and improved the ambiance. That made a difference in people's perception. Our food costs are on the higher side, so I wanted labor costs to be on the lower side. Good service can create more business, so you don't want to be too lean. We cross-train people and have them multitask.
程：在这个过程中，我们的餐厅面积越来越大，环境也越来越好，顾客的就餐体验也就更佳。我们食材的采购成本较高，因此我就想要降低人工成本。但只有优质的服务才能带来更多的生意，所以对员工也不能过于吝啬。于是我们就让员工进行轮岗训练，让他们可以一人胜任多项任务。
Peggy: In the late '80s, Chinese food meant mom-and-pop restaurants. There were no chains. Before 1973, Chinese restaurants offered chop suey. As more Chinese immigrants came, they brought their cooking skills and cuisines. Panda Express moved the cuisine into more sophisticated, authentic food.
蒋：80年代末，中餐馆给人的印象就是夫妻经营的小店，没有成规模的连锁企业。1973年以前，中餐馆只供应炒杂烩菜。随着越来越多华裔移民的到来，各式厨艺技能和菜系也丰富起来，而熊猫快餐厅的菜单上也开始出现更复杂和地道的菜品。
Andrew: This is our 40th year in business. We don't have a single penny from outside investors, and we never borrowed heavily from the banks. We have a healthy balance sheet and more credit than we can use.
程：我们做了40年餐饮生意，没从投资者那里拿过一分钱，也从未跟银行借过太多贷款。我们有着健康的资产负债表和根本用不完的银行的贷款授信额度。
Peggy: In 1997 we had 254 stores, and the revenue was $178.7 million. That's when we set a goal of being a billion-dollar company. By then we had a supply-chain system that distributed to the stores through a third-party vendor and operated under a chain mentality.
蒋：1997年，我们总共已经拥有了254家餐厅，总营收达到1.78亿美元。从那时起，我们就定下目标要成为一家十亿美元级的企业。到那时，我们就会形成完整的供应链体系，即通过第三方供应商向各家餐厅供货，而我们则通过连锁经营的管理哲学来运营企业。
Andrew: Most of our stores are company owned. When we deal with an institution, like universities, we license its operation and help it get set up. We have supervision and training for quality control, but business is really about empowering people to act like owners themselves. If people aren't inspired to grow, another business comes in next door, and you go out of business.
程：大部分餐厅都是我们直营的。当我们和大学这样的机构合作时，我们会发放加盟执照授权它们经营并会帮助它们发展壮大。我们对质量会进行监督和控制，但餐饮业说到底还是要授权给员工，让他们发挥主人翁精神。如果员工没有成长的动力，竞争对手随时就会到来，而你的生意就会破产。
Peggy: Andrew is the visionary who pushes for growth. I like my system process, so I work on how to enable the growth. Being married does not always make working together easy. We had to learn how to resolve business disagreements. It's not "Your way is best" or "My way is best," but the alternative way -- which incorporates everybody's ideas -- is best. In 2010 we reached our goal and had sales of $1.069 billion.
蒋： 正昌是能够推动成长进步的梦想家。而我却喜欢系统性进程。因此，我的工作就是研究如何怎样才能成长。夫妻关系并不意味着工作上的合作就一定会愉快，但我们都学会了如何去处理工作上的分歧。有时并不一定要争“到底是你对还是我对”，最好的方法是把所有人的想法融汇、交织在一起。2010年，我们实现了当年的目标，年销售额达到了10.69亿美元。
Andrew: Doing everything ourselves is out of the question, so licensing is important. We're in Mexico now and will soon open in Canada. We're in a lot of universities. Airports are challenging in terms of securing the real estate because there are others who are more connected politically.
程：只靠我们自己事无巨细地操办一切显然是不可能的，所以发放加盟执照就变得很重要。我们已经进入墨西哥市场，未来还会在加拿大开新店。不少大学里也有我们的餐厅。但是机场就更困难一点，因为很难拿到店面，毕竟有不少人都有着很强的政治人脉关系。
Peggy: We have an all-in mentality. Because we're immigrants, we have a can-do attitude. We're also very frugal. From 1983 to 2000, with every new store, we would take an established team to the new location to help open the store. Every team would live in one apartment for a month, and your supervisor might sleep in the same room as you rather than go to hotels. No one complained about not having privacy. It built team spirit.
蒋：我们有着兼容并包的思想。而且因为我们是外来移民，所以也很能吃苦耐劳，同样，我们还非常节俭。从1983年到2000年，每一家新餐厅开张，我们都有一支现成的团队前去协助。每支这样的团队都会在公寓里住上一个月，就算是管理层也不会去住酒店，而是和普通员工一样住在公寓房间。没人抱怨说缺乏隐私，这是打造团队精神的好方法。
After all these years, what I'm most proud of is seeing our people and the business grow. We have people who joined us as kitchen chefs and waitresses who are now vice presidents of the company.
这些年来，最令我感到骄傲和自豪的就是看到我们的员工与经营业绩双成长。许多人刚进公司时只是厨师或是服务员，而如今都已经做到了公司副总裁。
Andrew: I am most proud of building an organization where our people are inspired to better their lives. Empowering others to better their lives contributes an even greater impact to our communities and beyond.
程：我最深感骄傲的是打造了这样一个组织，其中的每个人都被激励着追求更好的生活。让每个人生活得更好，也会对我们社会和国家的福祉有着更深远的影响。
Peggy: Back in 1973 it was about making a living for the family. Today it's about challenging ourselves and seeing what all of us on the team can achieve.
蒋：1973年我们的努力只是为了养家糊口；而如今，我们所有人作为一个团队的目标就是要不断挑战自己，迈上一个又一个新的台阶。
Our advice
我们的经营建议：
Details matter. At Panda, the little things are a big deal for us. We cut our vegetables daily. Our sidewalks are clean, and our washrooms are neat and tidy. When the little things get done, guests will notice it.
重视细节。在熊猫餐厅，没有什么事是小到我们可以忽略的。我们每天都会切码蔬菜，我们的过道永远干净，我们洗手间永远清洁整齐。当这些微不足道的小事都能被做到最好的时候，餐厅内的顾客就会注意得到。
Anticipate the competition. We started Hibachi-San in malls in 1992 as a defensive strategy to keep Japanese restaurants from selling against our Chinese food at Panda Express.
抢占竞争先机。1992年，我们在商场内开张Hibachi-San日本料理餐厅就是一种防御策略，就是为了防止日本餐厅供应跟熊猫快餐厅一样的中式菜品。
Learn constantly. We maintain a list of recommended books about leadership and inspiration, including The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, by Don Miguel Ruiz, and Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson. We buy them, then sell them below cost to our associates. That way, those who want to read them must pay something for them, and the company absorbs the loss.
不断学习。我们会提供有关管理学和成功学的推荐书单，其中包括唐?米格尔?鲁伊兹的《心灵自由的实用手册》（The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom）、沃尔特?艾萨克森写的《乔布斯传》（Steve Jobs）等。我们会购买这些书籍，按低于成本的价格出售给员工同事。这样的话，真正想读书的人就得付出点钱来买，而公司也可以减少一些成本支出。