US Military's Cutting-Edge Simulator Creators Open Chinese Restaurant and Hit Jackpot [Tech Talk]

Peggy Chung, CEO of Panda Express USA
Leveraging expertise as a PhD in Computer Science
Introducing data into the food service industry for the first time worldwide

In the United States, there is a Chinese restaurant called 'Panda Express.' Just as there are Chinese restaurants in Korea that serve jajangmyeon and jjamppong, this place is a franchise restaurant that sells American-style Chinese food such as orange chicken and chow mein.

Today, this company, which rivals the largest American fast-food chains like McDonald's and Burger King, was founded by the couple Andrew Cheng and Peggy Cheng. Among them, the contribution of Peggy, Andrew Cheng's wife and CEO, stands out.

Originally a computer engineer researching cutting-edge weapons for the U.S. military, CEO Peggy is a pioneering figure who combined her expertise with the food service industry to build a fortune worth trillions of won.

Computer Doctor Who Made Fighter Jet Simulators Starts a Chinese Restaurant

Douglas, where Peggy Chung worked, was a company that manufactured advanced American fighter jets.
[Image source=Asia Economy DB]

CEO Peggy is a second-generation Asian immigrant who moved from Hong Kong to the United States in the 1960s. After earning her Ph.D. in the 1970s, she was employed by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing), a major defense industry corporation. As a computer scientist, she developed cutting-edge fighter jet simulators for the U.S. Air Force at this company.

CEO Peggy's life then took an unexpected turn. She and her husband Andrew Cheng entered the restaurant business?not a high-end restaurant, but an American-style Chinese fast-food outlet that quickly stir-fries inexpensive ingredients.

However, CEO Peggy’s gamble of giving up her career as a scientist paid off tremendously. The 'Panda Express' founded by the couple experienced explosive growth over several decades and has now become the top franchise in the United States. CEO Peggy is one of America’s leading wealthy individuals with a net worth in the trillions of won.

The World's First Introduction of POS... Turning Food Service into 'Big Data'

Peggy Cheng, CEO who elevated Panda Express from an ordinary Chinese restaurant to a giant franchise
[Image source=Panda Express YouTube]

How was CEO Peggy, who was only a computer scientist with no prior experience in restaurant management, able to achieve success in such a short time? The secret to her success lay in the 'IT system.' In fact, Panda Express was one of the first companies in the world to introduce a POS (Point of Sale) system.

In 1974, when IBM was building the first POS system, CEO Peggy had already provided POS devices she personally developed to all Panda Express stores. Thanks to this, Panda Express became the world’s first restaurant to adopt POS systems and the world’s first 'big data' company.

In other words, by analyzing sales data recorded by the POS, they could anticipate which menu items customers preferred and which ingredients needed to be purchased more to reduce waste. While today large franchise companies naturally have IT and data analysis teams to improve management efficiency, in the 1970s, when the concept of PCs was not even widespread, this was a truly radical management strategy.

Thanks to CEO Peggy’s foresight, Panda Express was able to rapidly expand while maintaining efficient management. This contrasted with most food service businesses that faced issues such as quality and margin decline when suddenly increasing the number of stores.

Restaurant Management Can Also Be 'High-Tech'

[Image source=Pixabay]

Panda Express is not the only example where an excellent IT team strengthened restaurant competitiveness. The American chicken hamburger franchise 'Chick-fil-A' is also well known for having an outstanding IT team. This company processes sales data from each branch through its own computer system, which is praised for its high efficiency and stability.

While many large companies today manage data through cloud systems, Chick-fil-A has gone further by developing edge computing clusters that can be installed independently at each branch.

This computing cluster connects all smart devices within Chick-fil-A locations, including drive-thru payment devices and temperature measurement devices inside kitchen grills and fryers. Thanks to this, Chick-fil-A can analyze data sent from tens of thousands of smart devices in real time, enabling them to provide more consistent and higher-quality service at a lower cost.

Even in the food service industry, which might seem farthest from technology, IT and data can bring positive changes. Especially, food service companies with excellent computing technology aim for 'practical' tech. They form small but agile teams and choose open-source solutions that offer flexibility and cost control rather than the latest technologies.

CEO Peggy describes the IT systems in the food service industry as a 'combination of low-tech and high-tech.' In a past interview with Los Angeles Magazine, she emphasized, "The technology in the kitchen is old-fashioned, but the restaurant management system must always be high-tech," adding, "How data is collected, how to identify what sells the most and what sells less, and how to decide what to offer and what not to offer?all belong to the management system."