Building the Elements that Make Panda Express Unmistakable
01. Who Did We Help
Panda Express
Since opening its first restaurant in 1983, Panda Express has grown into the largest Asian restaurant chain in the United States, with more than 2,500 locations.
Its standalone restaurant design celebrates the brand’s American Chinese heritage. A sweeping red illuminated facade of traditional fretwork tiling, red lanterns, and its neon welcome sign makes the restaurant recognizable even without the signature Panda Bear logo.
02. The Challenge
Panda Express wanted to continue growing, both by adding locations and by optimizing for more drive-thru and digital business. This included refreshing its standalone store design while staying consistent with the overall Brand, colors, and materials.
Panda Express needed a partner that could prototype and refine design elements for scaled fabrication, maintain national standards while adapting to each site’s conditions, meet local development requirements, and deliver on an aggressive national construction schedule.
03. Our Solution
As an approved Panda Express vendor for signage and exterior building elements, AGI brings it all under one roof.
We fabricate and install the elements that make the experience uniquely Panda Express: exterior architectural building elements, lighting, signage, drive-thru features, and the signature interior dragon sign. Our engineering, fabrication, and installation teams work from the same design intent, so the colors, materials, and lighting arrive on site exactly as the brand imagined them.
And because one partner manages the full scope, Panda Express’s construction teams have a single point of contact from the first shop drawing to the final install. As the design intent, fabrication. and installation remain connected, details don’t drift from one site to the next.
04. Results
The results deliver a cohesive brand environment for restaurant patrons to enjoy, from the glow of the facade at night to the moment they step through the moon-gate doorway.
The combination of newly added stores and enhanced drive-thru and online ordering and pickup has propelled Panda Express’s revenue growth, most recently placing it among the Top 15 chains in the US.
AGI Divisions Involved
- Architectural Branding
- Signage Solutions
- Innovative Solutions
