Chen, Tiffany
Professor Reynolds
English 113B
May 9, 2012
The Strategies of the
Individual Restaurants
Different
restaurants mean different techniques, traditions, and most importantly
flavors. Every restaurant has a unique way of expressing the culture and
tradition of the style of food. Appearance is a key aspect of attracting
customers to enter and buy food. Restaurants do this by managing space and
designs in order to better appeal to the public. For my project space
assignment, I decided to compare and contrast the way two Chinese Restaurants,
Panda Express and Sam Woo, use their space. Panda express is an Americanized
restaurant which serves customers on the go. However, Sam Woo is a more
authentic restaurant which serves traditional Chinese food that may or may not
be commonly known. These two restaurants have different ways of appealing to
the public while marketing the same cultural food to different customers.
There are several ways these
restaurants are different. Sam Woo is a restaurant chain that serves Hong Kong
style cuisine. Panda Express on the other hand, is a fast and casual restaurant
that serves Americanized Chinese food. Both of these restaurants are located
across the country. I found it interesting when I discovered that Sam Woo is
usually anchored with a 99 Ranch Market and an East West Bank. These locations
are regularly visited by Asian people because it provides comfort to them and a
sense of belonging. On the other hand, Panda Express is scattered around random
places in the country. The owners of the restaurant might have placed these
restaurants in specific areas to attract more customers to dine in. It is a
great strategy for them in order to make money. I personally believe it is a
good advantage for them to know where they should locate their businesses, but
it can be considered bad if the local people around take the restaurant for
granted. For instance, the local people may become lazy from cooking and make
it a daily routine to go dine at the restaurant which is good for the owners.
Opening
all of my senses was essential in order to get the full effect of the
restaurant’s vibe and environment. Everyone has their own opinions of the
different vibes that are good and comfortable for themselves. Some may like the
dark and quiet places, but some may like the bright and loud surroundings. Smelling
and tasting the food, hearing customers talk, touching materials, and seeing
how the space is used were all effective because it gave me a sense of
belonging, welcoming, and security. Knowing that the people around you are
happy and talkative can get yourself in a good mood as well. I definitely would
not want to enter a dark and lonely restaurant that was completely dirty. Panda
was a darker and bolder place compared to Sam Woo. It had dark purple and red
for the walls. Sam Wood had a coral color for the walls and very bright
lighting around the area. Panda Express and Sam Woo’s location and facility
were all great; both were kept very clean and attractive.
Comparing
the presentations of these two places was interesting. Their artwork,
presentation, and utensils were all different. When I first entered Sam Woo,
the first thing I saw was some hanging roast pigs and ducks in a huge glass
container along with other to- go food on the side. This place is a dine-in and
take-out restaurant. When I entered Panda, all of the food is in cafeteria
style with the drinks on the side. It gives me a vibe of a regular fast food
place like McDonalds. Panda Express uses to-go boxes, paper plates, wooden
chopsticks and or plastic utensils to serve their food to customers. Sam Woo
uses plates, bowls, metal utensils, and other Chinese utensils such as Chinese
spoons. Guests are served with a teapot on each table unlike Panda Express who
has a soda machine. Sam Woo is decorated with Asian posters around the side
with a couple of neon menus in Chinese on the other walls. After doing a little
bit of research, I encountered an article stating that Panda Express is “…using
music selections around the world and specifically with an Asian theme”
(Prnewswire). I found that very interesting for them to change their
environment inside the building. With Asian background music, the place will
surely have a different vibe for the customers.
My
visits to these two locations made me realize the difference of the customers,
workers, and cooks. The nationality of the people who dine in these two
locations was the complete opposite. The customers and workers of Sam Woo were
mainly Asians; however, Panda Express was filled with a variety of different
races. I noticed the cooks at Panda Express were often Hispanics while the
cooks at Sam Woo were Chinese. There are a fewer number of cooks at Panda
compared to Sam Woo. When I started looking at the kitchen area, I noticed the
different ways they would cook their food. Panda Express’ cooks would start
cooking when they see that the trays in the front are empty. At Sam Woo, they would
only cook what the customer had placed an order for, so the food is fresh and
hot. The waiters at Sam Woo usually talk in Cantonese if they see that a family
is Chinese. They definitely behave in a way that Chinese customers would
expect. If the customers were long time customers, the waiters who know them
well will usually give them a free bowl of soup. This means the restaurant
provides good service and friendly waiters.
Comparing
the dishes offered by these two restaurants was a major interest for me. They
are both completely different. The food was what attracted the customers the
most. When I asked my friends what they loved the most about Panda Express,
they would commonly say the orange chicken is the best and the tastiest.
However, orange chicken is not an authentic Chinese dish. Even the people
living in Texas have no idea what orange chicken is. “Texans know their
barbecue. But lots of them apparently don't know their Chinese food. The top
question at the 10 Panda Express stores opened in Texas this year is
"What's orange chicken?"”(Krantz) Orange chicken is a common dish
containing fried chicken and sweet sauce glazed all over. It is a famous entrée
that many Americanized people love. Most of Panda Express’s entrées and other
food choices are all preferred by the American people because of the taste and
comfort. In my opinion, the taste of these foods is nothing compared to the
authentic taste of Chinese food. A perfect example I would give is eating at
Pizza Hut in Italy. Italy is the original location in which pizza was created.
Authentic pizzas are thin and consist of very fresh ingredients. Pizza Hut’s
pizza has many processed ingredients and oil. Some real Chinese food for
example would be Mapo Tofu, Lo Mein, and Sautéed seafood dishes. My favorite
dishes in Sam Woo are the deep fried squid, stir fried On Choy, which is a Chinese
vegetable, and the Wonton soup. These dishes embody authentic Chinese cuisine
through their taste. The flavor of real Chinese food is not as sweet compared
to the dishes at Panda. I personally consider that Sam Woo contains comfort
food for Asian customers. Sam Woo has over 100 varieties of food choices on the
menu to choose from unlike Panda Express with their limited entrees to choose
from in the front.
From
doing this project, I personally learned to enable all of my senses to explore
and to be attentive of what is around me. It keeps me alert and allows me to be
more critical about other restaurants around this world. It helped me realize
how different each individual companies use their space to sell and process
food. It was a wonderful experience to explore the uniqueness of each of
these restaurants.
Works Cited
Sept. 2006. Web. 25 Mar. 2012. <http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2006-09-10-entrepreneur-panda-express_x.htm>.
"Panda Express Selects Trusonic(R) to Provide In-Store Background Music."Prnewswire.com.Nov. 23. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. <http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/panda-express-selects-trusonicr-to-provide-in-store-background-music-71406382.html>.
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