For
Panda Express
In
South Korea
By
BMGT 456
3/11/2012
From our company’s mission statement: Deliver exceptional Asian dining experiences by building an organization where people are inspired to better their lives. With this statement, I believe that South Korea would be the next logical place to expand into. The Korean people have Confucius, Buddhist, and Catholic beliefs and with those beliefs, our mission statement fits perfectly with their lives. Having been a resident of South Korea for over five years, I have observed the Korean people’s great fascination with western culture and food. At the malls as well as along the shopping districts, western style stores are very popular and always busy. While there are a great variety of both local as well as American fast food restaurants such as McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, I have not seen one Chinese fast food restaurant. They do have Chinese food restaurants here but the style and taste of the food are much different than what is served at Panda Express or some of our competitors such as Manchu Wok. As an American living and working in South Korea, if I want American style Chinese fast food, the only place I can get it is at a Manchu Wok at the Yongsan Army Garrison in Seoul. That is the only location in the entire country. With all of what I mentioned above in mind, South Korea presents a ripe opportunity for expansion to begin with several locations in Seoul and then expand outward from there. Seoul is the perfect place to start for a Panda Express restaurant. The city has a population of around 10 million people and it is very popular to go out to eat for both lunch and dinner. Restaurants are packed during those times on a daily basis no matter where you are in South Korea. Shopping malls are also extremely popular in Seoul and I believe there are opportunities to open restaurants in locations in the COEX mall or I’Park mall. I’Park mall is a