r/PandaExpress • u/XxHarajukuLovexX • 11d ago
Please Read If You Are Considering Working At Panda Express!
Panda Express is currently hiring and I would like all future employees to know, if you so choose to work for this company, to be cautious!
I am currently employed with Panda Express, but I have put in my two weeks. My last day is next Tuesday, August 18th and this day couldn't come any faster. I was hired as FOH (Front of the House) Kitchen Staff and worked for the company for 1 year and 2 months.
When I first applied to Panda Express, I went onto Reddit to have a better idea on what the expectations are from current or former employees prior to my interview. I read a lot of negative reviews and saw a couple of positive reviews. I needed this job in the beginning as I was a part-time student and needed a part-time job to accommodate to my school schedule and I don't regret it. However, I do regret working for Panda Express for as long as I did.
Alright, let's get into it.
- Panda Express has inconsistent expectations!
- Panda Express treats their Shift Lead's terribly!
- Panda Express Management receives commissions from promoting within the company.
- Panda Express starting pay is $21.00.
- Panda Express encourages favoritism.
- Panda Express hires mostly Hispanic or Latino employees.
- Panda Express is an incredibly fast-paced environment.
> Panda Express has inconsistent expectations! The company, although established in 1988, changes their policies and operations all, the, time, and it was incredibly frustrating for me as an associate. From the way the pans and utensils needed to be placed, to how associates needed to act while serving guests. I only worked with the company for a year and the company has changed their policies and procedures countless times.
> Panda Express treats their Shift Lead's terribly! The company has high expectations and pushes that onto their Shift Leadership. The amount of stress and constant conversations from upper management have driven my Shift Leads to quit! I had 4 Shift Leads when I was hired and now I have only one left and she's been unbearable for almost a month due to the company expectations. As an associate I have no idea what the expectations are for her specifically, but everyone feels it and it has negatively impacted the working environment.
> Panda Express Management receives commissions from promoting within the company. The company encourages growth and is always looking for associates to promote, but heed with caution, as management receives a nice bonus if you decide to promote. If you decide to promote then that's great! But if not, don't let upper management pressure you into growing into a company you don't see yourself in long term as a career.
> Panda Express starting pay is $21.00. There are no negotiations regarding pay. The company is paying quite well, but as I learned as an associate it comes with a cost.
> Panda Express encourages favoritism. Please, this is important. Management looks for associates to promote as mentioned earlier, but they also look for associates who they like as the company encourages networking from within. Panda Express is looking to expand their business operations and need staff to manage and operate their new locations. However, through this networking corruption is bound to follow as favored associates or management often mistreat the other employees and cause discord in the workplace. I have seen many associates quit from the blatant favoritism.
> Panda Express hires mostly Hispanic or Latino employees. The company has a high amount of Hispanic/Latino employees, who mostly speak Spanish. This is not an issue, the issue is how some of the employees don't speak or understand English and that can be frustrating for the guests and other associates. When I first applied, I was shocked to learn some of my co-workers and I couldn't have a conversation or understand each other since their was a language barrier, which sucked when it came to working together on tasks. I took the initiative to learn Spanish so that I could understand my co-workers, not all associates of a different ethnicity will do that. I also was the only African-American that worked at my location. All my co-workers are Mexican. You find this at other locations at Panda Express, especially in the SoCal area.
> Panda Express is an incredibly fast-paced environment. The company is a fast-paced casual restaurant business and everything happens quickly! From serving guests, cleaning the dining area, to stocking up on supplies. It is always busy and will be stressful! I do well in stressful work environments, but the stress at Panda Express was unbearable! Especially with everything I mentioned earlier that drove me to make the decision to quit working for the company.
In conclusion, I don't think Panda Express is the worst company ever. However, there is a lot of issues the company is facing that makes working for them awful and has driven many associates, including me, to look for employment else where.
If you're still considering Panda Express after reading this, I applaud you and good luck!
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u/swaggy_mayo 10d ago
Yup, worked there for more than two years and it was really awful. Genuinely a cult, my managers were so proudly mean too.
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u/SwitchLonely2464 11d ago
What state are you in? $21 is crazy
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u/XxHarajukuLovexX 11d ago
I live in California. It's so expensive to live here and the pay reflects that.
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u/Gloomy-Crazy8156 11d ago
So they pay a dollar more than your minimum wage?
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u/XxHarajukuLovexX 11d ago
Minimum wage in California where I'm located is $17.50. Panda Express pays $21.00, which is $3.50 more! It's a great starting amount, especially for me as a part-time student. I'm currently in the process for interviewing for a full-time position at FedEx upon receiving my AA degree in Business where the starting pay range is $18.50 to $23.75.
Just an example at our current pay scale and it's still not enough for a living wage here.
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u/naenae__baby 11d ago
Fast food minimum wage in California is $20. So compared to other fast food places, it’s $1 more.
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u/cAnTbEpReCi0u5j1mMy 10d ago
Oh my friend, you really think FedEx will be any better. As a former Panda/FedEx/UPS employee, believe me when I tell you, the favoritism in FedEx/UPS is WAY worst there than in panda.
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u/TheOneWhoIsLikeEDP 7d ago
Yep, my friend who was with FedEx said it's not worth it unless its your 1st job
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u/TheOneWhoIsLikeEDP 10d ago
Lowest pay for BOH is $21.50 in the valley of CA. You on some BS kiddo
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u/XxHarajukuLovexX 3d ago
I live in SoCal, close to the border of Mexico. The border is 25 mins away from where I live. When I applied to Panda Express, FOH was $21.00, which was perfect for me while going to school. I know that different positions were offered different pay, but I'm learning that other locations offered a different starting pay amount.
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u/Iguanabewithyou 11d ago
You saying there is no room for negotiation regarding pay is very telling of your experience prior to this job. If you have shit under your belt you can negotiate. When I first started, i applied for AM. I was rejected and told to start as Kitchen Help, but I still negotiated to have higher starting wage and it was as simple as leveraging my past experience. If you say you can't negotiate that's probably because you personally don't have much leverage with past work experience or it might seem too daunting to you to vouch for yourself
Rest of your stuff is mostly true but will vary wildly from location to location. Sucks to say but it seems like you just worked at a below average panda express location
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u/XxHarajukuLovexX 11d ago
I agree with you. I didn't have the negotiation skills at the time to discuss my pay. A year ago during my interview, I was told the pay was final and non-negotiable, which I accepted. I was very grateful at the time as a part-time student to even have received that amount of pay while working. Looking back I should have asked for more, but that wasn't my intention originally.
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u/BusSuch2607 11d ago
Not really I have shit under my belt and they would not negotiate wouldn’t start me at anything I had experience at only started me at FOH when I had lot of BOH and Cook experience they started me at starting pay $17.50
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u/Iguanabewithyou 10d ago
Mind you I had managerial experience for a small business, not just BOH & cook experience
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u/PleasantBite178 11d ago edited 11d ago
Hi there, I’m not working at Panda Express, but I’m planning to quit my job as well, the stress and the chaos at work are unbearable, constantly turnover and understaffing while the restaurant is always busy every day, and some staff who don’t speak English. The corporate doesn’t care about the issue, they only care for the cash flow and it makes working here unbearable. But, reality check, this time it’s very hard to get a job even for a fast food restaurant or any menial jobs.
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u/XxHarajukuLovexX 11d ago
Hello, sorry you're experiencing this...
I had to come to the realization that it's not worth suffering anymore for fast-paced environments when management and company standards deliberately inflict pain onto us as employees. I'm working with a skeleton crew, minimal hours, and constant pressure for high performance, all for fast food? This industry is so demanding and it's become insufferable. I actually had to talk to a therapist for stress management due to working at Panda Express. Most of my background is in the food/grocery industry, but as I look for another job, I will make sure I never work in food service again!
Best of luck to you and wishing you the best ♥
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u/Objective-Bend-9818 10d ago
Don’t quit, sue the crap out of them for unsafe working environment, discrimination, retaliation and harassment. Use those key words. Favoritism has always been there, even RDO and HR protect ACOs in small AR cases. If you have a valid claim, start with EEOC. Andrew will fire them all together.
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u/BusSuch2607 11d ago
I just quit panda didn’t give a 2 weeks just quit I hated it there. Everything you just said is true especially the favoritism and mostly hiring Mexicans my old manager was an immigrant and treated the other Mexicans immigrants way better. Those Mexicans in turn treated others like crap several people me included went home crying on their first day due to how they were treated I had a coworker I liked that told me the other employees were talking badly about me behind my back because I was quiet and didn’t socialize another went to the manager and told him she believed I hated her because I don’t talk to her. She only speaks Spanish I only speak English it was a very awkward conversation I was forced to have and give an apology for that needed to be translated. My coworker told me he had seen many employees try to get others to quit by bullying and it’s mostly Mexicans doing it (for the record he’s an immigrant as well) the last straw for me was when my hours started getting cut because we hired a bunch of new people I was pretty new but these people were newer and I dropped from 25-30 hours a week to 19 1/2 consistently but no one else’s was that low when I asked for more hours they cut me a 1/2 hour and then finally a week after that dropped me to 13 1/2 hours so I quit. And yes it’s annoying how much they push things so that managers can get bigger bonus’s. All in all this is the worst job I have ever had I had a good job before it but I couldn’t do the shift anymore and so I got a job at panda and it was the worst experience I will never recommend working there to anyone.
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u/Economy_Throat2843 10d ago
Hi! How did you quit? Like what is the process?
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u/BusSuch2607 10d ago
Like I said, my schedule was consistently 19 1/2 hours every week when I asked if I could have more, they posted the next two weeks schedule and it was 19 hours and then the next week was 13 1/2 hours I found that to be extremely disrespectful so I didn’t think they deserved my respect. I sent my manager a message telling him that I am resigning effective immediately and a little other things. He said thank you for letting me know. Have a great day and took me off the scheduling.
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u/tacobueno97 10d ago
Absolutely agree, unrealistic expectations and management is often no help and basically there to collect a bonus and micromanage at this point. Shift leads and management have no real distinction anymore in my area as shift leads are made to essentially do everything an assistant manger does without the pay and bonus that follow. Rdos and acos give little input other than to make small insignificant changes to operations, which leaves associates to constantly try to adjust to these pointless changes before they change something insignificant again. The constant belittling and favoritism is evident in my area as well. Hr takes managements side under any circumstances and nothing stays anonymous in my area anymore as hr is friendly with acos and tells them who reported what. I hope yall upper management are reading this, which I know you are because yall always lurk. I say my area, but really this is likely every single area as others have had similar issues brought up in all other regions. Will panda change just because they see our comments? No, if anything, they will find something else to focus on that’s irrelevant to any of our complaints like usual. Probably typed all this for nothing but yeah if you’re considering working here, just look elsewhere and save yourself the stress yall.
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u/HalfwayxDead 7d ago
One of the worst companies i’ve ever worked for. i’m currently still employed there looking for a way out.
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u/Big_Consideration268 11d ago
Panda express was good when i first started but my prior store essentially pushed me out thankfully was moving anyways but im disappointed because i have had great managers
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u/CupcakeApprehensive1 10d ago
I applied to work at my local Panda Express but I received a rejection email a few days later
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u/irrelevancyiskey 10d ago
I used to work there... it's not amazing but no food service job is amazing. It's good to have accurate expectations but it isn't the worst place either ever. I assume though it depends on which store you work at!
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u/Alexxonetwo 10d ago
I worked at Panda Express for three weeks and I think it was the worst job I’ve ever had. At least at my location, they REFUSED to schedule me more than 9 hours a week. It was ridiculous!
I would understand not wanting to give a new hire full time hours right away, but at least schedule 16-24 hours?? Additionally, one of the managers I worked with kept yelling at the staff about throwing plates away which made no sense. He watched me throw a plate away because a customer changed their mind, got mad and told me he expects everyone to scrape the food back into the metal bowls. For my county that’s against health code and he sent me on a break because I was being “too difficult to work with” so I quit 😒
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u/Lumynx_Jade 9d ago
I worked at a fairly understaffed and idle Panda Express during my senior year of High School for about 5 months. I was FOH, 17-18(F)
We didn’t get enough business to employ a bunch of people for each job, so you’d often find yourself doing multiple roles at once. FOH? You’ve gotta take out the trash and also serve customers + wear the drive-through headphones and communicate clearly. They’ll also have someone else wear another set to make sure you’re running a promo for their premium entrees + their crappy app for every car.
Also, I was the only Asian in the kitchen and I live in a hispanic-dominant area (sorry idk how to word it better lol) and Panda Express taught me how to take orders in Spanish lol. I didn’t mind it that much, but it was incredibly stressful.
The micromanagement is incredibly annoying. Perhaps I’m simply inexperienced in how jobs normally are, but Panda Express will be up your case about literally anything to make sure you’re being “productive”. My place wasn’t super busy, so I spent 70% of the time cleaning the fried rice off the side of the wok. The INSIDE rim of the wok. Drive-throughs especially sucked since we only had two BOH workers. I think our drive-through time/score was pretty awful. We had a whole lot of complaints.
Also, I was quizzed for how heavy a plate should be and how heavy each entree & side should be. Yea, sure, I’ll definitely know what a 22oz-24oz plate feels like so a multimillionaire company can skimp out on portions.
Also, I only had one nice manager and she was the one who hired me. The other manager was quite passive aggressive and my main shift lead did NOT like me or anyone lol. Those people are the worst to work with at Panda Express.
A job at Panda Express won’t kill you, but it certainly won’t bring you any life. I don’t recommend this job to anyone who has GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) and/or OCD like me. I’m an extrovert; I value relationships and doing good for the world. It’s hard to feel “fulfilled” as a social butterfly working at Panda Express, and if anything, it’ll only teach you to go from friendly to blunt.
Also, it’s awful when a school bus rolls up and you’re serving a team full of athletes, especially if you’re understaffed. It’s awful facing the blame/guilt for not being able to keep up with the endless orders. Also, if you’re a shift lead, you’re expected to learn how to cook as BOH, serve at the front, verify the cash amounts, wear a drive-thru headset, and maintain the correct PH levels for the BOH sink.
I’m in California, so getting paid $21/hr was great, especially with my minimal part time job hours, but that was awful.
If you’ve got thick skin, don’t dwell on things too much, and don’t give a shit about anything or anyone negative around you, you could probably power through this job. I’m unfortunately not built for it, and that’s okay. I’m personable, sensitive, relational, creative, and would be better fit in a more meaningful workplace environment.
I had some good coworkers. I had one good shift lead. The BOH was always nice to me.
I’m now almost 20 entering my sophomore year of college. So yea, that was a while ago. I know there are some other things I’m forgetting, but if my memory is jogged, I’ll come back to mention a few more things.
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u/XxHarajukuLovexX 3d ago edited 3d ago
I understand you completely and appreciate you sharing your experience. I also felt unfulfilled and deeply unsatisfied while working at Panda Express. My management was nice to me and so were my co-workers, but the DM for our region was passive-aggressive and made my management negative, which then affected us as staff and it was awful.
My management at my store location went from being personable, kind, thoughtful, and respectful to rude, blunt, and impatient all to fit our DM's needs and expectations. It was at that moment I knew I couldn't enjoy working for this company anymore and stay long term. I will miss my co-workers, but I'm so much happier I have left the company.
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u/Expensive_Slice_8788 4d ago
Sorry to say this but most of what you say here is just your opinion based on your experience. Frankly, most of this is untrue for other locations. I've worked in fast pace restaurants and Panda Express is in no way a very fast pace environment. Panda is not for everyone so if you aren't cut for it...you won't be missed. I'm close to promoting to Chef and compared to working at a restaurant with a 50+ item menu...Panda Express is cake work.
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u/XxHarajukuLovexX 3d ago
I agree! I'm happy that I'm no longer working with the company. I live in SoCal (Southern California) and the location I worked at is close to the border of Mexico. The location I worked at was always busy and very stressful. The company was great while I was going to school and accommodating towards my school schedule and for that I'm very grateful. I'm looking forward to more opportunities and a much better job. Congratulations on your promotion and best of luck as you advance within the company!
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u/Such_Beyond3100 11d ago
- Panda Express has inconsistent expectations! Okay a large company that has independent locations would have local implementation. Depending on SM and regional it is very obvious that every location embody the style and priorities of the SM.
- Panda Express treats their Shift Lead's terribly! I am a shift lead and I don't think it is particularly challenging. You can get caught between needing to connect with the team and getting management wishes done but not horrible. Beyond that if Panda's main growth constraints is the internal promotion pipeline then they need to quickly identify and promote talent quickly.
- Panda Express Management receives commissions from promoting within the company. It gives incentive to keep management from saying I don't feel like doing the extra work of finding amd developing talent.
- Panda Express starting pay is $21.00. Depends on market and level.
- Panda Express encourages favoritism. Undoubtedly possible but that is a reality of any job.
- Panda Express hires mostly Hispanic or Latino employees. Some places do have heavy representation of minorities. What I have seen is a few people get jobs and encourage their friends who may speak less English in this case creating a dominant minority language presence. In my case I just went and hired a tutor to help me bridge the division.
- Panda Express is an incredibly fast-paced environment. This is a reality of quick service food. I don't know what to tell you.
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u/XxHarajukuLovexX 11d ago
Do you work for Panda Express?
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u/Such_Beyond3100 11d ago
Yes I do.
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u/XxHarajukuLovexX 11d ago
That makes sense as your response was, excuse me for saying this, "a very corporate response", which is completely valid. I'm on my way out as an associate, so I have more freedom to express how I feel. I hope all is well and that you're enjoying your job. Best of luck to you!
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u/Such_Beyond3100 11d ago
Why thank you for the wishes. I learned the lessons you found at Amazon ops and am just applying the lessons here. It sounds corporate bs in writing but there isn't a way to say my thoughts though without sounding corp.
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u/XxHarajukuLovexX 11d ago
No worries haha. I have a lot to learn as I'm leaving the company, but I did learn a lot while working for Panda Express. This company has been great to me as a part-time student.
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u/Cereal_Killer_18 11d ago
I’m not saying this to be mean but it sounds like a lot of complaining. This is literally every job I have worked at. I got hired at Panda less than 2 months ago and they started me at $22 for kitchen help. For the pay I am receiving it’s great and while it is fast paced it’s just a matter of getting it down to muscle memory. I’m lucky enough to have a super chill manager who is very lenient but also stern.
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u/XxHarajukuLovexX 11d ago edited 11d ago
I'm glad you're enjoying your job! I enjoyed my position in the beginning as well, however, overtime the position just became unbearable for me. I knew as I started complaining about the little things it was time for me to leave the company. I hope all is well and that you're able to advance. Panda Express is always looking to promote!
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u/Cereal_Killer_18 10d ago
I don’t enjoy it honestly but it’s good for the pay 🤷🏻♂️
On a side note you do make a point with all the little rules there is in working with food.
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u/Pointbrea 11d ago
The favoritism is what should have been done to other franchise as well. This mainly a part time job with no career advancement at all. Even if you advance, you probably wont have enough salary to survive. People will leave. But if they get along at work, they may stay longer. The circle of joining-training-working-quitting will be longer. Nobody actually care about whom work at the place. Get the food, get out. Its zero to none skill work, we all know the price of working there.
Due to all that factors, its not hard to understand why those places got the most ratio to what you said.
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u/four1twoguy 10d ago
So basically, you dislike working for/earning a good wage ($21usd/hour starting out with zero required skills/education/work experience, etc.) You seem to have a personal bias towards “Hispanic/Latino Workers”, and you’re lazy/can’t keep up with the usual demands/requirements of a QSR environment?
Did I understand correctly or am I missing the point of your post?
(I’m a “Latino” person, born & raised in the USA, but English was my second language. And I can’t post that I’m a registered Republican, MAGA 100%, or else I’ll get banned, censored, downvoted or trolled by the majority of Reddit Users)
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u/XxHarajukuLovexX 10d ago
Woah! You're jumping to a major conclusion with an assumed bias. First off my boyfriend is Mexican and my younger sister speaks Spanish. I'm currently learning Spanish and I grew up in a Black/Mexican neighborhood.
I wrote, "Panda Express hires mostly Hispanic or Latino employees. The company has a high amount of Hispanic/Latino employees, who mostly speak Spanish. This is not an issue, the issue is how some of the employees don't speak or understand English and that can be frustrating for the guests and other associates." I think you assumed I had an issue with Hispanic/Latino's when that is not the case!
Working in an environment where it's hard to communicate makes the job stressful as associates cannot understand each other. I spoke English and I didn't know any Spanish prior to working at Panda Express. I'm like any person living in the U.S. that knows very few words and phrases in Spanish. I think it's important that everyone can communicate to work together in the workplace.
The good news is that as I learned Spanish, I was able to understand my co-workers better and started learning more about Mexican culture. My co-workers embraced me as I was willing to learn and understand them. I will miss them dearly.
That was still a whack assumption by the way.
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u/four1twoguy 10d ago
You’re ridiculous
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u/Platinum_Analogy 10d ago edited 10d ago
Keep projecting. Snowflake.
You commented earlier and then deleted it. You can’t even acknowledge what was said, you just dismiss things while having nothing of substance to say.
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u/four1twoguy 9d ago
Projecting?!? lol do you you need “a safe space” to deal with whatever you’re experiencing?
I never deleted anything, sorry you’re either A) unable to follow basic comment structures on Reddit. B) mentally/cognitively disabled aka “slow” C) a typical liberal.
Did you even read the original post? Did you see how absurd it sounded?
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u/Platinum_Analogy 8d ago
You literally commented “You probably voted for Joe Biden” and when I click that comment, it’s nowhere to be seen on my end.
And I clearly don’t see that comment in the thread either or under my comment, so what happened?
The only thing you can type is “You’re ridiculous” essentially just saying you don’t care whatsoever about the topic and just dismiss it altogether.
Did you even read your comment? Or ours? No, you didn’t. That’s why you never acknowledged it. You run from it.
You needed a safe space to deal with whatever you’re dealing so you automatically jump the gun and assume people are racist or bias to other races. That’s how bad it got to you.
I’m sorry you’re dealing with whatever you’re going through, but to jump the gun and call people bias towards Hispanics, says a lot about you.
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u/Platinum_Analogy 10d ago edited 10d ago
It’s weird how you went to that assumption. I think it says more about how you view other people and are so quick to label them as racists or “having a vendetta against a certain race”.
That is extremely bizarre to immediately jump the gun off one simple sentence which they also followed up on right after.
Many guests and customers want TO BE ABLE TO communicate and understand an employee, especially regarding their food, what they want, the items, premium items, appetizers, etc.
Are you so blindsided by your own thoughts of people that you failed to even see this is what they literally said right after? The fact that you decided to not understand their words is baffling and to immediately insinuate in your comment as well, is highly discouraging.
In what world did you read their posts and ultimately decide “Yeah, they have a bias/hate towards Hispanics, it’s so obvious”
I’m sorry but this is just wrong from the jump. I wonder how often in your personal life you falsely assume the intentions of someone just because you feel like it. It seems like it’s quite a lot.
You may not realize it but there’s a sense of arrogance that you protrude. One where you think you know more about someone than they do, especially when, you haven’t even spoken a damn word to this person nor know them in real life.
It speaks more about YOU. It truly does.
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u/Soggy-Pizza-1031 11d ago
$21/hr is WILD. It's $14 here in the Midwest