How has your company evolved over the years and how has Elephant Partners been a part of it?
My name is Andrew Cherng, I’m the chairman and founder of Panda restaurant group. I start the business called Panda Inn, a single food service Chinese restaurant and today we have about 2200 stores and 40,000 plus employees. Elephant Partners helps me with some real estate purchases and some land deals as well as other types of acquisitions. When I am going to build a new restaurant, Elephant Partners helps me look for a new pad an acquire the land and we grow our business by about 110 stores a year so it’s been a very enjoyable ride.
What gives you the confidence to work with Aman and Elephant Partners?
Aman is a very good people connector and he knows a lot of people. He doesn’t just know them, he has a good connection with them and he shares that with his clients. And the biggest reason is Aman and I are friends first and we often get together for fun away from the business. We play golf together and go out to dinner once in a while as well as travel to different places once in a while. Mostly we just we actually spend a lot of time together doing different things.
Why do you trust Aman with your business?
For me what actually stands out with Aman is that he has a good heart and he takes on a lot. In other words, he’s not just casually doing things. He’ll go out of his way to help people in need, and he donates his time to kids in but he does it wholeheartedly and that makes him very special.
And he just cares a lot and he cares a lot about people, he cares a lot about doing the right things for other people.
What would you tell someone looking for a great land broker?
When he presents something that I don’t sense he’s doing it to make money off of me because it’s a win win and a good deal. He doesn’t really push his own agenda which makes him trustworthy to me. Aman is very good in keeping a constant connection with other people and it is not easy to do. I would say that Aman would do his best for you and he will work with you. He’ll work hard. He knows a lot, he knows the things he knows and he also knows the things he doesn’t know. Aman is the kind of person that will take it on and follow through. He’s always in the mix of deal making so he knows a lot especially when it comes to land. He knows what’s going on out there. He’s always talking to and connecting with different people. And so he has information first hand. So that makes him very valuable.