Q. In many organizations, your position would be called general manager. How does that differ at Panda Express?

A. My role is coaching people. It's different than being a boss for them. I coach the employees just like a coach for players on a sports team. I coach them on detailed operations, I coach them on people skills. I'm responsible for the overall operations (in Hawai'i), but my major role is coaching.

Q. Many of your employees are younger and have not had a lot of experience in the workforce. Does this pose any special challenges for you?

A. We do have a lot of high-school students and college-aged students. For some of them, this is their first job. We share with them the Panda mission and our values. We want to teach them some things they can't learn in school, things they can only learn in the workplace. We tell them they can learn here, they can grow here. Since it is usually their first job, we spend a lot of time with them. We have a college-aged student who we hired last year as counter help. And she worked her way up to manager in one year. And she's still in college.

Q. Are there any particular qualities you look for in employees?

A. We ask them why do they want to come here. Do you want to come here to make money, or do you want to learn something, or do you want to build a career. So it depends on what the person wants. It takes a lot of patience. With coaching you have to be patient with them. And I coach my managers to be patient with them.

Q. What are the expansion plans for Panda Express in Hawai'i?

A. We started Jan. 23, 1987, so we're going to be celebrating our 20th anniversary this month. Right now we have 12 locations, including three stores that we added last year. We plan to open five more stores this year. In the next couple of years I expect we will grow even faster. With our good history and brand name, we think we can add another 40 stores in Hawai'i in the years ahead if we can find the sites.

Q. Has Hawai'i's tight labor market had an impact on Panda Express' expansion plans?

A. It's a challenge. We all know that in Hawai'i it's tough to hire people. But it helps that we have an 'ohana-style, family-style operation. We have one manager who has a sister, brother, husband, brother-in-law, nephew who all work for Panda.

Q. What is your employee turnover rate?

A. We have pretty low turnover. Our turnover rate is about 70 percent a year. I know in quick-service restaurants the average rate is about 100 percent a year. Right now we have about 220 employees, including some longtime workers. We have 24 employees who have been with us for five to 10 years, 13 employees that have been here 10 to 15 years, and seven who have been with us for 15 to 20 years.

Q. What kinds of things does the company do to improve employee retention?

A. The main reason so many employees stay with us is because of our mission, which is to deliver an exceptional Asian dining experience by building an organization in which workers are inspired to better their lives. We have a lot of employees who have gone from counter help to management positions. We also have very good benefits and quarterly bonuses for managers and other employees. And we pay competitively compared to the market. Starting pay is $8 an hour at most stores and $9 in Hawai'i Kai. We also offer a 401(k) plan.

Q. Given the abundance of Chinese and other Asian restaurants in Hawai'i, would you say Panda Express faces greater competition here than in other parts of the country?

A. Yes, there are competitors all over the place. But we have a very unique operation. We are very focused on our design. Also, we strive on details of the operation, like food quality, cleanliness and service. We are not satisfied with good, we want to be great. So we are always looking for ways to improve. We are very focused on food safety and sanitation.

Q. How are Panda Express' sales in Hawai'i?

A. Last year we grew about 8 percent compared with the previous year. We're pretty strong here. We have a lot of tourists from the Mainland that know our brand. Last year, tourism was strong so that helped our sales.

Q. Panda Express has hundreds of restaurants nationally. How much autonomy do you have at a local level?

A. We have programs that come from headquarters, but we also have local programs. Locally, we've come up with a plan to select an employee and manager each quarter to reward them. We also have a mystery shopper program where a mystery shopper goes to each restaurant once a month to check our service, food quality and cleanliness. If the restaurant scores 100, we reward them with gift cards to encourage them to do a better job. From the corporate side, they run the employee bonus program and set the menu.

Q. Is there any tailoring of the menu to accommodate local tastes?

A. One item that is different than on the Mainland menu is chow fun. It's only in Hawai'i. About nine years ago, I was the Panda Express manager in the Hawai'i Kai restaurant and a customer asked me if we had chow fun. I said no, and they said if you offer chow fun, I'll come back. I asked my supervisor at that time and we tried it in Hawai'i and it worked pretty good. Then it spread to other locations.

Q. Can you talk about your company's community service program, Panda Cares?

A. It allows us to show our appreciation to give back to the community. Most of it focuses on children. Last year we did a program for the Boy Scouts where we delivered food to the Boy Scout camp. We also helped a Maui youth baseball club. This year for the 20th anniversary, we help the Boys and Girls Club. We'll donate 20 percent of the day's sales from the Moanalua location to the Boys and Girls Club of Oahu.

Q. Did you jump right in to business after graduating from business school?

A. Actually, after I graduated from UH, I worked on a farm on Maui. I originally worked on a farm when I was growing up in China. I farmed for three years at a vegetable farm (in Kula). I managed it for another big farmer. At the time, I had a friend who worked for Panda Express and he said it was a really good company. So I joined Panda Express in 1997.

Reach Alan Yonan Jr. at ayonan@honoluluadvertiser.com.