Billionaire Panda Express co-CEO says he never got burned out—even after years of working 12-hour days: ‘That’s life’

Panda Express co-founder Andrew Cherng, now 78, has never experienced burnout despite working 12-hour days for years. "It was hard when I had no business, there was no income," he said, "but even then, I wasn’t burned out because, you just work, go to work, and if you have a 12-hour day, you go home, you sleep well—I mean that’s life."

Cherng and his wife Peggy, a former engineer, built the chain from a single family restaurant into a global empire worth an estimated $6.6 billion. Cherng, born in China and raised in Taiwan, Japan, and the U.S., opened Panda Inn in 1973 with $60,000 in savings and a SBA loan. Today, Panda Express has over 2,600 locations worldwide and employs more than 55,000 people.