Panda Express, which celebrates National Orange Chicken Day in its US home on July 15, is marking the occasion in the Philippines as well.

Throughout August, the chain is offering special deals for Orange Chicken fans. Customers can get 10% off with a minimum spend of P699 on orders featuring Orange Chicken through GrabFood. At the SM Megamall branch on Aug. 17, the promotion included decorated window decals, a claw machine, and a giant takeout pail for photo opportunities. Coupons for freebies will also be given with every in-store order of Orange Chicken.

The promotion also underscores how the brand is using a familiar menu item to draw attention in a market where it has been working to strengthen recognition and grow beyond its current footprint. Panda Express has been in the Philippines since 2019, when Jollibee Foods Corp. (JFC) brought it in through a joint venture, JBPX Foods, Inc., with the US-based Panda Restaurant Group, Inc. “It’s our No. 1 flagship product,” Karole Santos, marketing head for Panda Express in the Philippines, said in an interview with BusinessWorld during the launch at SM Megamall. “It’s been there (on the menu) for years. We just thought of putting a spotlight on it.”

Ms. Santos said the campaign is also meant to celebrate the brand itself. “Panda Express Philippines has been in the market for quite a while. We were thinking to celebrate the brand and some of the roots that we’ve started implanting in the market. We thought of doing it through Orange Chicken,” she said.

The US parent company, which has been credited in part with helping mainstream Asian-American cuisine in the United States, says it first introduced Orange Chicken in 1987 as a citrus-based version of sweet-and-sour Chinese dishes.

Orange Chicken is available in the Philippines, but Ms. Santos said the local menu also has two Philippine exclusives: Salt and Pepper Pork and Beijing Sweet and Sour Pork. Both were originally intended as limited-time offerings, but became permanent items after proving popular, she said.

“It’s really a journey of trying to understand, and learning from the market what we need, what does it take to win in this region, or in this country,” she said. “There is opportunity to continue to tap into more flavor stories that we think can better sell with the Filipino audience.”

However, the brand has recently faced challenges. JFC’s amended quarterly report, filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange on Aug. 14, showed that Panda Express closed one store and opened none in the first half of 2026, leaving it with 27 stores at the end of June from 28 at the end of December 2025.

JFC recognized a P78.608-million share in the net loss of JBPX Foods, Inc., its 50%-owned joint venture with Panda Restaurant Group, in the first half of 2026. JBPX reported a net loss of P157.216 million for the period, more than triple the P47.522-million loss it posted in the first half of 2025.

JFC’s share of the loss in the first half of 2026 also exceeded the P54.746 million it recognized for the full year of 2025.

Revenue growth was modest. JBPX’s revenue rose 0.6% to P686.425 million in the first half of 2026 from P682.143 million in the same period of 2025. JFC brand data showed Panda Express systemwide sales increased 0.6% in the first half of 2026, though they fell 3.1% in the second quarter. Same-store sales grew 2.9% in the first half and 0.2% in the second quarter.

“I think context is everything,” Ms. Santos told BusinessWorld. “I think what we need to appreciate would be the journey by which Panda Express is also learning in the market. In that learning journey, we have turned around so many stories for the brand.

“First of all, sales is something that we have celebrated over the recent two years in terms of coming out from some declines here and there. Now that we’ve corrected that, I think it’s quite clear that there are other parts of the business that we also need to fix,” she added. “Maybe that’s the larger context by which it needs to be laid down as.”

“The (profit and loss statement) is not perfect at this point. We’ve corrected the topline so far. The bottom line follows next. We’re in that learning journey. We’re in that learning period.”

She said she remains optimistic. “The future is still bright for Panda Express, especially as we embrace some of these wins. We’re saying that we have turned around the business in terms of sales. We are now slowly showing signs of growth and comeback. We will still expand.”

Any future expansion, however, will need to be strategic.

“It’s more of being selective and strategic about where those confluence(s) of people that resonate with Panda Express truly are, so that we can bring the brand to that next level,” she said. “The larger malls, the larger convergence areas would be what’s next and what we should target for Panda Express.”

— JL Garcia