History
Originally posted on March 23, 2025 @ 10:16 pm
The Food That Built America Recap for Legends of the Mall
-This week’s episode of The Food That Built America is titled Legends of the Mall and gets into the snacks and meals that shaped food courts into what they are today.
-On October 8, 1956, the first shopping mall opened in Minneapolis and changed the way people shop forever. It was called the Central Mall and had every kind of store people could imagine and inspired other malls to open. The only thing missing was food.
-James Rouse decided to open a mall of his own in Paramus, New Jersey and to add a food court so people can spend more time and money at the mall.
-In Glendale, California, a man named Andrew Cherng was working at a Chinese food restaurant and wanted people to try authentic cuisine. One day, he talked to two loyal customers who lost vendors for their mall. He decides to help by opening his own stand at the food court. This would change his life and Chinese food forever.
-Andrew opens his first stand at the Glendale mall, which was a risky move for him. However, he is willing to do anything to help his customers, even if that means making the food at a faster pace. He trains his workers to make the food faster but struggles.
-Rich Komen is another restauranter who wants to expand his business. He dreams of opening a national chain and it isn’t until he tries a cinnamon bun from TJ Cinnamons that he comes up with his billion-dollar idea.
-Rich opens his own stand in a local mall and talks to Ted Rice, the TJ Cinnamons owner. He wants to do a collaboration to expand the business, but Ted thinks it is too much too fast.
-Ted eventually turns Rich down, so Rich needs to work fast to make his plan work.
-Andrew, for his part, is working on making his own business work. He eventually decides to precook his dishes in larger portions, putting them on a steam tray to keep them fresh.
-On October 8, 1983, Andrew’s food court stand opens, displaying it behind glass so people can see the food before they order. Panda Express is born!
-At first business is slow, so he decides to give out free samples of his food.
-Rich is struggling to get his business to work. He meets Jerilyn Brusseau and recruits his son Greg to help. They begin working on the perfect cinnamon bun recipe and after a lot of trial and error, they are able to get the recipe he desires with cinnamon from Sumatra.
The only problem is baking them quickly to meet the demand. Jerilyn is not happy with Rich’s attitude and walks out.
-Andrew is seeing success with Panda Express and wants to open more locations. He opens a second location and plans to open more by the end of the year.
-Despite the success, he sees some food does well in certain locations while others fall flat. He must find a universal dish for people will love.
-Rich and Greg work on their cinnamon buns and realize the slightly undercooked middle is their hook to make it successful. Cinnabon is born! Rich calls it world famous to attract more customers.
-The first Cinnabon opens in the SeaTac Mall in Seattle. He turns making the cinnamon buns into a show by demonstrating how to make them, engaging all five senses, quickly becoming a success. Rich immediately wants to expand, but notices that TJ Cinnamons plans on doing the same.
-In Lancaster, PA, Anne Beiler is looking for a fresh start and support her husband, who is starting a counseling business. She sees a food stand at a farmers’ market and decides to buy it and sell her own baked goods and drinks, including pretzels.
-At first, the pretzels aren’t a hit, but once her husband Jonas works on changing the recipe, they become the iconic pretzels we all know and love. He adds a secret ingredient from his childhood that is still unknown to this day, and she adds a buttery glaze….the Hail Mary that pays off.
-Anne decides to make it into a business and Auntie Anne’s is born.
-Panda Express is a huge hit with locations all around the country. Andrew is still working on new recipes to appeal to the Hawaiian market. He experiments with different flavors based on the tangerine chicken recipe he loves and finds a winner with deep fried boneless chicken and orange flavor, giving birth to the orange chicken dish. It has every flavor palette people could want and it is sold in every location.
-This allows the business to expand and become a huge hit.
-Cinnabon is also a hit, but is in competition with TJ Cinnamons.
-Fast food locations see the food court success and open their own locations in malls.
-Anne, for her part, has a friend who convinces her to open a mall location. The mall manager thinks it is a bad idea, but Anne makes a deal with him to pay the rent up front if he gives her a chance for a few months. It opens in November 1989.
-Auntie Anne’s is a hit because it smells wonderful, and people love seeing her making them on site.
-Rich gets wind of the Auntie Anne’s competition and wants to take her down. He and Greg decide to pump up the cinnamon smell to attract more customers by installing HVAC systems and bake cinnamon and sugar on its own. They beat TJ Cinnamons in the competition, causing it to close its doors and be sold to a New Jersey company.
-Anne becomes Inc’s Entrepreneur of the Year in 1992 and 1994. It has 2000 locations and makes 800 million a year.
-Cinnabon has 1200 locations and worth billions. Rich sold the business, but Greg is still heavily involved.
-Panda Express has 2000 locations and also worth millions.
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