Mandarin Restaurant

Mandarin Restaurant

Type	Private
Industry	Restaurants
Founded	1979
Founders	James Chiu, George Chiu, Diana Chiu and K.C. Chang
Headquarters	Brampton, Ontario, Canada
Areas served	Greater Toronto Area, Golden Horseshoe, London, Ontario, Ottawa, Ontario, Kingston, Ontario
Products	Food and Drink
Website	www.mandarinrestaurants.com

Mandarin Restaurant Franchise Corporation is a chain of all-you-can-eat Chinese-Canadian buffets in Ontario, Canada. Mandarin was founded in 1979 by James Chiu, George Chiu, Diana Chiu and K.C. Chang. Its headquarters is in Brampton, Ontario, and the chain consists of licensed restaurants across the province. They each offer a Chinese and Canadian buffet with over 150 items, as well as à-la-carte ordering, take-out, and delivery.

History

Mandarin Restaurant and Corporate Headquarters in Brampton, Ontario

Mandarin was founded by James Chiu, George Chiu, K. C. Chang, and Diana Chiu; all of whom had many years of restaurant experience in Montreal and New York. Together, they moved to Ontario, Canada in 1979 and purchased a small restaurant with Chinese-Canadian décor. The restaurant was called “Mandarin” and was then located on Queen Street in Brampton, Ontario.

At the time of purchase, Mandarin operated only as a small à-la-carte restaurant. However, the restaurant was later increased to three times its original size.

In 1987, Mandarin began to franchise by allowing its existing employees to become franchise partners. To become a franchisee, a candidate must have worked for at least one year at one of the company’s restaurants and graduated from the Management Apprenticeship Program at the corporate headquarters. Each restaurant location employs approximately 100 people, making Mandarin an employer for well over 2,500 people in Ontario.

35th Anniversary

In celebration of their 35th anniversary in 2014, Mandarin held a year-long “Passport to Japan” contest where they gave away 35 trips for 2 to Japan. Also, as part of their milestone 35th anniversary, on July 1, 2014, Mandarin invited all Canadian citizens to a free buffet meal at any of their locations. Over 30,000 Canadians took advantage of a free buffet meal on this day. ^[1]^[2]^[3]

Community Involvement

Over the years, Mandarin has involved itself with various health care organizations and charitable groups in the community. Some of these include:

2013

Mandarin became a major partner of the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society. As a result, the MS Walk was renamed in Ontario as the Mandarin MS Walk. As of November 2015, there are over 50 Mandarin MS Walks across Ontario. ^[4] Also in 2013, Mandarin became a major sponsor of the Giant Pandas and the Giant Panda Conservation Breeding Program at the Toronto Zoo. In addition to sponsoring this for a 5-year term, the first-ever Mandarin Express kiosk was opened, offering selected Mandarin dishes served to zoo guests.^[5]

2007

The company committed a pledge payment of $1 million in support of the Schulich Heart Centre capital expansion at Sunnybrook Hospital Sciences Centre.^[6]

References

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