Panda Fast returns to Mall of America

Starting tomorrow, Panda Fest is coming back to the Mall of America for a second year. Organizers call it the nation's fastest growing Asian food and culture festival. Joining me now is Biu Biu Xu, founder of Panda Fest. Biu Biu, thanks for joining me. I appreciate your time. Tell us what Panda Fest is about and how it got started. Yes. So thank you for having me. And I'm Biu Biu. I'm founder of the Panda Fest. Panda Fest is a big outdoor Asian food fest and we started three years ago in New York City. And last year is our first year to expand outside of New York City. And I was very, very excited to say we're, till now we're already in 15 cities with 24 big events already. And we're so lucky we choose Minneapolis last year as one of our station. And we got huge success. So that's what make us want to come back this year. And yeah. And this year, our events will be bigger. We will have more food vendor and more merchandise vendor. And the most important things is that we change the concept for this year. And I, last year, the theme was winter. And this year, the theme will change to the walleye, the sea fish. So everything is very collectible. All the clients will get our new collection of the pin and headband and also the inflatable headband. I mean, all panda. Yeah. So what did you learn? This is interesting to me. What did you learn from year one that you now are going to, I mean, you mentioned one thing, but that you might improve or change for year two. Yes. So the things we learned last year is that it's very hot in the summertime in Minneapolis. So this year we add a lot of shade. We have more than six shade tent this year. And also we provide more table and chairs. And of course, like I said, more vendor and a new concept of the gifts. Very nice. What kind of cultural connection do you see when folks come to Panda Fest? Yeah. So I feel like, um, it's, we are Asian food fast and we are not only focusing on the food festival. We also have the all day life performance. So I think, um, we have the stage for different, um, countries performance. So I think it's very immersive to all the clients. Yeah. Sounds like a lot of fun. Anything people should know if they're planning to come to the mall of America this week for Panda Fest? Yes. So I think, um, it's still will be very hot this year. So everyone please prepare the, um, we are allow the clients to bring one bottle of the water. So please bring your own water. And also we are allowed for the umbrella. And also please feel free to bring your fans, something like that to cool down. But definitely we will have the shade tent and also we will provide the misting tent for the clients. And also I think, um, come here and, um, like we are well prepared for all delicious food. So come here to enjoy the food with family and friends. Yeah. And just to be clear, people shouldn't go expecting to see some live pandas there, right? But we have the 15 ft inflatable panda and they hear the concept was, uh, well, I the fish, the state fish, right? We'll give you. We appreciate you being here. Founder of Panda Fest happening at the Mall of America this week. Good luck with the with the fest. It sounds like a lot of fun. Yes. Thank you for having me. You're welcome.