I had lunch at a Panda Express restaurant today in a suburb of
Chicago, and came away gastronomically satisfied but puzzled about
their pricing.

For those who aren't familiar with Panda Express, it's a chain of
"Chinese" buffets which, according to their website
www.pandaexpress.com, operates in 37 states and Puerto Rico.

A steam table displays a variety of dishes usually found in "Chinese"
restaurants in the U.S. The customer has a choice of a single entree
accompanied by steamed rice, or a 2-entree or 3-entree plate, each of
which is accompanied by steamed rice or chow mein noodles or fried
rice.

The entree menu is as follows:
Orange Flavored Chicken $6.59 Beef w/broccoli 6.59
Chicken w/mushrooms 5.59 Sweet & Sour pork 6.09
Kung Pao chicken 5.59 BBQ pork 6.59
Mandarin chicken 6.59 Mixed vegetables 4.79
Each of the listed entrees comes with steamed rice. Fried rice or chow
mein noodles instead of steamed rice, costs another dollar.

Then there are the combo plates:
2-entree plate $5.09
3-entree plate 6.29
The 2-entree and 3-entree plates each come with any two entrees and
_a choice_ of steamed rice, fried rice, or chow mein noodles.

Now, what puzzles me is that--except for the mixed vegetable entree--
it's cheaper to order a 2-entree plate and throw one of the entrees
away than it is to order a single entree.

For example, I had a 2-entree plate of Mandarin chicken and Orange
Flavored chicken with a side of chow mein noodles. That was $5.09. The
portions were very large and in fact, I left the equivalent of about
one portion uneaten. (I imagine I could have asked for a carton to
take the remainder home.)

If I'd ordered only the Orange Flavored chicken or only the Mandarin
chicken (along with the steamed rice) the bill would have been $6.59.
Chow mein noodles or fried rice instead of steamed rice would have
added another buck, making my lunch $7.59; two and a half dollars more
than I actually paid.

I acknowledge that a single entree would have been larger than either
of the two entrees, but no larger than the two entrees together. And
if I couldn't finish the 2-entree plate I wouldn't have been able to
finish the single entree, either.

Am I overlooking something obvious here? I'm confused about why Panda
Express, in a sense, punishes customers who only want one entree
(other than mixed vegetables). What's the marketing logic here?

Any comments will be welcome.

-Len