El Pollo Loco (United States) facts for kids
Logo since 2019
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Entrance to Costa Mesa headquarters
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Trade name
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El Pollo Loco |
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| Public | |
| Traded as | NASDAQ: LOCO |
| Industry | Restaurants |
| Genre | Fast Casual |
| Founded |
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| Founder | Juan Francisco Ochoa |
| Headquarters | Costa Mesa, California |
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Number of locations
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487 |
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Area served
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California, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Louisiana |
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Key people
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Larry Roberts (CEO,interim),(CFO) Miguel Lozano (COO) Jason Weintraub (CLO) |
| Products | Fire-grilled chicken and related Mexican food |
| Revenue |  US$455 million (FY 2021) |
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Operating income
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US$33.556 million (FY 2020) |
| US$24.474 million (FY 2020) |
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| Total assets | US$31.669 million (FY 2020) |
| Total equity | US$277.578 million (FY 2020) |
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Number of employees
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5,005 (2021) |
El Pollo Loco is a popular restaurant chain in the United States. It's famous for its delicious Mexican-style grilled chicken. You can eat inside, take your food to go, or even use the drive-through at some locations. The company's main office is in Costa Mesa, California. They have around 500 restaurants, both company-owned and run by others (franchises), mostly in the Southwestern U.S.
Contents
What's on the Menu?
El Pollo Loco mainly serves Mexican chicken dishes. They say their chicken is "citrus-marinated and fire-grilled." This means it's soaked in a special citrus sauce and then cooked over a flame.
Besides chicken, they also offer other Mexican-style foods. You can find items like tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and quesadillas. For a short time in 2016, El Pollo Loco even tried selling fried chicken tenders. This was a big change because they usually focus on their healthier grilled chicken.
How El Pollo Loco Started
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The first El Pollo Loco restaurant was opened in 1975. It was started by Juan Francisco Ochoa in Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico. By 1979, the restaurant chain had grown across northern Mexico.
On December 8, 1980, Juan Ochoa opened his first U.S. restaurant. It was in Los Angeles, California. This first American location was quite small, but it made a lot of money in its first year. The menu was simple: half or whole chicken with warm tortillas and salsa. A second U.S. location opened in Santa Ana, California in 1981.
In 1983, a company called Denny's bought the 19 American El Pollo Loco restaurants. The Ochoa family continued to run the restaurants in Mexico. After this change, the number of El Pollo Loco locations in Southern California grew quickly. They also added restaurants in Houston, Texas.
Later, in 1987, another company called TW Services bought Denny's, which included El Pollo Loco.
Growing and Trying New Things
By May 1990, El Pollo Loco opened its 200th restaurant. This new location was in Yorba Linda, California. In the early 1990s, the company tried different ideas to attract more customers. They tested things like a side-dish bar and a salsa bar. Only the salsa bars became a permanent part of the restaurants. They also tried home delivery and catering services in 1995.
In August 1995, El Pollo Loco made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. They built the world's largest burrito in Anaheim, California. It was over 3,112 feet (949 meters) long and weighed two tons!
In 1997, the parent company of El Pollo Loco faced financial challenges. Later, in 1999, American Securities Capital Partners bought El Pollo Loco. They sold it to Trimaran Capital Partners in 2005.
In January 2007, El Pollo Loco was featured on the TV show The Apprentice: Los Angeles. Contestants had to create and sell their own versions of El Pollo Loco's Pollo Bowl. The company was also recognized as a top franchise for Hispanic business owners in 2010.
New restaurants began opening in states like Utah and Oregon in 2008. The 400th El Pollo Loco location opened in Chelsea, Massachusetts in May 2008.
In July 2014, El Pollo Loco became a publicly traded company. This means its shares can be bought and sold on the NASDAQ stock exchange.
More recently, in 2018, the first El Pollo Loco restaurant in Lafayette, Louisiana opened. Plans were also announced in 2021 to open several restaurants in the Denver area of Colorado.
Where You Can Find El Pollo Loco
In the U.S., El Pollo Loco has more than 400 restaurants. You can find them in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas, Utah, and Louisiana. Many of these restaurants got a fresh new look in 2012.
Past Expansions
El Pollo Loco has tried to open restaurants in other parts of the U.S. and even outside North America.
In 1987, they tried to expand into Florida, but those restaurants closed by 1991. Another attempt to expand in the U.S. began in 2006, but most of those locations also closed within six years. This included restaurants in places like Atlanta, Boston, New Jersey, and Oregon.
Outside North America, El Pollo Loco also had franchises in East Asia. In 1987, they made a deal to open many restaurants in Japan. The first one opened in Tokyo in 1988, but all Japanese locations closed by 1994.
By 1997, there were also El Pollo Loco franchises in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. The restaurants in Malaysia and Singapore have since closed. However, El Pollo Loco still operates in the Philippines.
Giving Back to the Community
El Pollo Loco has programs to help others. They created "Fire-Grilled Fundraisers" to help nonprofit groups raise money. They also have "El Pollo Loco Charities," which started in 2005. This charity helps provide meals to families who need them.
In 2019, the company launched "Pollo with Purpose." This program donates leftover food to help reduce waste and feed people. Their goal is to donate 500,000 pounds of food every year.
See also
- List of fast-food chicken restaurants
