El Pollo Loco (United States) facts for kids
El Pollo Loco, Inc. is a popular restaurant chain in the United States. It's famous for its Mexican-style grilled chicken. You can eat inside, take your food to go, and some places even have a drive-through. The company's main office is in Costa Mesa, California. It has about 500 restaurants, both company-owned and franchised, mostly in the Southwestern United States.
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 Franchising |
| Genre | Fast Casual |
| Founded |
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| Founder | Juan Francisco Ochoa |
| Headquarters | Costa Mesa, California |
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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) |
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 juice mix and then cooked over a flame.
Besides chicken, they offer other Mexican-style foods. These include tacos, burritos, and tostada salads. You can also find chicken bowls, snacks, and quesadillas. They have different salsas and side dishes too.
For a short time in 2016, El Pollo Loco tried selling breaded chicken tenders. This was a new idea for them. Usually, they focus on their grilled chicken as a healthier choice.
How It All Started
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The first El Pollo Loco restaurant was opened by Juan Francisco Ochoa. He started it in Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico, in 1975.
By 1979, the restaurant chain had grown across northern Mexico. On December 8, 1980, Juan Ochoa opened his first restaurant in the United States. It was in Los Angeles, California. This first American location was 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 restaurants. The Ochoa family continued to run the restaurants in Mexico. Over the years, El Pollo Loco grew and changed owners several times.
In May 1990, El Pollo Loco opened its 200th restaurant. It was in Yorba Linda, California. The company tried new ideas to attract more customers. In 1994, they tested a salsa bar, which became very popular. Salsa bars were then added to all restaurants the next year.
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 July 2014, El Pollo Loco became a publicly traded company. This means its shares can be bought and sold on the NASDAQ stock market.
More recently, El Pollo Loco has continued to expand. In March 2018, the first restaurant in Louisiana opened in Lafayette. In November 2022, the first Colorado restaurant opened in Denver. As of that time, the company had 478 locations in several states.
Expanding to New Places
El Pollo Loco has tried to open restaurants in new areas beyond its main states. However, these attempts have not always been successful.
In 1987, they opened restaurants in Florida, but these closed by 1991. Another try to expand happened in 2006. During this time, some El Pollo Loco restaurants opened in places like Atlanta, Boston, and New Jersey. But these locations also closed within a few years.
Where to Find El Pollo Loco
In the United States, El Pollo Loco has over 400 restaurants. You can find them in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas, Utah, and Louisiana. Many of these restaurants got a new look in 2012.
El Pollo Loco Around the World
El Pollo Loco also tried to open restaurants outside North America.
In 1987, they made a deal to open restaurants in Japan. The first one opened in Tokyo in 1988. However, all the Japanese locations closed by 1994.
By 1997, there were El Pollo Loco restaurants in Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. The restaurants in Malaysia and Singapore have since closed.
Philippines
The first El Pollo Loco in the Philippines opened in 1991. As of June 2023, El Pollo Loco Philippines has ten locations. These are mostly in shopping malls in the Manila area.
The menu in the Philippines is a bit different from the U.S. menu. It includes things like barbecue pork ribs, macaroni salad, and dessert crepes. They also offer rice bowls and unlimited Spanish rice. In February 2025, Filipino-style spaghetti was added to the menu.
Helping the Community
El Pollo Loco has programs to help people. They have "Fire-Grilled Fundraisers" for groups to raise money. They also created "El Pollo Loco Charities" in 2005. This charity helps provide meals to families who need them.
In 2019, they started "Pollo with Purpose." This program donates food from their restaurants. They aim to donate 500,000 pounds of food every year.
See also
- List of fast-food chicken restaurants
