SIZZLING SALES

El Pollo Loco cooks up $396 million a year recipe for success.

In its first major expansion east of the Mississippi River, El Pollo Loco, the nation’s leading quick-service restaurant chain specializing in citrus-marinated, flame-grilled chicken, is breaking out of its West Coast coop with an aggressive search for experienced restaurateurs who are “crazy” about multi-unit franchise ownership.

El Pollo Loco executives recently announced plans to drive future national company growth through franchising outside of its core West Coast markets. Initial expansion plans are expected to add 130+ franchise-operated locations in the southwest, midwest and eastern United States by 2009.

“El Pollo Loco (the ‘Crazy Chicken’ in Spanish) has thrived on the West Coast for more than 20 years,” said Stephen Carley, El Pollo Loco’s president and CEO, whose forward-thinking philosophies have led El Pollo Loco into a new era of strategic expansion. “Logically, it makes sense to target markets outside of our traditional territories whose demographics match the areas where El Pollo Loco has had strong consumer followings. As consumer demand for fresh, bold and flavorful foods continues to grow, El Pollo Loco is a golden opportunity for entrepreneurs seeking an established quick-service brand.”

Founded in 1975 by “Pancho” Ochoa in Mexico, El Pollo Loco has been serving its authentic menu in the United States for more than 20 years, including its famous citrus-marinated flame-grilled chicken with fresh salsas, steaming tortillas, and an assortment of sides. Through the years, El Pollo Loco has kept its menu fresh with a broad array of entrees that include its signature Pollo Bowl, Pollo Salads, specialty burritos and quesadillas.

Already, the company’s franchise expansion campaign has generated favorable results. While El Pollo Loco recently signed a multi-unit development agreement in Chicago, company executives continue to draw interest from additional entrepreneurs interested in opening El Pollo Loco locations in major markets such as Denver, Phoenix and Houston.
Franchisee Support

El Pollo Loco equips its franchisees with a core menu, recipes, site-selection assistance and ongoing management and crew training programs. In addition, El Pollo Loco assigns each franchisee a corporate consultant to assist with implementation of new products, equipment and technologies.

“El Pollo Loco has assembled a top-tier team of experts in operations, training, marketing and development. From the day a franchisee begins working with us, we’ll be there to support his or her needs and growth,” Carley said. “We realize that our company can only be successful if our franchisees are successful, and vice versa.”

Although El Pollo Loco’s original menu has expanded to meet modern-day consumer tastes, executives maintain that its core product—authentic citrus-marinated, flame-grilled chicken cooked slowly over an open flame—never has, and never will, change.

In fact, to ensure product consistency among all locations, for the past 12 years, the company has held its popular “Perfect Pollo Challenge”—a competitive systemwide contest to identify the top cook in the chain. A key objective is to perfect cooking techniques among El Pollo Loco’s chefs.

Although El Pollo Loco is considered a quick-service concept, it is best known for food quality that exceeds traditional fast food standards. For example, El Pollo Loco’s chicken is fresh, marinated and served to the customer hot off the grill. The chain also features a salsa garden, where customers can customize their meals with four different flavors of salsa that are prepared fresh daily.

Aesthetically, El Pollo Loco offers customers a casual, relaxed atmosphere. Locations offer flexible seating, rather than the fixed plastic seating commonly found in fast food chains, and the restaurant’s decor pays tribute to the chain’s Mexican heritage, while providing a comfortable environment designed to make customers feel at home. For convenience, locations also offer a self-service beverage bar for dine-in customers and many restaurants offer drive-thru service for diners on the go.

“The El Pollo Loco concept occupies a sweet spot between the quick-service and fast-casual dining segments,” Carley said. “Our cooks spend six months training to prepare our flame-grilled chicken. At the same time, El Pollo Loco’s drive-thru windows are equipped to deliver our chicken to customers at a rate of 100 cars per hour. While many quick-service chains force customers to sacrifice quality for convenience, El Pollo Loco’s ability to focus on both has fueled five consecutive years of same store sales growth.”

If you are interested in learning more about franchise opportunities with El Pollo Loco, we recommend that you visit their website. The site contains a wide variety of information that is very helpful to potential franchisees. You'll find information on selecting locations and real estate for the franchise as well as press releases and news on the corporation. You'll learn how to apply for more data and you can click on a section called "testimonials" and read what franchisees have to say about their franchise. It's a great site, chock full of useful material and it is very easy to navigate. You can also send the franchisor an email to request additional information. The "news" sections contains promotional material and actual write-ups on how local El Pollo Loco franchisees have made the headlines. It's a great way to get a better feeling for the upbeat tone of the company and learn how they promote their brand.

Visit the website to learn more about opening your own franchise. According to the company, "The comfort of our guests is critical whether they choose to dine-in, drive thru or carry out. To keep pace with the trend towards fast-casual dining (with it's corresponding increase in average guest check and party size)we're remodeling our restaurants to make them homier, more comfortable and more upscale while providing the highest levels of customer convenience such as our self-serve beverage bar and salsa gardens. Flexible seating will be replacing fixed plastic seating to add a more upscale, relaxed atmosphere as you might find in your favorite casual dining restaurant. Color schemes will pay tribute to our Mexican heritage, while providing a comfortable environment that makes people feel at home."

The franchisor's Real Estate team reviews demographic and traffic information and then forwards it to the executive team who will review and either approve or recommend against the site you've selected. This gives you broad resources and expertise in determining the best location.

(BACK TO TOP)