Southern California's El Pollo Loco, known for its grilled chicken, is considering further national expansion after announcing surprisingly strong results for last year.
The Costa Mesa-based chain, which expanded into Washington and New Mexico last year, plans to open more locations in other states where customers have been lining up outside some of its new locations for its citrus-grilled chicken dishes.
“Like last year, the vast majority of the 18 to 20 new openings in 2026 are expected to be outside of California,” company CEO Liz Williams said on an earnings conference call Thursday.
Shares of El Pollo Loco, which have been moving sideways for months, soared nearly 17% on Friday as its results came in well above Wall Street expectations.
The expansion comes on the heels of a rebrand that company leaders have dubbed “Let's Get Loco,” featuring a new store design and testing of new menu items like loaded quesadillas and horchata coffee drinks.
It also builds on the chain's recent successes outside of California.
Its first Washington store, in Kent, which opened late last year, has had to reduce operating hours to manage long lines (an indicator of pent-up demand), while its franchise partner in New Mexico, pleased with the results, is looking for sites to open more stores, Williams said on the call.
“While California has been our home and has a rich history for our brand, we know El Pollo Loco is destined for more,” Williams said on an earnings conference call last year as he announced new restaurants in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Washington.
New locations are coming to El Paso, Albuquerque, Dallas and Denver, and the company is in talks with potential franchise partners in the Midwest and Northeast, spokeswoman Brittney Shaffer told The Times in an email.
In California, more locations are planned in Sacramento, Redding, the Bay Area and Southern California.
Shaffer said the company decided the time was right to enter new markets after spending the past two years strengthening its foundation with improved unit economics, improved hospitality and a revitalized pipeline of culinary innovation.
Pollo Loco has its history in the 1970s in Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico, where it was started by shoe salesman Pancho Ochoa using his family's citrus-marinated chicken recipe.
The chain grew to have more than 80 restaurants in Mexico and opened its first location in the United States in Westlake in 1980.
In 1983, Denny's Inc. purchased Ochoa's American restaurants and expanded its network, although it largely remained in Southern California. The chain was later sold to a private equity group.
It has struggled during some economic downturns and has withstood competition from fast-casual chains such as Rubio's, Chipotle and Panera Bread. The times reported in 2011.
But the tides are changing. Quick and casual options like sweet green and chipotle have become “skippable splurges” for customers struggling with rising costs.
El Pollo Loco may be the perfect combination of price and differentiation from fast food burgers at a time when consumers are looking to save.
El Pollo Loco, which went public on Nasdaq in 2014, reported Thursday that comparable sales at its restaurants in the fourth quarter rose more than 2% from a year earlier.
Wall Street was impressed by his ability to cut costs to increase profits.
The company said that one of its secrets was to open new stores in spaces that were already enabled to be restaurants.
It saved money while expanding by not having to build spaces from scratch, Williams said, giving the example of Dallas, where it took over a former Arby's.
The chain's Corn and Chicken Street Burrito Bowls and Crispy Cheese Chicken Double Burrito Bowls, which were introduced in late September, were “instrumental” in driving fourth-quarter results, the company said.
“The popularity of these hearty, high-quality, value-based offerings was so positive that we made the strategic decision to keep both bowls as permanent menu items,” Williams said on Thursday's earnings call.
Next on the menu to give new consumers an easy-to-understand introduction to the company's vision for chicken: chicken tenders and a chicken sandwich are expected later this year.
El Pollo Loco had 503 locations, mostly in California, at the end of last year.
