El Pollo Loco

El Pollo Loco (Spanish for "The Crazy Chicken") is the name of three independent restaurant chains that specialize in Mexican-style grilled chicken. The Mexican and American companies were founded by Juan Francisco Ochoa[1] while the Filipino company began as a franchisee of the American company in 1991 that later broke free of its contract and was allowed to retain its trademarks within the Philippines in 2016.[2]

Ochoa established the first El Pollo Loco restaurant in Guasave, Sinaloa, Mexico in 1974.[3][4][5] He then expanded his chain into the United States in 1980.[6][7] He later sold his U.S. restaurants in 1983 while keeping the ones in Mexico.[8] The two North American companies have since occupied non-overlapping global territories and have offered different fare.

• El Pollo Loco (Mexico) is the chain still owned by Ochoa's family and operates over 50 (as of 2017) locations within Mexico.[9]
• El Pollo Loco (United States) operates about 500 (as of 2019) company-owned and franchised restaurants primarily in the Southwestern United States.[10] Since 2014, the U.S.-based company has been publicly traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange under the ticker LOCO.[11]
• El Pollo Loco (Philippines) is a subsidiary of Manila-based The Bistro Group that operated 10 (as of 2023) company-owned restaurants within the Manila metropolitan area.[12]

See also

• List of fast-food chicken restaurants

External links