Loyal California customers of restaurant chain El Pollo Loco might well respond, “Who cares? Pass the salsa.”
But for the Irvine company — now embarking on an ambitious nationwide expansion from its core market — how East Coast diners answer the question may prove crucial to its success.
“Our research shows that the Northeast is more oriented toward sandwiches, burgers and bagels and is less hospitable for burritos and other Hispanic food,” said Darren Tristano, a restaurant industry analyst with Technomic in Chicago. Chicken, however, “is universally consumed and has little deviation from region to region.”
El Pollo Loco — “the Crazy Chicken” in Spanish — derives 85 percent of its sales in Southern California. Its fusion of flame-grilled, marinated chicken and Mexican fast food has worked well in an environment in which the lines between mainstream and ethnic food are blurred.
As the company attempts to satisfy the East Coast palate, the challenge will be to promote its dual identity as giving customers two reasons to check it out, analysts and company executives agree.
In November, the chain opened at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Conn., its first restaurant east of Chicago. The franchise group that owns the location plans to develop 24 more in six Northeastern states.
El Pollo Loco also recently announced franchise agreements to build 61 stores in Arizona, Georgia, Missouri, Virginia and Utah. The deals will give the 353-unit chain a more national reach, placing it in 16 states.
With further franchise deals and its own slow but steady building program, El Pollo Loco could nearly double its size in the next five years.
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