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]
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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 [update] ) locations within Mexico. [9]
- El Pollo Loco (United States) operates about 500 (as of 2019 [update] ) 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 [update] ) company-owned restaurants within the Manila metropolitan area. [12]
