El Pollo Loco LOCO
El Pollo Loco is a U.S. based West Coast fast food chain specializing in chicken-based dishes. The company operates both company-owned and franchised locations.
- Ticker
- LOCO
- Headquarters
- Costa Mesa, California
- CEO
- Elizabeth Williams
- IPO year
- 2014
- Sector
- Restaurant
- Website
- elpolloloco.com
- Management
- Team & leadership ↗
Notes & Takes
"This isn’t the meth kingpin chicken joint owned by Gus Fring. Elizabeth Williams became CEO in spring 2024. Sardar Biglari owns a big chunk of the stock and made an offer to buy the whole company in 2025. The board didn't accept the offer. It’s primarily a West Coast chain.
I find Loco be a relatively well run company. It's nothing to write home about but it's on the higher end of cigar butts."
Company Financials
Quarterly Headlines
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El Pollo Loco Q1 2026
Mar 31, 2026
- System wide comparable sales up 5.8%
- Income from operations was $12.2 million vs. $9 mill last year
- Restaurant contribution was 19.2% for company operated restaurant revenue
- Company operated store revenue was up 7.6% due to an increase in comp sales plus the opening of two new restaurants. Check size increased 5.7% while transactions fell 0.3%
- Franchise revenue down 8.8% due to an IT pass through last year. Nine new franchises were opened in Q1
- $44 mill in debt with $3.9 mill in cash
- Guiding for adjusted EBITDA of $67 and $69 mill for the year
El Pollo Loco Q4 2025
Dec 31, 2025
- Revenue up 8%
- Comp sales up 2.1%
- Income from operations of $10.3 million up from $9 million last year
- Adjusted EBITDA of $16.9 million up from $14.3 million
- Franchise revenue up 15.5% to $13 million
- $51 million in debt with $6 million in cash
- Guide for 2026 includes opening 3 to 4 company owned restaurants and 15 to 16 franchised restaurants, capital spending of $37 to $40 million and adjusted EBITDA of $66 mill
El Pollo Loco Q3 2025
Sep 24, 2025
- Revenue flat YoY
- Comp sales down 0.8%
- Income from operations $11.5 mill up from $10.1 mill last year
- Restaurant contribution was $18.5 million or 18.3% of company operated revenues
- Net income of $7.4 mill or $0.25 per diluted share up from $6.2 mill last year
- Franchise revenue up 13.5% YoY
- Paid down $6 mill on revolver and now has $55 million outstanding
- Our digital business including kiosks grew to 27% of sales compared to 20% in the same period last year
- For the full year we expect to remodel at least 55 restaurants
- Opening of 10 system wide restaurants, capital spending of $28 to $30 million for full year 2025
El Pollo Loco Q2 2025
Jun 25, 2025
- Total revenue of $125.8 million up 2.9%
- System wide comp sales down 0.3%
- Income from operations $11.3 mill down 8.1%
- Restaurant contribution was $19.9 million or 19.1% of company operated revenue
- Franchise revenue increased 14.8% due to IT Pass through revenue and 5 new franchise openings
- Franchise comp sales down 1.1%
- Outstanding debt balance of $69 million with $9 million in cash
- Share repurchase program ended March 31 2025
- Guidance includes opening 11 new restaurants with 10 of them being franchised, capital spending of $31 to $34 million
- AUV currently at $2.2 million
- We continue to work alongside our franchises with a goal to update roughly half of our total stores the next 4 years
- 1.5% increase in average check size
- During the second quarter our effective price increase versus 2024 was 3.1%
El Pollo Loco Q1 2025
Mar 26, 2025
- Comp sales down 0.6%
- Revenue up 2%
- Net income of $5.5 million
- Franchise revenue increased 16% YoY
- Guiding for opening 10 restaurants in 2025 with 9 being franchised and 1 being company owned, capital spending of $32 million
- Company owned restaurants total 174 with 325 total franchised
El Pollo Loco Q4 2024
Dec 25, 2024
- Total revenue of $114 million up 1% YoY
- Comp sales up 0.5%
- Income from operations was $9 million vs. $7.5 million last year
- 9% increase in average check size with a 6.8% decrease in transactions
- $71 mill in debt with $2.5 million in cash
- 2025 outlook includes opening 2 new company operated stores and 9 new franchised stores, capital spending of $30 to $34 million
El Pollo Loco Q3 2024
Sep 25, 2024
- Total revenue was $120 million flat YoY
- Comparable restaurant sales were up 2.7%
- Net income was $6.2 million vs. $9.2 million YoY
- Outstanding debt was $76 million
El Pollo Loco Q2 2024
Jun 26, 2024
- Total revenue was $122 million flat YoY
- Comp sales increased 4.5% YoY
- Net income was $7.6 million
- Adjusted EBITDA was $17.2 million vs. $16.6 million YoY
- As of June 2024 after pay downs of $7 million on the revolving credit facility the company’s outstanding debt balance was $87 million with $10.5 million in cash.
El Pollo Loco Q1 2024
Mar 27, 2024
- Total revenue was $116 million vs. $114 million QoQ
- Comp sales increased by 5.1% QoQ
- Net income was $5.9 million vs. $4.9 million QoQ
- Adjusted EBITDA was $15.7 million vs. $12.2 million QoQ
- As of March 2024 after pay downs of $4 million on the revolving credit facility the company’s outstanding debt was $80 million with $9.1 million in cash
- During the first quarter the company purchased $1.2 million worth of shares
- **Fiscal 2024 outlook includes opening 2 new company owned restaurants and 7 franchised restaurants with capital expenditures of $25 to $28 million **