Food & Beverage · registry year 2024 · HQ CA
El Pollo Loco Franchise
A El Pollo Loco Holdings brand operating in the food & beverage sector, franchising since 1983. According to the 2024 FDD filing for El Pollo Loco, this is an editorial comparison record; it does not reproduce the brand's current FDD.
- $1.1M – $2.3M
- Initial investment · Higher entry cost
- 4.0%
- Royalty rate · Below-average royalty
- 490
- Total locations · Mid-size network
FDD outlay schedule
Registry el-pollo-loco El Pollo Loco
El Pollo Loco needs $1.1M–$2.3M to open and charges a 4.0% royalty - an entry cost above the typical food & beverage franchise.
- LO $1.1M
- HI $2.3M
- FEE $40K
- ROY 4.0%
- UNT 490
- I19 Silent
- INV# #30/223
- UNT# #146/223
Same-sector Item 7 peers
Nearest Item 7 peer: Whataburger ($1.1M)
Same-sector Item 7 neighbourhood for El Pollo Loco (registry year 2024). Listed lows only - not a profit, cost-of-living, or suitability claim. Verify the current FDD before relying on these figures. How we place brands →
Franchise Opportunity Health Score
How healthy and transparent El Pollo Loco's franchise system looks, from 2 of 2 tracked dimensions.
- Network momentum 2.0% net unit growth (YoY) 43/100 · F
- Financial disclosure Item 19 not disclosed 0/100 · F
Benchmarked against the 223-brand tracked corpus (p10-p90 range per dimension); a higher score means a growing unit count and a disclosed Item 19. See how we place brands.
Where El Pollo Loco's investment ranks nationally
El Pollo Loco's listed Item 7 low of $1.1M against every one of the 218 tracked franchise brands with a disclosed initial investment. Listed figures only, verify in the current FDD before relying on them.
El Pollo Loco vs all tracked franchise brands by listed investment
Initial investment low (FDD Item 7), PlainFranchise brand corpus
$1,090,000 Higher than most higher than 86% of 218 franchise brands
Franchise brands, banded by listed Item 7 low
Each bar is a $0.001K-wide band; taller bars hold more franchise brands. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count and share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source PlainFranchise editorial comparison registry · 2024-12-31
Investment Overview
- Franchise Fee
- $40K
- Ad Fund Rate
- 2.0%
Revenue Data (Item 19)
Item 19 Not Disclosed
This franchisor did not provide financial performance data in their FDD. This is common, disclosure is optional.
Network Size & Growth
Net Growth Rate
Year-over-year unit change
10 locations closed in the last reporting year
Quick Facts
- Sector
- Food & Beverage
- Subsector
- quick service restaurant
- Founded
- 1980
- Franchising Since
- 1983
- Headquarters
- CA
- FDD Year
- 2024
- Item 19
- Not Disclosed
Important Notice · El Pollo Loco
This El Pollo Loco page is a registry comparison record, not a verified FDD extract. It does not establish suitability, operating costs, profitability, or expected results for El Pollo Loco.
Higher-band investment fields for El Pollo Loco
Signature read: 490 locations · Item 7 low $1.1M
El Pollo Loco, a El Pollo Loco Holdings franchise, has been franchising since 1983 - 3 years after the concept was founded in 1980 , currently with 490 total locations (280 franchised, 210 company-owned; 57% of the recorded total is franchised) in the food & beverage sector, headquartered in CA. The registry records a total initial investment between $1.1M and $2.3M, recorded as a low-to-high range in the registry. The registry separately records a franchise-fee field of $40K; its summary does not reproduce every Item 7 line item.
The brand charges 4.0% of gross sales in ongoing royalties, plus a 2.0% national ad-fund field; the listed percentages sum to 6.0%. No Item 19 financial-performance field is recorded for El Pollo Loco. This registry does not infer a financial outcome from that absence.
Network momentum is currently positive: El Pollo Loco added units at a 2.0% net rate year-over-year (20 openings, 10 closures). This is a reported network-size change, not a measure of profitability, demand, or franchisee outcomes.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a El Pollo Loco franchise cost?
How many El Pollo Loco locations are there?
What are the ongoing fees for a El Pollo Loco franchise?
Related reading for El Pollo Loco: How to Evaluate a Franchise , El Pollo Loco has no Item 19 in this registry, diligence without a financial performance representation.
Snapshot uses the registry's listed Item 7 initial-investment low and Item 20 location-count fields. It is a descriptive comparison, not a ranking or investment recommendation.
How El Pollo Loco's Item 7 and Item 19 fields are labeled (expand)
Nationwide brands with similar investment or network size
Two data-derived peer sets for El Pollo Loco , both outside HQ state CA : nearest Item 7 lows and nearest total-location counts, not the same-sector roster below.
Similar listed investment
Nearest Item 7 lows ($1.1M here).
Similar network size
Nearest total location counts (490 here).
What to do with this
El Pollo Loco at a glance, drawn from the same figures above.
- El Pollo Loco scores 22/100 (F) on our composite opportunity read, combining net unit growth and Item 19 financial-disclosure transparency.
- Its $1.1M – $2.3M entry cost runs above the typical food & beverage franchise.
- Ranks #30 of 223 listed franchises by initial investment. See rankings
- Whataburger sits at a comparable investment level ($1.1M) in the same sector. Compare
Editorial comparison registry, not a source-linked FDD record. Verify the current FDD before relying on any figure.
Read our methodology - what this registry can and cannot establish.
Source: PlainFranchise editorial registry Record-level FDD source link and retrieval date pending
| Publisher | PlainFranchise |
| Sources | Public state franchise disclosure registries and FDD filings |