FoodBud
RankingsInsightsMixue SeriesArchiveMethodologyDataSearch中文
RankingsInsightsMixue SeriesArchiveMethodologyDataSearch中文
FoodBud

Global foodservice chain intelligence. Every figure should link back to a source.

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Company card

El Pollo Loco

High
Brand

Nasdaq LOCO · US

Listing status
listed
Operating model
Mixed direct + franchise
Scale basis
GMV / system sales
Confidence
High
Segment
qsr chicken

System sales now gives a better demand-scale view than listed revenue alone; keep corporate revenue and profit as earning-power context.

Scale basis note

Terminal transaction scale across the network. Useful for franchise reach, not the same as listed-company revenue.

Compare this operator
Every number has a source row

Metrics below keep source tier, quality, period, and source link visible at the metric level.

Source tiers
S1Official primary — filings, annual reports, prospectuses
S2Official secondary — IR decks, transcripts
S3Supplementary — vetted media, databases
S0Not usable — flagged, never published

Source tiers — S1 official primary · S2 official secondary · S3 supplementary · S0 not usable. Open “Provenance” on any number for its tier, basis, precision, and do-not-use note.

GMV is not revenue

GMV/system sales, revenue, and royalty pool sales are separate scale bases. Screening proxies are directional only.

MetricValuePeriod / basisQualitySource
Stores
Reported restaurant, coffee shop, tea shop, bakery, or comparable chain units.
511 stores
FY2025 (53 weeks ended December 31, 2025): Restaurants at end of period: 175 company-operated and 328 franchised locations, totaling 503 domestic restaurants. Excludes the eight licensed restaurants in the Philippines. (operator store_count 511; latest research 503 FY2025 (53 weeks
Source-backed
S1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Regulatory Filing · Restaurants at end of period: 175 company-operated and 328 franchised locations, totaling 503 domestic restaurants. Excludes the eight licensed restaurants in the Philippines. (operator store_count 511; latest research 503 FY2025 (53 weeks
Provenance
Tier: S1 official primary
Source: Regulatory Filing
Scale
Terminal transaction scale across the network. Useful for franchise reach, not the same as listed-company revenue.
$1.13B
FY2025 (53 weeks ended December 31, 2025): System-wide sales for the fifty-three weeks ended December 31, 2025 were $1,125,405 (in thousands).
GMV / system salesTerminal transaction scale across the network. Useful for franchise reach, not the same as listed-company revenue.
Source-backed
S1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Regulatory Filing · System-wide sales for the fifty-three weeks ended December 31, 2025 were $1,125,405 (in thousands).
Provenance
Tier: S1 official primary
Source: Regulatory Filing
Basis: GMV / system sales
Precision: Source-backed
Scale per store
Screening proxy: scale divided by store count. It is not audited AUV or unit profit.
$2.2M
Screening proxy
Derived scale_per_store using scale ÷ store_count at the linked scale basis; not a separately reported company metric.
GMV / system salesTerminal transaction scale across the network. Useful for franchise reach, not the same as listed-company revenue.
Source-backed
S1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Operator Metric Source · Source used for operator metric extraction.
Provenance
Tier: S1 official primary
Source: Operator Metric Source
Basis: GMV / system sales
Precision: Derived
Profit signal
Profit signal from the source period. Read with local accounting and segment mix in mind.
$26.49M
FY2025 (53 weeks ended December 31, 2025): Net income for the fifty-three weeks ended December 31, 2025 was $26,486 (in thousands).
Profit-positiveScale basis not specified. Use as a screening signal until a source pack is attached.
Source-backed
S1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Regulatory Filing · Net income for the fifty-three weeks ended December 31, 2025 was $26,486 (in thousands).
Provenance
Tier: S1 official primary
Source: Regulatory Filing
Basis: Profit-positive
Revenue
Source-backed operating metric from the locked research snapshot.
$490.05M
USD 490M revenue (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
Revenue proxyRecognized company revenue. Useful for accounting scale, but not directly comparable with GMV/system sales.
Source-backed
S1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Operator Metric Source · Source used for operator metric extraction.
Provenance
Tier: S1 official primary
Source: Operator Metric Source
Basis: Revenue proxy
Precision: Source-backed

Market data (listed companies)

Market valuation · fluctuates · not operational scale · do not compare with GMV / system sales. Listed companies only.

MetricValuePeriod / basisQualitySource
Market cap
Public market capitalization captured in the locked source snapshot.
$428.5M
Directional proxy
May 22, 2026: Unverified: no citable primary disclosure with a verbatim excerpt found. No authoritative source with a pinned May 22, 2026 closing price found. ~30.455M shares outstanding per April 1, 2026 10-Q. Stock was $13.51 on May 7, 2026 and ~$16.23
Market cap (USD)Scale basis not specified. Use as a screening signal until a source pack is attached.
Directional proxy
S3 supplementary (opens in new tab)
Media Or Aggregator · Unverified: no citable primary disclosure with a verbatim excerpt found. No authoritative source with a pinned May 22, 2026 closing price found. ~30.455M shares outstanding per April 1, 2026 10-Q. Stock was $13.51 on May 7, 2026 and ~$16.23
Provenance
Tier: S3 supplementary
Source: Media Or Aggregator
Basis: Market cap (USD)
Precision: Market snapshot · not operational scale
⚠ Do not use for: Market valuation · not operational scale · never compare with GMV/system sales

Operator profile

15/20 source-backed

Classification, firmographics, ownership and operating dimensions — source-backed where disclosed, marked as a gap (never inferred) where not.

Format & positioning
Cuisine (primary)
chickenS2 official secondary (opens in new tab)
Cuisine (secondary)
mexican latinS2 official secondary (opens in new tab)
Service model
QSRtrade_press (opens in new tab)
Price tier
midanalyst (opens in new tab)
Company
Founded
1,975secondary (opens in new tab)
HQ country
United Statessecondary (opens in new tab)
CEO
Liz Williamsprimary (opens in new tab)
Employees
4,037secondary (opens in new tab)~
Ownership
Parent
Public-standalone; former PE owners Trimaran Capital and Freeman Spogli have wound down/exited their long-held stakes by 2023-2024tier2_press (opens in new tab)
PE / holding
Activist Sardar Biglari (Biglari Capital) held a significant ~15% stake as of April 2025; legacy PE sponsors Trimaran/Freeman Spogli largely exitedtier2_press (opens in new tab)
Recent M&A
not disclosed
Growth
System sales YoY
4.3%S1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Revenue YoY
0.9%S1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Net new units
3 unitsS1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Pricing & digital
Avg check
not disclosed
Digital sales
27%earnings call transcript (opens in new tab)~
Loyalty members
5,300,00010-K SEC filing (opens in new tab)
Franchise terms
Royalty
5%FDD summary (FDD Exchange) (opens in new tab)
Franchise fee
$40,000FDD summary (FDD Exchange) (opens in new tab)
By-market footprint
United States
511 storesS1 official primary (opens in new tab)

Store counts by market/region — footprint context, not a same-basis comparison.

Disclosed store model

disclosed7/7 source-backed

Company-operated vs franchised footprint, AUV and store-level economics — taken verbatim from each operator's own filing, never inferred. A separate axis from company scale and single-store economics.

Total stores
511 stores
511 restaurants at 2025-12-31: 175 company-operated, 328 domestic franchised, and 8 licensed restaurants in the Philippines.
Source-backedS1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Operational scale
$1.1B
USD 1.125405 billion FY2025 system-wide sales; company-operated restaurant revenue was USD 405.817 million and franchise restaurant sales were USD 719.588 million.
Source-backedS1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Revenue
$490M
USD 490M revenue (RevenueFromContractWithCustomerIncludingAssessedTax)
Source-backedS1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Company-operated
see brand drilldown
Franchised
see brand drilldown

Brand drilldown

non-additive

Per-brand detail — NOT additive (brands may use different bases / periods) and NOT counted in rankings. Listed for transparency only.

El Pollo Loco
Operating margin
8.7%
FY2024
Source-backedS1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Food cost %
25.4%
FY2024
Source-backedS1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Labor cost %
32.1%
FY2024
Source-backedS1 official primary (opens in new tab)
Marketing cost %
4.1%
FY2024
Source-backedS1 official primary (opens in new tab)

Single-store model

1/8 source-backed

Unit economics are a separate axis from company-level scale — never read as the same number. Each field keeps its source, period, and quality; derived/estimated rows and gaps are marked.

AUV / unit sales
Derived; not disclosed AUV.
Derived: gmv_or_system_sales_usd 1,125,405,000/511=~USD2,202,358/store.
FY2024_or_latest_L1
EstimatedNeeds source
Single-store profit
GAP — not fabricated.
—
GapSource (opens in new tab)
Initial investment
GAP — not fabricated.
—
GapSource (opens in new tab)
Franchise fee / royalty
GAP — not fabricated.
—
GapSource (opens in new tab)
Payback period
GAP — not fabricated.
—
GapSource (opens in new tab)
Same-store sales
GAP — not fabricated.
—
GapSource (opens in new tab)
Store open / close
GAP — not fabricated.
—
GapSource (opens in new tab)
Company-operated share
GAP — not fabricated.
—
GapSource (opens in new tab)

Cost structure

4/6 source-backed

Where each revenue dollar goes, latest disclosed year. Slices use each operator's reported base — % of revenue unless the row notes otherwise (% of GMV, restaurant-level, franchise goods-supply COGS). Grey = not separately disclosed. This is a separate axis from company scale and single-store economics.

Food / COGS25.4%
FY2024· food/labor on company-restaurant rev $396.3M; margin group on total revS1 official primary (opens in new tab)Source-backed
Rent bundled in occupancy&other 25.1% (not separable). Co-restaurant contribution margin 17.4% derived.
Labor32.1%
FY2024· food/labor on company-restaurant rev $396.3M; margin group on total revS1 official primary (opens in new tab)Source-backed
Rent bundled in occupancy&other 25.1% (not separable). Co-restaurant contribution margin 17.4% derived.
Rent / occupancy—
FY2024· food/labor on company-restaurant rev $396.3M; margin group on total revGap
Rent bundled in occupancy&other 25.1% (not separable). Co-restaurant contribution margin 17.4% derived.
Delivery commission—
FY2024· food/labor on company-restaurant rev $396.3M; margin group on total revGap
Rent bundled in occupancy&other 25.1% (not separable). Co-restaurant contribution margin 17.4% derived.
Marketing4.1%
FY2024· food/labor on company-restaurant rev $396.3M; margin group on total revS1 official primary (opens in new tab)Source-backed
Rent bundled in occupancy&other 25.1% (not separable). Co-restaurant contribution margin 17.4% derived.
Operating margin8.7%
FY2024· food/labor on company-restaurant rev $396.3M; margin group on total revS1 official primary (opens in new tab)Source-backed
Rent bundled in occupancy&other 25.1% (not separable). Co-restaurant contribution margin 17.4% derived.
Not separately disclosed29.7%

Supply chain

3 suppliers · 2 with S1 filing

Who supplies this brand — reverse-extracted from each supplier's own filing (top-customer / related-party disclosure). The % is the supplier's revenue share from this brand (supplier-side, not procurement spend), unless a note says otherwise. Each edge keeps its period, source tier, and audit link; named relationships without a disclosed % are shown as such.

McLane Company, Inc.
Distribution
discloses as: El Pollo Loco
—named (no % disclosed)S1 filingsource (opens in new tab)
Performance Food Group Customized Distribution (PFG Customized)NYSE:PFGC
Distribution
discloses as: El Pollo Loco
—named (no % disclosed)S1 filingsource (opens in new tab)
ArrowStream (a Buyers Edge company)
Technology
discloses as: El Pollo Loco
—named (no % disclosed)S2 citedsource (opens in new tab)

Peers in this segment

WingstopGMV / system salesCollins Foods LimitedRevenue proxyChick-fil-AGMV / system sales

Same segment — each operator keeps its own scale basis; this is navigation, not a like-for-like comparison.