Orange County-based restaurant chains continued to grow in the past year, reaching $16.4 billion in revenue, a hike of about 8% from a year ago.
This week’s Business Journal list ranks 38 OC-based restaurant chains or operators of significant numbers of franchises based on systemwide revenue last year—a total that reflects overall sales at company-owned and franchised locations.
The companies combined to employ about 21,700 at headquarters operations, as well as restaurants in OC, an increase of 4.6%. They added 17 local restaurant locations for a total of 1,000 here.
Twenty-one of the companies reported an increase in sales in 2015 over 2014. Five companies’ sales fell in the same period.
The Business Journal estimated sales for 12 chains on the list and received estimates on 13 others from Technomic, a restaurant industry researcher in Chicago.
“The California restaurant market has improved since the beginning of the year and is doing a little better than the rest of the county,” said Darren Tristano, executive vice president at Technomic.
The National Restaurant Association, an industry group in Washington, D.C., projects about 5% growth in the U.S. restaurant industry this year.
OC restaurant chains have increased sales—despite wage increases in California—by creating new food items, improving the quality of the products and adding locations, Tristano said.
The more successful chains also have remodeled existing stores to appeal to the millennial generation, he said.
Restaurants have switched to family-friendly environments that invite customers to linger instead of eating quickly or picking up their orders to go.
“That doesn’t mean the restaurants will hold on to those younger customers, because of their changing food preferences,” Tristano said, but the chains have begun to appeal to customers born between the early 1980s and about 2000.
Top 5
• Perennial No. 1, Taco Bell Corp., which is headquartered in Irvine and part of international restaurant company Yum Brands Inc. in Louisville, Ky., has embraced all of those ideas, Tristano said. It further distanced itself from the rest of the pack with a 9.8% year-over-year increase in sales to $9 billion. The chain had 6,942 systemwide locations, up about 12%. It’s OC employees were unchanged at 2,000, but it had three fewer local restaurants for a total of 79.
• BJs Restaurants in Huntington Beach is No. 2 again with about $919 million in sales, up about 9%. The company maintained the same number of OC locations at 10 but reported a 2% increase in employees to 1,379. The chain added 19 locations systemwide for a total of 178.
• El Pollo Loco Holdings in Costa Mesa is No. 3, the same rank as last year, with an estimated $753 million in sales, up about 4%. The Business Journal estimates that the chain had the same number of OC restaurants—51—but opened 18 locations systemwide for a total of 433. The chain reported that it employs 750 locally, an increase of about 9%.
• Del Taco Restaurants Inc. in Lake Forest is No. 4 with an estimated $700 million in sales, up about 7%. The chain’s local employment was flat at 1,259. It added six OC locations for a total of 73. Companywide it added three sites for a total of 550.
• In-N-Out Burger in Irvine is No. 5, with an estimated 5% increase in sales to about $615 million. The company added 13 locations for a total of 313 companywide. The Business Journal estimates that the chain added one OC location for a total of 25. The company reported a 24% increase in local employees to about 2,200.
Newbies
Newcomers to the list ranged from some large companies that had maintained a low profile in prior years to recently launched ventures that have grown sufficiently to meet a minimum of $13 million in annual revenue for this year’s rankings.
• Marwaha Group in Anaheim premiers as No. 7 with an estimated $375 million in systemwide sales at its approximately 1,250 locations. It is privately held and declined to provide its number of employees.
• No. 13 is Southern California Pizza Co. in Orange with an estimated $219 million in revenue. The Business Journal estimates the chain employs 550 and operates 50 locations in OC and 263 sites systemwide.
• Grewal Foods in Irvine is No. 18 with an estimated $124 million in revenue. The chain is estimated to employ 2,700 locally and operate 248 locations systemwide.
• Pieology Pizzeria in Rancho Santa Margarita is No. 25 with about $75 million in sales, up 67%. The company added 45 jobs in OC and employs 205. It added one OC location for a total of four; systemwide it added 44 sites for a total of 100.
• American Restaurant Holdings in Irvine is No. 31 with an estimated $35 million in sales, up from $10 million the prior year. The company employs an estimated 150 locally, and added three OC sites for 10 local restaurants. The chain has 62 sites companywide.
• Lake Forest-based Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour Restaurants is No. 36 with estimated sales of $15.7 million, down 11%. The Business Journal estimates the chain maintained the same number of jobs locally, and employs 75 in OC. The chain closed one location, in Orange County, operates two sites locally and seven systemwide.
• Stacked Restaurants LLC in Huntington Beach is No. 37. It’s notable for its founders, Paul Motenko and Jerry Hennessy, who developed and sold BJs Restaurants about eight years ago. Stacked allows diners to custom-order burgers, sandwiches and salads via an iPad ordering system. The chain reported $14.1 million in sales, up $300,000 from the year prior. The company opened one new store for a total of five.
“Our growth to date has been slow and deliberate,” and the Huntington Beach location is the collection of all the changes made to develop the concept, Motenko said.
• Zov’s Bistro & Bakery in Tustin completes this year’s list at No. 38 and is the last npanywide sales at $13 million. It employs 100 at six sites in OC.