El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc. in Costa Mesa signed a franchise development deal with Listo Way Group LLC to enter the Louisiana market with the chain’s first restaurants outside the Southwest region.
Franchise operator Jason Trotter plans two restaurants in Lafayette, La., by 2018.
Trotter has prior restaurant industry experience and is a former franchisee of the fast-casual Mediterranean restaurant company Zoës Kitchen. He opened and operated five restaurants in Florida, Alabama and Louisiana from 2006 to 2015.
The franchise fee for one El Pollo Loco is $40,000, and it costs between $900,000 and $1.8 million, excluding real estate, to open a location.
The restaurant franchiser and operator is the No. 3 OC-based restaurant chain and had systemwide sales last year of $753 million. It employs 750 locally and about 5,200 companywide.
—Michael de los Reyes
