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Companies / Consumer Discretionary / El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc.
LOCO

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc.

Consumer DiscretionaryRestaurants
Ticker LOCOCOSTA MESA, CAFiscal year ends DecemberBook value per share $10.61Diluted shares 29.9M

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: LOCO) operates a differentiated restaurant concept specializing in fire-grilled, citrus-marinated chicken served in Mexican-inspired entrees. The company's website is elpolloloco.com. From the company’s description.

Fiscal year 2025 · ends 12-30Changes are against fiscal 2024The amber dot is the latest twelve months, to 2026-07-01
Sales & profitability
$490.05M
+3.6% year over year
Last 12 mo $500.79M
8.58%
−0.1 percentage points
Last 12 mo 10.52%
$26.49M
+3.1% year over year
Last 12 mo $34.86M
9.10%
−0.8 percentage points
Last 12 mo 11.00%
Cash & financing
$48.08M
+2.8% year over year
Last 12 mo $73.94M
$25.44M
−8.2% year over year
Last 12 mo $41.01M
0.18
Was 0.28× a year earlier
Last 12 mo 0.10
29.4M
−2.1% year over year
Last 12 mo 29.9M

Margins and return on equity change in ; everything else in percent. Fewer shares and less debt are shown plainly, not as bad news — it depends what you make of buybacks. Dotted labels explain each measure. is shown separately from the annual figures.

What El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. does

In the company’s own words

El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: LOCO) operates a differentiated restaurant concept specializing in fire-grilled, citrus-marinated chicken served in Mexican-inspired entrees. The company's website is elpolloloco.com.

Founded in 1980 with its first location on Alvarado Street in Los Angeles, California, El Pollo Loco has grown into a significant player in the limited service restaurant segment. As of December 31, 2025, the company operates 503 domestic restaurants comprising 175 company-operated locations and 328 franchised restaurants, with an additional 8 licensed restaurants in the Philippines. The restaurant footprint spans California, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Colorado, Washington, and Louisiana, with California representing the principal market.

The company's signature offering centers on bone-in and boneless chicken marinated daily with a proprietary recipe of citrus juice, pineapple, garlic, and spices, then fire-grilled and hand-chopped to order. Menu items include burritos, tostadas, bowls, salads, and family-sized meals, complemented by fresh salsas and cilantro dressing prepared in-restaurant. Typical restaurants are free-standing buildings with drive-thru service, ranging from 2,200 to 3,000 square feet with seating for approximately 50 to 70 people.

In 2025, company-operated restaurants generated average annual sales per restaurant of approximately $2.3 million with restaurant-level contribution margins of 17.8%. The company operates as a single reportable segment with all significant revenues derived from retail food and beverage sales through company-operated and franchised restaurants.

As of December 31, 2025, El Pollo Loco employed approximately 4,034 people, including roughly 3,857 hourly restaurant employees and 177 corporate personnel. The company maintains a Loco Rewards loyalty program with 5.3 million members and offers digital ordering through its mobile app, website, and third-party delivery partnerships including DoorDash, Postmates, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Digital and delivery orders constituted 13.8 percent of total sales mix during fiscal 2025. The company holds registered trademarks including El Pollo Loco, Let's Get Loco, and Pollo Bowl across the United States and approximately 40 foreign countries.

Company details
Sector
Consumer Discretionary
Industry
Restaurants
Headquarters
COSTA MESA, CA
Fiscal year end
December
CIK
1606366
SIC
5812

Financial performance, year by year

Fiscal 2014–2025 · USD
$-59.97M$92.96M$245.90M$398.83M$551.77M201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025Last 12 moLast 12 monthsLast 12 months

The full income statement, balance sheet and cash flow for each of these years — every figure traceable to its filing — is on the Financials tab with a free account.

Ownership

Who owns El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. — and what changed

Funds as of 2026Q2 · superinvestors as of 2026-06-30

167
funds hold it
1 of 35
superinvestors hold it
$119.27M
held by funds, at market
25.7%
of shares held by funds

Superinvestors in El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. · what they did last quarter

Polen CapitalINCREASED +253.5%
Polen Capital Management
<0.1%of 13F portfolio

Share of each manager’s reported 13F portfolio. Change is in shares held, since the previous quarter.

Largest fund holders · El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc.’s weight in each

VANGUARD TOTAL STOCK MARKET INDEX FUND
VTI · VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS
0.00%of fund net assets
iShares Russell 2000 ETF
IWM · iShares Trust
0.02%of fund net assets
First Eagle Small Cap Opportunity Fund
FESRX · First Eagle Funds
0.31%of fund net assets
U.S. SMALL CAP VALUE PORTFOLIO
DFSVX · DFA INVESTMENT DIMENSIONS GROUP INC
0.03%of fund net assets
VANGUARD EXTENDED MARKET INDEX FUND
VXF · VANGUARD INDEX FUNDS
0.01%of fund net assets

Fund ownership is a floor, not a census — pensions, insurers and people holding shares directly are not visible here.

Fund ownership counts N-PORT filers only, so it is a floor rather than a census — pensions, insurers and direct holders are not visible here, and the remainder is not “held by individuals”.

Fund ownership is a subset of institutional 13F ownership — the two describe overlapping populations and must not be added together.

Every fund and institutional holder, quarter by quarter, is on the Ownership tab with a free account.

Connected research

Put this business in context.

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