After announcing plans to enter the Denver marketplace with 15 restaurants over the next five years, El Pollo Loco, a fire-grilled chicken restaurant chain, recently signed two separate development agreements to open eight locations. The deals include four units each on the east and west sides of town.

Franchise partners include: LMU Investments, LLC, whose partners own 18 El Pollo Loco restaurants throughout California and Utah, will open four restaurants on the east side of Denver. Their first restaurant will be located in Peoria, Colorado and is expected to open in 2022. The other partner is Pikes Pollo Inc., which will open their four restaurants in West Denver. The partners currently own four restaurants in Southern California.

"These agreements will further expand our footprint in key target markets throughout the Western United States, as well as mark the brand's entry into the Denver market," El Pollo Loco CDO Brian Carmichall said in the release. "Our growth would not be possible without franchisees like LMU Investments and Pikes Pollo, who continue to demonstrate their high level of confidence in El Pollo Loco by bringing our brand and products to life each and every day."

The new design provides a flexible format to meet the needs of the individual site or neighborhood. One version has no indoor dining room. Instead, it caters largely to off-premise sales with a take-out window, a dual drive-thru, parking for curbside pick-up, and patio seating. The second prototype will have a smaller-than-typical dining room that opens up to an expansive patio. This format store will also feature a dual drive-thru and curbside pick-up parking spaces.

Both prototypes share a digitized experience, including "Pollo To Go" cubbies for mobile to-go and delivery orders, digital menu boards and GPS-enabled curbside pick-up, integrated with the company's mobile app.

"This exciting franchise development is a reflection of our Acceleration Agenda, our strategic plan for ongoing national expansion through franchising," Carmichall said. "The success of our better-for-you menu combined with our new L.A. Mex restaurant design has continued to attract experienced multi-unit operators interested in our growing brand."

At El Pollo Loco restaurants, the fresh chicken is marinated in a proprietary recipe of citrus, garlic and spice, fire-grilled over an open flame and hand-cut to order. The grilled chicken serves as the base for an authentic selection of dishes, including family chicken meals, tacos, burritos, quesadillas, bowls and salads. The Pollo Fit section of the menu also offers low-calorie, vegan and keto-certified options for followers of the keto diet.

Over the next few years, the brand's expansion plan is to remodel more than 300 of El Pollo Loco's 478 existing restaurants with the prototype designs and develop 140 new restaurants throughout Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oregon, New Mexico, Texas, and Washington.

El Pollo Loco currently has 478 restaurants in six states, with 282 of those owned and operated by franchisees.

Since 1980, El Pollo Loco has opened and maintained more than 465 company-owned and franchised restaurants in Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, Utah, and Louisiana.

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