Operations

El Pollo Loco's redesign caters to off-premise dining

Provided

December 2, 2020

El Pollo Loco Inc. has unveiled its "restaurant of the future," designed to enhance off-premise dining powered by a more robust and frictionless digital experience. It also features a modern interpretation of the brand's heritage and strengths, including iconography distinct to Los Angeles and the El Pollo Loco brand.

"Where you will see our commitment to design manifest itself in the most dramatic of ways is with our new restaurant of the future," CDO Brian Carmichall said in a company press release. "To compete in a COVID world, we knew we needed to create a unique concept that is anchored in technology, accessibility, and modern design elements infusing our brand history to make it easier and more rewarding to be a customer."

There are two versions of the new design. One is fully focused on driving business off-premise and has a take-out window, a dual drive-thru, dedicated curbside pick-up parking spaces and patio seating but no indoor dining room.

The second format includes a dual drive-thru, dedicated curbside pick-up parking spaces and a smaller-than-typical dining room that opens to a patio via flexible garage-style doors. When open, the doors blend the indoor and outdoor experience and increase the comfort level of customers dining inside by enabling them to enjoy their meal in an airy, well-ventilated environment, according to the release.

The restaurant designs share an enhanced digitized experience — including cubbies for mobile to-go orders, a double drive-thru with digital menu boards and GPS-enabled curbside pick-up, all integrated with the company's mobile app.

To honor the brand's heritage and highlight what makes El Pollo Loco so unique, subtle brand cues permeate throughout the entire restaurant, from the cleaver door handles (which is a nod to the fact that all chicken is cut to order) to the turning fork chandeliers (which repurposes a tool of trade used by the brand's skilled Grill Masters). Similarly, murals, imagery and city maps evoking the brand's 40-year Los Angeles hometown roots on the interior and exterior walls.

El Pollo Loco has more than 465 company-owned and franchised restaurants.