FRANCHISE·WATCH·DESK

FILING · MN · 2024 FDD · 1+ YEAR OLD

El Pollo Loco FDD (Franchise Disclosure Document) — 2024

The FDD is the 23-item legal disclosure every U.S. franchisor must hand you at least 14 days before you sign or pay anything (FTC Franchise Rule, 16 CFR 436). El Pollo Loco's most recent FDD tracked here is the 2024 FDD · 1+ year old, filed with the Minnesota Department of Commerce (public CARDS portal). Registration-state filings are public records, so you can read it free, with no sign-up.

Get the documentpublic record · PDF
Download from the Minnesota regulator (free) ↗

PUBLIC RECORD · FILED 2024 · SOURCE STATE MN

What the 2024 filing revealedextracted from the filing
ITEM 5Initial franchise fee$40,000
ITEM 6Ongoing royalty5.0% of gross sales
ITEM 7Total initial investment$794K–$2.7M
ITEM 19Earnings disclosure (FPR)Yes — financial performance representation made
ITEM 20Outlets (fiscal 2024)325 franchised at year end · 1 exits (exit rate 0.3%, fiscal 2024)
Item 19 · how El Pollo Loco's earnings claim is built2024 FDD · page-cited

The headline figure is Average Net Sales Per EPL Restaurant for FY2024 (Dec 28, 2023 - Dec 25, 2024), for 318 of 325 outlets open at year end, leaving out opened during 2024, permanently closed during 2024, temporarily closed 7 or more days and others. The mean is 6% above the median, so a minority of high-volume units pulls the average up. It shows no costs, so it says nothing about what an owner keeps.

PartialCovers 318 of 325 units at year end (98%) · median and mean · no expenses

Graded on three things the filing states: coverage (2 points if the figure covers at least 75% of the units it is compared with, 1 point for 50–75%), centre (2 points if it prints both a median and a mean, 1 for one of them), and costs (2 points for costs through a profit line or full cost detail, 1 for some cost items). 5–6 points = More complete, 3–4 = Partial, 0–2 = Limited. The grade describes the disclosure, not the business.

What is measuredAverage Net Sales Per EPL Restaurant (net sales)
PeriodFY2024 (Dec 28, 2023 - Dec 25, 2024)
Whose resultsFranchised outlets
Units included318 of 325 franchised outlets at the end of FY2024 (Item 20)
Left out
  • opened during 2024 (2)
  • permanently closed during 2024
  • temporarily closed 7 or more days (4)
  • transferred between franchisor and franchisee during 2024
Average (mean)$2.2M
Median$2.1M
Mean vs medianmean 5.5% above median
Met or beat the average162 of 318
Costs shownNone — sales only
Wherep. 95 (Item 19 runs pp. 91–97)

Every figure above was extracted by software from the 2024 El Pollo Loco FDD as filed (figures are not individually checked by a person) and links back to that document. Fields that could not be extracted are omitted; no figure here is estimated. Extraction errors are possible: the filing controls, and FDDs are reissued annually; verify against the current issuance before relying on any number. Spotted an error? Franchisors and owners can report it via the contact on our Terms page.

El Pollo Loco FDD questions, answered

Where can I download the El Pollo Loco FDD for free?

El Pollo Loco's 2024 Franchise Disclosure Document is a public record, filed with the Minnesota Department of Commerce (public CARDS portal). It can be downloaded free from the source link on this page — no broker form, no email signup required.

What year is El Pollo Loco's most recent FDD on file?

The most recent El Pollo Loco FDD tracked here is the 2024 FDD · 1+ year old, filed with the Minnesota Department of Commerce (public CARDS portal). Franchisors must update their FDD annually; confirm you are reading the current issuance before signing.

Does El Pollo Loco's FDD disclose earnings (Item 19)?

Yes — El Pollo Loco makes a financial performance representation in Item 19 of its 2024 FDD. Read the basis fine print: franchisors choose which units and metrics to include.

What does El Pollo Loco's FDD Item 20 show?

In fiscal 2024, El Pollo Loco ended with 325 franchised outlets; 1 of 323 open at the start of the year left the system (exit rate 0.3%, fiscal 2024) through terminations, non-renewals, and "ceased operations — other reasons".

The El Pollo Loco validation checklist

questions built from this brand's own filings · read them all on the profile

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