Franchises · 2026 FDD · Wisconsin DFI filing 640613
El Pollo Loco franchise cost, unit revenue and closures
Opening a El Pollo Loco cost $793,750 to $2,685,500 in the 2026 FDD; the median unit sold $2,087,969 in the franchisor's fiscal 2025 (from 2024-12-26) figures; 2.6% of franchised units closed over three years.
Franchisor: El Pollo Loco, Inc.. FDD issued 2026-03-31. Fiscal year end 2025-12-31. Figures re-found on the cited page 2026-11-03.
What a unit costs to open
What a unit pays the franchisor
| Initial franchise fee | $40,000 | Item 5, p. 15 |
|---|---|---|
| Royalty | 5% of monthly Net Sales | Item 6, p. 19 |
| Advertising fund | Advertising Fee 5% of monthly Net Sales (4% in the Los Angeles DMA) | Item 6, p. 19 |
What a unit sells
Item 19 is optional and is the franchisor's own representation. It is shown here as filed, with the franchisor's measure, sample and period, and nothing is estimated where it is missing.
| Measure | Net Sales, fiscal 2025, Franchised Restaurants (All Total Restaurants row) | |
|---|---|---|
| Sample | 285 units: franchised restaurants operating the entire 2025 fiscal year (from 2024-12-26); franchisor restaurants (162, median $2,283,681) and the combined 447 reported beside them; quartile tiers also given | |
| Period | fiscal 2025 (from 2024-12-26) | |
| High / low | $5,042,463 / $727,366 | |
Revenue to investment
Formula: Item 19 franchised median / Item 7 total (midpoint, low, high). A ratio of 1.00 means one year of median unit revenue equals the investment; it says nothing about profit.
How many units open and close
| Franchised units | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start of year | 302 | 323 | 325 |
| Opened | 21 | 3 | 11 |
| Terminated | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Not renewed | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Reacquired by franchisor | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Ceased, other reasons | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| End of year | 323 | 325 | 328 |
| Company-owned, end of year | 172 | 173 | 175 |
Item 20, Table 1 p. 91; Table 3 totals p. 92.
Closures are the franchisor's Item 20 counts of units terminated, not renewed, or ceased for other reasons, summed over 2023–2025 and divided by franchised units at the start of 2023. Units the franchisor reacquired are not closures. This is an Item 20 count, not a failure rate.
all three rows sum; exits are printed in parentheses.
Source and method
Every figure above comes from the El Pollo Loco Franchise Disclosure Document issued 2026-03-31, as filed with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (filing 640613, registry record). The PDF is the franchisor's and is not hosted here; the item and page beside each figure is where to check it. Item 7 and Item 20 tables were read cell by cell; Item 19 was read by hand; each Item 20 year was checked to sum (start + opened − exits = end) before it was recorded.
Informational only, not professional, legal or investment advice. Unitnomics computes from the filing and does not advise on, rank, or refer to any franchise. Last reviewed: November 2026.