El Pollo Loco Expanding Its Long Beach Reach

El Pollo Loco is coming to Belmont Shore. About August 2019, the shuttered Jack in the Box at 5252 East Second Street will emerge as an El Pollo Loco. Making it the third Long Beach El Pollo Loco franchise operated by Cypress-based WKS Restaurant Group. CEO Roland Spongberg said, “We’re working our way through the city” to get it open, adding that the city has been easy to work with in this process.

He attributed the closing of the previous tenant to another Jack in the Box within a mile of the old location at Termino and Ocean. Jack in the Box has been on the Shore since 1961.

Winner of the 2019 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in Orange County, Spongberg’s WKS owns 191 locations of various franchises, including Denny’s, Krispy Kreme, Wendy’s, Corner Bakery, the newly opened Blaze Pizza in Phoenix and in Long Beach, two locations, going on three, of El Pollo Loco.

When WKS acquired 52 Wendy’s locations in January 2018, Nation’s Restaurant News reported WKS “is the largest El Pollo Loco and Krispy Kreme franchise group.”

Spongberg, who resides in East Long Beach near CSULB, grew up in North Long Beach and graduated from Jordan High School in 1970. His father owned Spongberg Mortuary on East Market Street and Linden Avenue. “We lived right next door. My father sold it 15 years ago.”

Attending Long Beach City College, then serving as a missionary, Spongberg graduated as an accounting major from BYU in 1976.

In 1988, he built his first El Pollo Loco at Anaheim Street and Newport Avenue, a location his company continues to operate. Then came the location at Clark Avenue and Los Coyotes Diagonal.

El Pollo Loco came from Mexico via the Ochoa brothers, who opened several shops in downtown Los Angeles – all walk-up locations. “The downtown LA, core customer was Hispanic,” said Spongberg. “But that changed over time. The original is still there. Dennys bought them out in the early 80s, but the Ochoas still own El Pollo Loco locations in Mexico.”

When Spongberg opened his franchise, there were 100 locations, all in Southern California. Now there are close to 500 in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Texas, with expansion plans in place.

Spongberg attributes the popularity of the chain to “great food, pretty much made in the restaurant, fresh salsa, chicken that’s never frozen and marinated twice a day, beans that are cooked in the restaurant and freshly made salad. The chicken is marinated twice a day, with a formula under lock and key.”

Asked about the El Pollo Loco core customer, he simply said, “ El Pollo Loco attracts everybody from South Central L.A. to Newport Beach.” About Yelp ratings, Spongberg stated, “It doesn’t get used as much for my kind of brands,” El Pollo Loco or Kripsy Kreme. “It’s used for a restaurant customers don’t know.”

Kripsy Kreme is another issue. “I’ve been into a franchise for 10 years, when opened there’d be lines, but too many were built too close together and [other] corporate problems.”

Spongberg’s most recent brand is the Phoenix-based Blaze Pizza, “an artisan pizza,” the crust determining the artisan aspect. “It used to take 30 to 45 minutes to cook a pizza but now it can be done in 180 seconds, similar to how it’s done in Subway,” said Spongberg. “Now people eat pizza for lunch when they didn’t before.”

Recently, local El Pollo Loco stores were redesigned from the vivid yellow and orange color scheme to a color best described as grey accented with mosaic tiles. “The company used designers and architects they rely on,” said Spongberg. Franchisees “have a voice, but the decisions are made by corporate. The dining room and exteriors were changed and bathrooms were all remodeled. The reaction was mixed, but a lot of people love it.”

These days, a key issue is drive-thru service, an issue before the City Council. Currently, Long Beach is under a so-called “drive-thru moratorium,” which might lift once a new ordinance goes into effect. Spongberg described drive-thru as part of a “car-oriented culture.” Seventy percent of Wendy’s business is drive-thru. At El Pollo Loco, 50 percent use the drive-thru.” As Wendy’s food is easier to eat, “El Pollo Loco doesn’t work that way,” meaning a customer will need a knife and fork.

Asked if the moratorium could affect the new Belmont Shore opening, Brian Spongberg replied there’d be no impact, “because the drive-thru was approved years ago and it goes with the land of the new store.”

Asked if his is a chicken business or a Mexican food business, Spongberg stated, “I’m in the people business. I work with great people. Some of my family is involved and they do a great job. My management team is outstanding. It makes a great difference when you have a great general manager in a restaurant.”

steve@beachcomber.news