El Pollo Loco has signed its first lease in Queens, New York, targeting a mid-2027 opening, and closed three development agreements covering 15 New York-area restaurants over the next five years.

The California-based fire-grilled chicken chain, with more than 500 restaurants concentrated primarily in the Southwest, is betting that a rebuilt operating infrastructure and a stronger franchise economic model will succeed where two earlier national expansions failed.

The New York development will be led by one longtime El Pollo Loco franchise partner and two new franchise partners. It marks a critical test of the brand's stated goal of becoming national. El Pollo Loco has tried and failed before — once in the 1980s, again in the mid-2000s, and most recently in 2014, when a development deal for 15 restaurants in the New York-Newark, New Jersey, markets produced zero openings.

CEO Liz Williams, who joined roughly three years ago, has argued that those failures stemmed from operational gaps rather than the concept itself.

"This brand has had too many false starts when it came to the question of whether it can be a national brand. We think absolutely," Williams said in January. "We're ready to push across the country."

She said past openings lacked the systems to sustain them.

"We would open new restaurants in new locations, and we wouldn't have the infrastructure that trained people the right way and standards that held the test of time," she said. "People turn over and things fall apart. We have fixed that."

The fix shows up in the numbers that matter to franchisees. Restaurant margins reached above 19% in the second quarter, up from 13.2% in 2022 — a roughly six-point improvement that strengthens the pitch to new operators in a high-cost market like New York.

"New York represents an important milestone for El Pollo Loco and a clear proof point in our disciplined growth strategy," Williams said this week in a statement. "We have strengthened our brand and operations, enhanced our business model, and assembled an experienced leadership team to support sustainable expansion. With committed franchise partners and our first New York lease secured, we are excited to introduce the East Coast to the fire-grilled flavor and hospitality that have defined El Pollo Loco for five decades."

To support the push, the company has added two executives. Damon Thomas, most recently of Shake Shack, has been named chief operating officer. Tara Hinkle joins as chief development officer with nearly 20 years in franchising and development, including roles as president and head of Americas for The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and franchise strategy leadership positions at Taco Bell and Starbucks.

"Entering New York is a meaningful step in building a thoughtful, scalable development pipeline for El Pollo Loco," Hinkle said in a statement. "We are focused on choosing the right sites, selecting and supporting strong operators, and growing in a way that creates lasting value for our guests, franchisees and shareholders."

Geographically, the chain has been stretching beyond its Southwest base. It recently entered Idaho, its 10th state; New York will be the 11th.

The Queens opening in mid-2027 will be the first concrete test of whether the 19%-margin model and rebuilt training infrastructure can carry the brand into the country's most competitive restaurant market — and finally sustain a national footprint.