El Pollo Loco plans to expand nationwide

El Pollo Loco, a Costa Mesa-based fast food chain that operates restaurants across America, plans to further expand across the country after netting $45 million in equity funds.

The chain, which specializes in flame-grilled chicken, announced Thursday it had raised the funds from Freeman Spogli & Co., a Los Angeles-based private equity firm.

Julie Weeks, El Pollo Loco’s vice president for communications, said the company would use the funding for corporate purposes and also to increase its number of nationwide restaurants next year.

El Pollo Loco began in Mexico in 1975 and opened its first American restaurant in Los Angeles in 1980. The chain operates more than 350 company-owned and franchise locations across America.

Weeks said the chain had originally planned to add 50 new restaurants in 2008, but would increase that number substantially with the new funding.

The company, she added, did not have a definite number of new locations yet.

“We’re very excited to continue to expand this wonderful brand across the nation, and we look forward to the opportunity to share with more people our great food,” Weeks said.

During its first two decades, El Pollo Loco operated all its locations west of the Mississippi, but began in 2004 to expand to the East Coast.

Weeks said likely locations for the new restaurants included New England and Georgia, as well as Utah, Arizona and other Southwestern states.

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com.