How Pollo Campero will triple US footprint in 5 years

Only 80 of Pollo Campero's 350 global locations are in the U.S., but the 50-year-old brand born in Guatemala is on a mission to increase its presence in the States to 250 by 2026.

Considering that it maintained strong U.S. sales throughout COVID-19 — achieving average unit volumes of $1.9 million — Pollo Campero is well on its way, according to Luis Javier Rodas. The managing director and COO recently chatted with FastCasual about how the brand will become one of the dominant players in the $38 billion fast-food chicken franchise segment.

The fact that the chain was ready for the pandemic before it arrived was all the proof Rodas needs. In early 20220, for example, the chain upgraded its digital ecosystem, which meant a relaunch of the e-commerce platform, additional third-party delivery integration and a new loyalty program.

"All of these made it so that when the pandemic hit, we were already fully prepared to meet the customers where they were, using delivery, curbside pickup and drive-thru, and our overall sales not only did not drop, they rose," Rodas told FastCasual. "We had our most successful year on record in 2020 and are on track to match that again this year, with 25% year-over-year same-store sales.

"And even better, as the pandemic wanes and enthusiasm for in-store dining returns, these customers that we would have never reached before tapping into delivery are dining in and our pre-pandemic legacy customers are flooding back to the stores. Truthfully, it was a little bit of luck and skill and a lot of hard work."

See below for the rest of the interview.
Q. What is your strategy to reach 250 restaurants across the U.S. over the next five years? How will you do it? How many US locations do you have now?
Rodas: We currently have 80-plus locations in the United States and are really dialed in on domestic growth. Our strategy is simple and focused. We aren't looking to grow like crazy or grow just in one market. Our initial focus is corporate growth in California, New York, Chicago and Florida, specifically Miami and Orlando. Our franchise growth is focused on North Florida.

Our plan for the next five years is to add 120 corporate units and 70-80 franchise units. We have crunched the numbers extensively and feel confident that we can add upwards of 1,000 restaurants eventually and we're actively beefing up our systems to accommodate. We are working to strengthen our capabilities and continue to build a really solid team to support our franchisees and overall brand growth. The potential of our brand is huge and our AUV is top-tier at nearly $2.4 million.

Q. How do you attract multi-unit franchisees?
Rodas: We have partnered with a franchise PR and digital agency, Mainland who is really helping us attract the right people. We are working to develop a network and connections with movers and shakers that we haven't had in the past. The chicken industry is huge and is showing no signs of slowing down and we are not just a great opportunity in general, but a great opportunity for prospective owners that are looking to diversify their brand offerings and include a chicken franchise but maybe missed out on partnering with KFC or Popeyes. We are really looking to partner with people who are wanting to open over five locations and have some existing experience in the restaurant space. Ultimately, we want people who understand who we are and are aligned in our vision and culture.

Q. Did you make any type of operations shift or change during COVID that you will keep?
Rodas: We didn't make any specific operations changes, but we did add in a handful of new ways to connect with our customers. As I stated earlier, we implemented digital dining, delivery, curbside pickup and a nationwide call center (1-866-CAMPERO). These have been really powerful tools to reach more people and a great way to capture those excess sales. We, like everyone else, didn't know the pandemic was going to hit when it did, but we had fortunately set ourselves up for big success because of these changes made to streamline the process.

A. What is your sales mix of delivery, carry out and dine in?
Rodas: As it stands now, we are at about 40% of our sales are dine-in, 30% is take-out, 15% is delivery and 15% is drive-thru.
Q. Which of the three is most crucial to your business?
Rodas: At this point, honestly, all of them. They all play such a huge role in our success. However, as we start to get back to normal, dine in is really important. It's something that we have missed over the last 18 months and people are enthusiastic about experiencing again. We are excited to see what happens as things become more and more "normal."

Another channel we are looking to improve is drive thru. Our experience now is really standard, but we are working with different consultants to make the process faster and more efficient. We are looking to add more technology as well. Drive-thru is such a huge part of our orders and while historically, only 35-45% of our restaurants offer drive-thru, 95% of our new leases will offer drive-thru.

Q. Do you use third-party platforms? Why or Why not? When is it worth the cost?
Rodas: We do, yes. Our primary partnerships are with DoorDash, GrubHub and UberEats. We think the third-party platforms are well worth the investment. While we were a little skeptical at first, we were fully sold after just the first six-to-eight weeks. We invested a lot into digital and these partnerships and the more we invest, the more revenue we capture and the greater our customer base becomes.