--- title: "El Pollo Loco accelerates innovation to fill menu gaps" url: https://burnaze.com/article/b3b1808a-f147-48ce-9350-8720d29929c2 source: "Restaurant Business" original_url: https://restaurantbusinessonline.com/food/el-pollo-loco-accelerates-innovation-fill-menu-gaps category: "Chicken" industry: "Restaurants" segment: "Chicken" published: 2026-05-13T23:31:05.000Z modified: 2026-10-31T14:43:51.660Z image: https://cdn.informaconnect.com/platform/files/public/2026-05/background/El%20pollo%20opener.jpg?VersionId=GZHwqmWjxKgIiW6ulwYIdwTs8Jb5DVBi --- # El Pollo Loco accelerates innovation to fill menu gaps **TL;DR:** El Pollo Loco introduces new menu items, including Loco Tenders, to fill gaps in its menu and accelerate innovation. The chain's senior director of culinary innovation, Rene Pisciotti, led the development of the new items, which also include Loaded Quesadillas and Horchata Coffee Drinks. *originally published in Restaurant Business on 2026-05-13. [Read the original](https://restaurantbusinessonline.com/food/el-pollo-loco-accelerates-innovation-fill-menu-gaps).* ## Story Growing up in Southern California, Rene Pisciotti has always been a fan of Costa Mesa-based El Pollo Loco. But when he came on board two years ago as senior director of culinary innovation for the quick-service chicken chain, he noticed that menu innovation came in waves; it wasn’t constant and there were some noticeable gaps in the menu. “In this competitive environment, you have to show that you’re always continuing to innovate to stay ahead and build a strong pipeline,” he said. Pisciotti immediately got to work identifying opportunities on the menu and developing products to fill them. “When your core menu is chicken on the bone and sides that require utensils, it’s not a brand that’s good for eating on the go,” said Pisciotti. “It was clear from customer feedback that people enjoy our food but they weren’t eating it as often as they would like because of limited portable offerings. So we jumped right in to fill that gap.” A signature chicken tender was first on the list. The category is a saturated one, Pisciotti admits, but he felt he had license to differentiate with the brand’s Mexican essence. El Pollo Loco’s bone-in chicken is characterized by a citrus marinade seasoned with a proprietary blend of garlic and spices, and it was natural for the tenders to reflect that flavor profile. “We looked at several different seasoning types that ranged from sweet to very savory to very citrusy and extremely spicy to land on the right combination,” he said. “This one has some brown sugar and subtle warming spice, so it’s not overly spicy but has enough zip.” Loco Tenders have a Mexican flavor profile and crunchy coating. Pisciotti is especially pleased about the way the seasoning mix adheres to the coating—a component that went through a few iterations. “We looked at several different breading and batter types to make sure they gave you the crunch when you bit into the tender,” he explained. “That was really critical for us, but the chicken still had to stay very juicy on the inside.” The third essential element to play in the tender category, after the chicken itself and the coating, is sauce. “You have to have standout dipping sauces, and we wanted to have more than one,” said Pisciotti. He developed three, and customers have a choice of the brand’s House Ranch (launched in January for a salad), signature Pollo Loco Sauce and Baja Lime, both created for the tenders. “I use guajillo chili in the Pollo Loco Sauce to give it some extra spice, a little oomph,” he added. “It’s tangy and savory. And the Baja Lime sauce is essentially a lime crema with bright lime flavor and sour cream. It’s one of my favorite items I've come up with in my time here.” The chain’s Loco Tenders debuted in test in March and rolled out nationwide to all 506 locations towards the end of April. They are now on the permanent menu. El Pollo Loco has periodically offered quesadillas as an LTO, but they were fairly traditional versions filled with grilled chicken and cheese with a choice of sauce. With the goal of continuing to expand portable options, Pisciotti thought, “let’s go back and offer something more substantial, with more variety and flavor.” That “something” turned out to be the new Loaded Quesadillas, also in market test this spring. The basic item is composed of a warm flour tortilla loaded with El Pollo Loco’s signature fire-grilled chicken breast and melted Jack cheese, that’s folded to seal in the ingredients, then grilled and toasted to make a sturdier handheld package. Pisciotti then created two flavor variations. The Queso version is enhanced with fan favorite queso blanco, crunchy tortilla strips and creamy cilantro sauce, while the Street Corn version has corn, red peppers, crumbled Cotija cheese and creamy chipotle sauce. “The Loaded Quesadillas are a bit more portable by the different way we fold them,” said Pisciotti, “and they definitely are heartier. They did really well in test and will be launching systemwide very soon.” Beverages were another gap the chef identified on El Pollo Loco’s menu. “Given where this category was going, there was a wide-open opportunity here, and the brand hadn’t really innovated in the space very much,” said Pisciotti. But trying to pinpoint where to start was a challenge. Ultimately, he decided to build around something that was already in the arsenal: Horchata. Horchata Coffee Drinks tie into El Pollo Loco's Latin culinary leaning. As a Latin-inspired chicken concept, the majority of locations were serving horchata but not really highlighting it very much. Pisciotti saw that iced coffee was a growing category, so he paired it with the horchata for a line of Horchata Coffee Drinks. The result is two new beverages: the classic ChataCoffee, a blend of iced coffee and Mexican-style horchata flavored with cinnamon and vanilla, and the ChataCoffee Cream, topped with a layer of vanilla cold foam. “You can’t be in this category without cold foam, so we brought in cold foam as well as coffee to innovate on the beverage side,” he said. “We are also shining a light on these to make sure people know we have the Horchata Coffee Drinks.” The restaurants in the system also have aguas frescas, but those were not being showcased either. Right now, all locations have two flavors of agua fresca on hand: Strawberry Hibiscus and Mango Lime. “We've done some tests and continue to do testing with drinks that feature the aguas frescas as a base, enhancing them with flavors or inclusions and putting the cold foam on top,” said Pisciotti. Another handheld—a Crispy Grilled Chicken Sandwich—is currently in test, topped with the new Pollo Loco Sauce and house slaw on a toasted bun. But bone-in chicken is also getting some love. Pisciotti developed a new Honey Chipotle BBQ sauce to toss with the chicken pieces; it’s being tested in a whole meal format with BBQ Black Beans, Cole Slaw and King’s Hawaiian Sweet Rolls. “We hadn’t introduced a barbecue sauce to the menu in about eight years, until we brought back Mango Habanero in 2025, and there was a huge demand,” he said. “That showed us there’s a renewed interest in flavor news for bone-in chicken, so we started exploring other options.” Honey Chipotle BBQ is the first in test, but “there’s a long line of flavors that we’ll be testing as well,” he added. In fact, in 2026, El Pollo Loco has committed to eight additional new menu item tests. While innovation is top of mind for Pisciotti and the brand, the tests make sure that new items are not disrupting daily operations. “We have a scratch kitchen, where we marinate and cook our chicken throughout the day and make our salsas and guacamole fresh, which is an anomaly in QSR,” he said. “The operation is labor-intensive and challenging as is, so we don’t want to add complexity.” But with El Pollo Loco’s “Let’s Go Loco” rebrand last year, the culinary team is continuing to push the boundaries of menu innovation and filling that pipeline. Pat plans and executes menu, food and drink stories for Restaurant Business and hosts the weekly Menu Talk podcast. She provides in-depth coverage of chefs, trends and menu innovation. ## Entities - QSR (sector) - menu innovation (topic) - Restaurant Business (publication) - quick service restaurant (topic) - El Pollo Loco (company) - product development (topic) - beverage innovation (topic) - Rene Pisciotti (person) - portable offerings (topic) --- Originally reported by Restaurant Business (https://restaurantbusinessonline.com/food/el-pollo-loco-accelerates-innovation-fill-menu-gaps). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/b3b1808a-f147-48ce-9350-8720d29929c2).