Pollo Campero, a “fast casual” Latin restaurant and drive-through, landed on West St. Paul’s Robert Street in late 2010, quickly drawing a following for its seasoned fried chicken but no sister locations in Minnesota. After greater than a decade within the wings, so to talk, the Guatemalan chain has its sights set on opening a second franchise inside Shingle Creek Crossing in Brooklyn Center by the top of 2024.
After that, the goal is to land a franchisee that might steadily open one other five shops across the metro, setting the stage for further expansion if customers find the pollo finger-licking good. (Sorry, Colonel Sanders.)
Company officials say Brooklyn Center could possibly be followed by a 3rd location by the top of 2025, likely in or across the Mall of America, St. Paul’s Prosperity Heights or East Phalen neighborhood, the Longfellow area of Minneapolis or Flying Cloud Drive in Eden Prairie, or possibly somewhere in Rogers or Forest Lake.
“This market has the capability for 10 latest units in total, but we’re on the lookout for someone to are available at five units,” said Blas Escarcega, a Dallas-based vp of franchise development for Pollo Campero, which has some 92 locations within the U.S., 15 of them run by franchise partners. “In the event that they’re successful, then we’d be taking a look at five more.”
That’s a complete of as much as 12 Pollo Camperos over the following five years or so, which can be nothing to cluck at when it comes to growth. Even with a competing Kentucky Fried Chicken situated directly round the corner, the Pollo Campero franchise on Robert Street drew a gentle stream of Latin customers on Friday night, from families with children to customers out on date night.
Why Minnesota? Escarcega said there’s pent-up demand for inexpensive, fast-casual family chicken dinners, in addition to a growing Honduran, Guatemalan and Salvadoran population already accustomed to the corporate’s Central American flair.
The menu, based on that of the family restaurant that launched in Guatemala in 1971, includes seasoned fried chicken, citrus-infused grilled chicken, tortillas, boneless sandwiches, cheesy chicken empanadas, sweet soft plantains, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese and each traditional French fries and yucca fries.
Other distinctly Latin menu items include horchata rice milk, flan and “Campero Bowls,” which consist of rice, beans, roasted corn with peppers, avocado, spring greens and feta cheese.
With its one centesimal U.S. store scheduled to open in Miami this March, the corporate’s five-year plan is so as to add a further 250 sites within the U.S. alone through a mixture of corporate locations and franchising.
“An increasing number of people within the metro area are saying, ‘When are you going to construct near us?’” Escarcega said. “Whenever you only have one unit, it’s not enough to satisfy those cravings.”