El Pollo Loco Earns Top 10 Spot in Newsweek and Statista’s 2021 Rating of America’s Best Loyalty Programs

COSTA MESA, Calif., March 02, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- El Pollo Loco, Inc. (“El Pollo Loco” or “Company”) (Nasdaq: LOCO), the nation’s leading fire-grilled chicken restaurant chain, earned a top 10 spot on Newsweek’s 2021 ranking of America’s Best Loyalty Programs, which was compiled using consumer feedback on 241 programs in 43 categories. Members of El Pollo Loco’s Loco Rewards™ program gave it top marks after evaluating a number of criteria, including how likely they would be to recommend it to others, the level of trust they felt in the program, the quality of customer support provided, and the perceived value of the benefits offered.

El Pollo Loco launched its redesigned Loco Rewards program last fall as part of the company’s ongoing digital transformation efforts. The new and improved version debuted an enhanced, personalized mobile app experience that made it easier than ever for loyal customers to earn and collect coveted perks and benefits. Since then, Loco Rewards has seen a 40% year-over-year growth in new memberships.

“Ranking in the top 10 of the country’s best loyalty programs is a true validation of the digital investments we’ve made to better meet our customers’ needs and provide them with an improved app experience that delivers meaningful value,” El Pollo Loco Vice President of Digital Andrew Rebhun said. “We continue to grow and evolve our digital capabilities for the future through early adoption of AI and other technologies that will be used to provide even more customized benefits and features to Loco Rewards members in the months ahead.”

To rank and compile America’s Best Loyalty Programs 2021, Newsweek partnered with global data research firm Statista to conduct an independent survey of more than 4,000 members of U.S. retailer and service provider loyalty programs. The survey period ran from October to November 2020 and approximately 16,000 evaluations were collected overall.

“This recognition is especially rewarding because it’s based on real consumer feedback, which means we are making good on our promise to deliver a dynamic, best-in-class loyalty program tailored to our customers’ personal preferences,” El Pollo Loco President and Chief Executive Officer Bernard Acoca said. “As we move forward with our efforts to digitize and modernize the business, we will continue to ensure we humanize our digital experience by putting our customers’ needs front and center.”

For more information on Loco Rewards, visit www.elpolloloco.com/rewards or download the Loco Rewards app, available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

About El Pollo Loco
El Pollo Loco (Nasdaq:LOCO) is the nation’s leading fire-grilled chicken restaurant with a mission to bring people together around food, family, and culture in the communities it serves. El Pollo Loco is renowned for its handcrafted L.A. Mex food, an innovative blend of traditional Mexican cuisine and better-for-you eating, that Los Angeles is known for. Since 1980, El Pollo Loco has successfully opened and maintained more than 480 company-owned and franchised restaurants in Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, Utah, and Louisiana while remaining true to its Mexican-American heritage. El Pollo Loco continues to grow and evolve, nourishing connections to tradition, culture, and one another through fire-grilled goodness that makes us feel like familia. For more information, visit us at ElPolloLoco.com.

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MEDIA CONTACT:
Rosie Herzog
Edible
213-878-7867
rosie.herzog@edible-inc.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/53d52c41-2f8a-46ae-b73c-0f3cdd063f13