Sr. Restaurant Opening Leader

El Pollo Loco, Inc.; Costa Mesa (CA); On-site; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Great Place to Work culture

Career growth opportunities

Competitive pay and bonus potential

Medical + Dental + Vision Insurance +

401(K) Retirement Plan with company 4

Paid Vacation + Sick Pay + 12 Paid

Employee Assistance Program

Free El Pollo Loco food + restaurant

PerkSpot discounts program

Job summary

El Pollo Loco, Inc. is seeking a Sr. Restaurant Opening Leader to spearhead new restaurant openings and stabilization efforts.

This senior role coaches General Managers and Restaurant Opening Leaders, driving operational excellence from Day 1 while ensuring a scalable leadership pipeline across markets. The position requires extensive travel, a proven multi-restaurant opening background, and a strong focus on ownership, accountability, and EPL values.

Qualifications

• Must have prior GM/Area Leader or Field Training Manager experience with El Pollo Loco.
• Proven track record leading multiple new restaurant openings and/or stabilizations.
• Willing to travel 100% of the time.

Responsibilities

• Lead priority openings and stabilizations as a player-coach.
• Assign Restaurant Opening Leaders to openings and stabilization tasks based on priority and development needs.
• Set and enforce a single, consistent standard of opening excellence across markets.
• Onboard, train, and develop Restaurant Opening Leaders; build bench strength for future growth.
• Conduct in-field observation and real-time feedback on leadership execution.
• Manage team performance with clear expectations and accountability.
• Forecast opening pipeline with Operations, Training, and HR to ensure staffing and deployment.
• Capture and share best practices and playbooks to improve the opening process.

Skills

Leadership

Coaching

English proficiency

Operations leadership

Travel readiness

Job description

At El Pollo Loco, we are on a mission to be the nation’s leading fire-grilled chicken restaurant. When it comes to our people, we are all about growth. Whether that means specialized training, a clearly laid out career trajectory or collaborating cross-functionally, we are committed to the success of our people the same way we’ve been committed to the success of the El Pollo Loco brand for the last 50 years. In fact, we see you as our secret ingredient. While our chicken is fire, it’s our people who set us ablaze.

Our restaurants are only the tip of the flame! If you’re looking for an innovative, winning, and welcoming workplace, then a flamin’ good career in our Restaurant Support Center is right for you.

At our Support Center, we believe our best work is done Together, when departments collaborate and everyone is confident in contributing their ideas. This is why we are in the office 3 days per week.

Let’s Get Loco!

What’s in it for you!

• STRONG office culture recognized as a Great Place to Work® and driven by our core values: Simple. Together. Relentless. Ownership. Nimble. Growth
• Career growth opportunities
• Competitive pay and bonus potential
• Medical + Dental + Vision Insurance + HSA Savings Account
• 401(K) Retirement Plan with company match and immediate vesting
• Paid Vacation + Sick Pay + 12 Paid Holidays
• Employee Assistance Program
• Free El Pollo Loco food + restaurant discounts
• PerkSpot discounts program

POSITION PURPOSE

The Sr. Restaurant Opening Leader leads the Restaurant Opening team as a player and a coach. This role personally leads the most critical and complex New Restaurant Openings — coaching elite General Manager performance and establishing operational excellence from Day 1 — while simultaneously directing, developing, and elevating the team of Restaurant Opening Leaders. Like the Restaurant Opening Leaders the role oversees, the Sr. Restaurant Opening Leader does not replace the permanent GM at new restaurant openings; it coaches them through targeted focus and support.

As the senior leader, the Sr. Restaurant Opening Leader sets the cultural tone, demonstrates ownership, accountability, and STRONG Values in action, and builds the capability of incoming leadership teams across multiple openings. In addition to targeted coaching in the field, this role is accountable for the readiness, performance, and growth of the Restaurant Opening Leaders, ensuring a consistent standard of excellence is delivered at every opening before each restaurant transitions to its permanent leader. This role requires availability of travelling extensively and for long consecutive durations of time.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The Sr. Restaurant Opening Leader will lead the Restaurant Opening team while remaining personally responsible for opening new restaurants and stabilizing at-risk restaurants. As a player‑coach, this role carries its own opening and stabilization assignments — typically the highest-priority and most complex — and is simultaneously responsible for assigning, directing, coaching, and developing the Restaurant Opening Leaders. When not opening new restaurants, the Sr. Restaurant Opening Leader will support stabilizing Field Operations with restaurants and Managers (at all levels) in need of support and guidance in achieving company goals, and will deploy and support the opening team to do the same.

Lead and Develop the Restaurant Opening Team (Player-Coach)

• Serve as a working player‑coach — personally leading priority openings and stabilizations while leading the team of Restaurant Opening Leaders.
• Assign Restaurant Opening Leaders to openings and stabilization assignments based on business priority, complexity, and individual development needs.
• Set, communicate, and hold the team to a single, consistent standard of opening excellence across all markets.
• Onboard, train, and continuously develop Restaurant Opening Leaders; build bench strength and readiness for future growth.
• Conduct in‑field observation, coaching, and real‑time feedback on each Restaurant Opening Leader’s execution, leadership presence, and judgment.
• Manage team performance — set clear expectations, provide accountability, recognize strong performance, and address gaps promptly.
• Partner with Operations, Training, and HR to forecast the opening pipeline and ensure the team is staffed, deployed, and prepared.
• Capture and share best practices, tools, and playbooks to standardize and continuously improve the opening process.

Model Best-In-Class Leadership

• Lead and coach on‑site operational execution for all phases of restaurant development from pre‑opening, training, opening, and through stabilization.
• Partner with Operations, Training, HR, and Facilities to ensure readiness in staffing, systems, food safety, and compliance.
• Coach hands‑on modeling of standards at all levels in the organization.
• Demonstrate what strong labor deployment, food cost control, and operational discipline look like.
• Coach how to lead with urgency and accountability.
• Coach how to protect company assets and uphold EPL STRONG Values in all environments.
• Coach how to hold leaders to standards respectfully but firmly.
• Coach timekeeping, food and workplace safety, and compliance discipline.

Establish Loco Love Culture

• Model Loco Love in every interaction with guests and team members.
• Coach how hospitality should feel — not just be spoken about.
• Demonstrate professional leadership presence.
• Set expectations around communication, accountability, and teamwork.

Build the Permanent GM’s Capability

• Coach all Managers in real time.
• Coach and model team conversations, pre‑shift meetings, team performance management, and recognition.
• Provide feedback on leadership presence, operational judgment, and standards execution.
• Transfer systems knowledge (ordering, inventory, scheduling, deployment).
• Reinforce duty‑to‑report standards and elevate concerns immediately.
• Ensure the permanent GM is confident and competent before handoff.

Leave Behind Structure

• Confirm restaurant management team and team members understand compliance responsibilities.
• Validate staffing readiness and role clarity.
• Ensure labor, food cost, and inventory controls are executed precisely.
• Ensure strict adherence to food safety, workplace safety, timekeeping, and break compliance.
• Ensure systems are running correctly.

QUALIFICATIONS

To perform this job successfully, the candidate must be in good standing with HR approval. Must have prior General Manager, Area Leader, or Field Training Manager experience with El Pollo Loco, along with proven success as a Restaurant Opening Leader or equivalent multi‑restaurant, new‑restaurant‑opening, or above‑restaurant leadership experience, including:

• Enthusiastic and positive demeanor, with a genuine passion for providing exceptional team and guest experiences.
• Strong communication, attention to detail, and organizational skills; ability to speak, write, and comprehend basic English.
• Strong coaching capability with proven ability to train new team members effectively.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, coach, and develop other leaders — not just front‑line team members.
• Proven track record leading multiple new restaurant openings and/or restaurant stabilizations with consistent, measurable results.
• Ability to set direction for and manage the performance of a team operating across multiple markets at the same time.
• Strong operational judgment and decision‑making skills.
• Demonstrated ability to take ownership of a shift and hold self and others accountable.
• Demonstrated high performance.
• Certified in all restaurant positions.
• Ability to lead confidently in unfamiliar or newly built environments.
• Flexibility to work various shifts, including weekends and holidays.
• Commitment to upholding EPL values and standards of excellence.
• Ability to travel 100% of the time.

Our Company

In 1980 the first American El Pollo Loco opened on Alvarado Street in Los Angeles, quickly becoming a destination for the best citrus‑marinated, fire‑grilled pollo in town. Over the past four decades, El Pollo Loco has grown into more than 500 restaurants across 9 states, becoming an L.A. mainstay and cultural benchmark along the way. Today, we continue to work just as hard to always provide our customers with Quality Chicken. Fast. Easy. Affordable.

The pay range identified is the hourly or salary rate El Pollo Loco expects to pay for the posted position. This range does not include any benefits or bonus opportunities that might be available for the position based on position and eligibility criteria. At El Pollo Loco, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at the high end of the range. Individual pay decisions will vary based on a variety of factors including years of experience, industry experience, education, geography, etc.