El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (LOCO)

Company-operated restaurants, counted by role. Read November 8, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending December 31, 2025, filed March 13, 2026. Ranked 214 of the 240 Consumer Cyclical companies read so far, by the share within reach now.

El Pollo Loco states 4,034 employees, 3,857 of them hourly restaurant employees counted by role and 177 corporate and office personnel; the restaurants take 96% and the counted corporate staff go to management of companies.

The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.

What follows from the reading

Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 14% now, 15% at the end of 2027, 15% at the end of 2028, 15% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 15% desk work, 22% people work and 63% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 84% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 11% becomes checking a model's work and 4% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.

Headcount

4,034 employees as of December 31, 2025 (stated). The filing describes company-operated restaurants in the United States and states no count by country; recorded as 1 with a flag.

The filing: “As of December 31, 2025, we had approximately 4,034 employees, of whom approximately 3,857 were hourly restaurant employees comprised of 3,097 crewmembers, 172 general managers/acting general managers, 74 assistant managers, 483 shift leaders, and 31 employees in limited-time roles as acting managers or as managers in training.”

The workforce as industry patterns

What the filing says about the workforce: 3,857 hourly restaurant employees (3,097 crewmembers, 172 general managers, 74 assistant managers, 483 shift leaders, 31 in limited-time roles) and 177 corporate and office personnel; no collective bargaining agreements; franchised restaurants' employees are not counted.

Companies read with the same leading pattern

Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Restaurants and Other Eating Places, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.

• Starbucks (SBUX, 381,000 employees)13% now, 14% by 2028
• Yum China Holdings, Inc. (YUMC, 290,000 employees)13% now, 14% by 2028
• Darden (DRI, 209,931 employees)13% now, 13% by 2028
• McDonald's Corporation (MCD, 150,000 employees)13% now, 13% by 2028
• Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG, 130,301 employees)13% now, 14% by 2028
• Texas Roadhouse, Inc. (TXRH, 101,000 employees)13% now, 14% by 2028
• Brinker International, Inc. (EAT, 85,003 employees)13% now, 14% by 2028
• Cracker Barrel Old Country Store (CBRL, 74,500 employees)13% now, 14% by 2028

What the filing says about AI

3 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing's three AI sentences are risk factors: competitors with greater resources may use new technologies including AI, and AI may be used in and intensify cybersecurity incidents.

• “Some of our competitors have substantially greater financial and other resources to devote to innovation in products, technology, and market and consumer data analytics, including integration, use, or offering of new technologies, including artificial intelligence.”
• “These cybersecurity incidents have included, and, may in the future include, those caused by physical or electronic break-ins, computer viruses, malware, worms, attacks by hackers or foreign governments, ransomware, use of artificial intelligence, unauthorized access through the use of compromised credentials and tampering, including through social engineering such as phishing attacks, coordina...”
• “The rapid evolution and increased adoption of artificial intelligence technologies may intensify these risks.”

Its annual reports, year by year

Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector

• Fiscal 20210median 0
• Fiscal 20220median 0
• Fiscal 20230median 1
• Fiscal 20240median 4
• Fiscal 20253median 10

Headcount by filing year

As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.

Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0001606366-26-000017, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.