El Pollo Loco (LOCO) Enhances Delivery With Curbside Pickup
El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. LOCO recently announced the launch of curbside pickup nationwide in a bid to attract customers. Most of the restaurant operators are exploring different ways of increasing sales amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Recently, the company also launched Loco Rewards program to enhance customer experience. The new curbside pickup will have GPS-enabled functionality, which will make the service better and faster.
Bernard Acoca, president and CEO at El Pollo Loco said “We are dedicated to making it as easy as possible for our customers to get access to our food. As we continue to digitize our business with our customers convenience at the forefront, we knew curbside was key to ensuring a more seamless customer experience.”
The company’s relentless pursuit of providing excellent service and reasonable pricing, and its advertising campaigns are expected to continue driving revenues. With millennials seeking convenience and faster options, augmenting delivery services has become crucial for quick-service industry players.
Stock Price Performance
We note that the shares of the company have outperformed the Zacks categorized Retail–Restaurants industry in the last six months. While El Pollo Loco shares soared 91.3%, the industry rallied 37.4%. Moreover, earnings estimates for current quarter and current year moved north by 32.8% and 46.7%, respectively, over the past 60 days, reflecting the ongoing optimism in the stock.
We expect this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company’s efforts to boost digital capabilities, and contribute significantly to the top line and boost overall performance.
Key Picks
Some better-ranked stocks in the same space include BJ's Restaurants, Inc. BJRI, Chuy's Holdings, Inc. CHUY and Jack in the Box Inc. JACK, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
BJ's Restaurants has a three-five year earnings per share growth rate of 15%.
Chuy's Holdings has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 87.3%, on average.
Jack in the Box’s 2021 earnings are expected to surge 16.1%.
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