Juan Pollo

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Juan Pollo is a Southern California-based restaurant chain specializing in rotisserie-broiled, Mexican-style roast chicken.

The chain was founded in 1984 by Albert Okura, who had a history of managing fast food restaurants. When working as the manager of the Del Taco franchise in Carson, California in 1983, Okura met Armando Parra, who used to cook chicken at his home in Mexico in a similar fashion to the chicken found at El Pollo Loco; an El Pollo Loco franchise had opened across the street from Okura's Del Taco restaurant at about the same time and Okura had taken an immediate interest in that restaurant's operations.

Later that same year, Okura's uncle told him of a restaurant which had become available in Ontario in a heavily Hispanic part of town. Upon examining the location, Parra told Okura that the site was inadequate to accommodate a large open flame grilling system like that used by El Pollo Loco. Parra suggested the use of a rotisserie like he used in Mexico.

By December, the restaurant was ready. First day operations in January, 1984 totalled US$165.00.

Okura spent most of 1984 learning to cook rotisserie chicken with varying levels of success, mostly due to the inconsistent quality of chicken from his distributors. By 1985, sales were on the rise as Okura and Parra perfected the process. Five factors weighed heavily on the outcome, namely the quality of the chicken itself as previously mentioned, the size of the chicken (maximum three pounds/1kg), the length of cooking time (three hours), the temperature of the gas-fired burners and the size of its flames.

A second location opened in nearby San Bernardino in January 1986 on the corner of Fifth Street and Mount Vernon Avenue, an early alignment of Route 66. An unsolicited and highly positive review by Norman Baffry, a popular food critic from the San Bernardino Sun, caused a literal 50% increase in sales overnight.

Growth between 1986 and 1990 was constant as Okura refined the operation of Juan Pollo, even going so far as to train his hourly employees in the hopes that they would open their own Juan Pollo franchises.

In 2005, Okura purchased the entire Route 66 town of Amboy, California for US$425,000. His stated goal is to restore the town and its major landmark, Roy's Motel and Cafe, to the luster of their heyday as a major Route 66 stop. According to the "unofficial" Roy's website listed below, Okura is an experienced preservationist as the owner of the world's first McDonald's in San Bernardino which he operates as a museum.

Juan Pollo has grown to thirty-three locations, primarily in the Inland Empire and Orange County; its newest location is in Coachella.