Case Study: El Pollo Loco achieves higher customer satisfaction and improved manager English with Pearson English

El Pollo Loco - Customer Case Study

El Pollo Loco, a national quick-service chain known for flame-grilled chicken, discovered through market research that customers perceived a significant language barrier at drive-thrus. With nearly 90% of company-owned restaurant employees of Hispanic origin and English often a second language, the chain needed to ensure managers and manager candidates had sufficient spoken English to serve customers and resolve issues consistently across 140 locations.

El Pollo Loco adopted the 10-minute automated Versant English Test (scores 20–80), benchmarked a cutoff score of 50, and made testing a standard part of hiring and promotions. About 25% of existing managers scored below 50 and were enrolled in company-sponsored English training, with most passing on retest; since rollout managers show stronger operational performance, employees value the training, and customer interactions and satisfaction have measurably improved.

El Pollo Loco

Jeanne Scott

VP of Human Resources and Training