Pollo Campero, a “fast casual” Latin restaurant and drive-through, landed on West St. Paul’s Robert Street in late 2010, quickly drawing a following for its seasoned fried chicken but no sister locations in Minnesota. After more than a decade in the wings, so to speak, the Guatemalan chain has its sights set on opening a second franchise within Shingle Creek Crossing in Brooklyn Center by the end of 2024.

Patrons at Pollo Campero on South Robert Street in West St. Paul order dinner on Jan. 19, 2024. The Guatemalan chicken chain chain has plans to operate up to 12 stores in Minnesota before 2030. (Frederick Melo / Pioneer Press)

After that, the goal is to land a franchisee that could gradually open another five shops across the metro, setting the stage for further expansion if customers find the pollo finger-licking good. (Sorry, Colonel Sanders.)

Company officials say Brooklyn Center could be followed by a third location by the end of 2025, likely in or around the Mall of America, St. Paul’s Prosperity Heights or East Phalen neighborhood, the Longfellow area of Minneapolis or Flying Cloud Drive in Eden Prairie, or possibly somewhere in Rogers or Forest Lake.

“This market has the capacity for 10 new units in total, but we’re looking for someone to come in at five units,” said Blas Escarcega, a Dallas-based vice president of franchise development for Pollo Campero, which has some 92 locations in the U.S., 15 of them run by franchise partners. “If they’re successful, then we’d be looking at five more.”

That’s a total of up to 12 Pollo Camperos over the next five years or so, which would be nothing to cluck at in terms of growth. Even with a competing Kentucky Fried Chicken situated directly next door, the Pollo Campero franchise on Robert Street drew a steady stream of Latin customers on Friday night, from families with children to customers out on date night.

Why Minnesota? Escarcega said there’s pent-up demand for affordable, fast-casual family chicken dinners, as well as a growing Honduran, Guatemalan and Salvadoran population already familiar with the company’s Central American flair.

The menu, based on that of the family restaurant that launched in Guatemala in 1971, includes seasoned fried chicken, citrus-infused grilled chicken, tortillas, boneless sandwiches, cheesy chicken empanadas, sweet soft plantains, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese and both traditional French fries and yucca fries.

Other distinctly Latin menu items include horchata rice milk, flan and “Campero Bowls,” which consist of rice, beans, roasted corn with peppers, avocado, spring greens and feta cheese.

With its 100th U.S. store scheduled to open in Miami this March, the company’s five-year plan is to add an additional 250 sites in the U.S. alone through a combination of corporate locations and franchising.

“More and more people in the metro area are saying, ‘When are you going to build close to us?’” Escarcega said. “When you only have one unit, it’s not enough to satisfy those cravings.”

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