Pollo Tropical To Close All DFW, Austin, Nashville Restaurants
Pollo Tropical will close all DFW, Austin and Nashville locations to focus on sister brand Taco Cabana. Both concepts are under Addison-based Fiesta Restaurant Group.
A spokesperson did not know how many employees were impacted by the closing of the 13 DFW locations, the Dallas Morning News reports. In total, 30 restaurants across Texas, Tennessee and Georgia will be closed.
Last fall, the company closed five locations while reshuffling management and opening many new stores, mostly in Florida. Fiesta president and CEO Richard Stockinger said the company’s expansion into new markets had disappointing results.
"Recent growth initiatives diverted resources from our core markets and some amount of renewal is required to restore momentum in these markets,” he said in a statement.
Same-store sales fell 6.7% at Pollo Tropical and 4.5% at Taco Cabana, according to Q1 reports. Atlanta will retain 13 Pollo Tropical restaurants, Houston will retain two and San Antonio will retain four.
Restaurant closures are part of Fiesta’s plans to renew both the Pollo Tropical brand in September and Taco Cabana later in 2017.
