El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc 2025年度报告

UNITED STATESSECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION (Mark one) ☒ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025or☐TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(D) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934For the transition period fromtoCommission file number 001-36556 EL POLLO LOCO HOLDINGS, INC. Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.Yes☐No☒ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or forsuch shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.Yes☒No☐ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See thedefinitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accountingstandards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.☐ If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executiveofficers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b).☐ Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).Yes☐No☒ As of June 25, 2025, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common equity held by non-affiliateswas approximately $133.9 million. As of March 6, 2026, there were 29,956,259 shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding. DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE TABLE OF CONTENTS Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of EquitySecurities32Item 6. [Reserved]33Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations33Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk54Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data55Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure90Item 9A. Controls and Procedures90Item 9B. Other Information93Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections93 Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance94Item 11. Executive Compensation94Item 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters94Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence94Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services94 Item 15. Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules95Item 16. Form 10-K Summary99Signatures100 FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Annual Report”) contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning offederal securities laws that are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical factincluded in this Annual Report are forward-looking statements. You can identify forward-looking statements becausethey do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements may include words such as “aim,” “anticipate,”“believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “outlook,” “potential,” “project,” “projection,” “plan,” “intend,” “seek,”“may,” “could,” “would,” “will,” “should,” “can,” “can have,” “likely,” the negatives thereof and other words and termsof similar meaning used in connection with any discussion of the timing or nature of future operating or financialperformance or other events. They appear in a number of places throughout this Annual Report and include statementsregarding our intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, our results of operations,financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, trends, strategies and the industry in which we operate. All forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from thosethat we expected. While we believe that our assumptions are reasonable, we caution that it is very difficult to predict the impact of knownfactors, and it is impossible for us to anticipate all factors that could affect our actual resu