Update 8/21/24: CEO Daniel Farasat tells KCRW that Koo Koo Roo plans to open a new brick-and-mortar location in Los Angeles in late 2025, with events and collaborations planned for the interim. And yes, they’ll be bringing back some of the original recipes ( in addition to new fare).
Fast casual chicken joint Koo Koo Roo is back, Los Angeles.
KCRW confirmed the beloved restaurant chain’s relaunch with a representative via email Tuesday morning. Koo Koo Roo is also slated to make an appearance at ChainFEST Los Angeles in October.
"I am a Koo Koo Roo super fan myself, and as much as this relaunch is about Koo Koo Roo, it's also our love letter to LA –– the 90s, the early 2000s and the families that love and miss the Koo Koo Roo food and experience," CEO Daniel Farasat tells KCRW. "We have so much respect for the brand and what it means to our city. We're bringing Koo Koo Roo back to its origins with fresh, locally-sourced ingredients that pack flavor, while always honoring the original recipes and mission. Not only will we be tapping great LA talent to ramp up for this second coming, but we’ll be collaborating with the community. We want to make LA proud.”
More: Koo Koo Roo CEO dishes on relaunch: Expect classics, 2025 opening, ‘90s music
News of its return first landed on what appears to be the erstwhile eatery’s Instagram account, declaring “LA’s Tastiest Comeback Story Ever” and to “Get Cluckin Ready.” It’s the first official news from the chain, best known for its charbroiled skinless chicken plates and healthy fare, since it shuttered its last outpost in 2014, though an Instagram account cryptically appeared last year to much speculation.
The restaurant splashed onto the LA dining scene in 1988, opening its first location in a Koreatown strip mall at the intersection of 6th and Kenmore. Its founders, brothers Mike and Ray Badalian, launched the business as a healthy, fast-food alternative, touting its “no frying, no breading, no coating, no preservatives or additives” style of food preparation.
Koo Koo Roo aggressively expanded, at its height operating 40 locations — mostly in Southern California — across North America. The chain went public in 1991 (under the stock ticker KKRO), after banker Kenneth Berg bought out the Badalian brothers. By 1996, the company sought to diversify by launching coffee bar chain Arrosto Coffee Co. and acquiring LA-based paint-your-own-pottery franchise Color Me Mine. The following year, Koo Koo Roo acquired the bankrupted, 14-location Hamburger Hamlet chain.
At its height, Koo Koo Roo operated locations across Southern California and the rest of the country. Photo by Eric Havir via Flickr.
But the troubled company, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2003, struggled amid competition from other chain restaurants, frequent menu changes, and high real estate leasing costs, according to a 2010 Los Angeles Times article. A company representative at the time said that Koo Koo Roo’s pursuit of delivering high-quality food made the restaurants expensive to run.
After a string of acquisitions by multiple companies, the chain’s last Southern California restaurant in Santa Monica shuttered in 2014.
The relaunch is spearheaded by LA real estate company Tiger West Capital LLC, according to California Secretary of State filings, and led by Farasat, the firm’s managing partner, who made early-stage investments in Sweetgreen, another fast-casual chain.
Koo Koo Roo’s imprint on the LA dining scene is unquestionable. The restaurant is a common topic of reminiscent conversation on Reddit, while copycat recipes have proliferated across cooking websites and social media, promising a taste of dishes thought to be lost.
A Los Angeles Koo Koo Roo of yore. Photo by Ryan Bayne via Flickr.
Andrea Domanick contributed to this story.
