The Fast Food Restaurant Richard Blais Could Eat At 'Every Single Day'

Next time you're in Florida, chef and TV personality Richard Blais thinks you should give the Caribbean fast food chain Pollo Tropical a try. When the "Top Chef: All Stars" Season 8 winner spoke with Mashed in 2022 about his favorite fast food restaurants (and he's not the only celeb who has them), he gave the Miami-founded chicken chain a shout-out. "I don't know if you've ever had Pollo Tropical, but it's Caribbean-inspired grilled chicken, and plantains, and beans and rice, and I could eat it every single day. And it's fast food, but one of my favorite concepts," he told the site.

The chain is mostly based in Florida and focuses on flame-grilled, citrus-marinated chicken. Other Caribbean staples such as beans and rice, yucca, plantains, and mojo roast pork round out the menu. It's the state's favorite fast food place, according to a study of Google Trends conducted by FinanceBuzz. This may come as a surprise to some because, if you look around Florida, you may notice that it's the state with the most Wendy's. When Blais isn't in Florida, however, you can often find Chipotle at his home. He told Mashed that he's a fan of both the company's food and business practices.

Brothers Larry and Stuart Harris founded the Pollo Tropical chain in 1988 near Miami's Little Havana Cuban district. It quickly became a hit and opened a total of eight locations before the company went public in 1993. Unfortunately, the chain struggled whenever it opened a restaurant in a market without a large Hispanic population.

For a time, there were locations in Chicago, outside of New York City, and in Texas. The Carrols Restaurant Group once owned the brand, but when it spun off to create the Dallas-based Fiesta Restaurant Group around 2011, the new entity began running Pollo Tropical. In 2023, Authentic Restaurant Brands (ARB) purchased Richard Blais' favored fast food chain. The new ownership groups intend to keep the brand regional to Southern Florida.

ARB also owns beloved regional chains such as Primanti Bros. in the Pittsburgh area and Tavern in the Square around Boston. While the private equity company Garnett Station Partners owns ARB, they appear to operate separately. Private equity is often blamed for the drop in quality of many restaurants, like Church's Chicken. Unlike other private equity firms, however, ARB doesn't appear to have a quick turnaround in mind for Pollo Tropical.

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