New Leader, Familiar Playbook

Pollo Campero, the Guatemalan-born quick-service chicken chain, has named Julio Sánchez CEO of its U.S. operations, effective immediately. The appointment arrives as the brand surpasses 150 domestic restaurants and pushes toward broader national expansion across a QSR chicken segment that remains one of the most competitive in foodservice.

Sánchez brings more than 25 years of multi-unit QSR experience spanning operations, franchising, real estate development and brand transformation. Most recently he served as chief operating officer of CKE International, the international arm of Carl's Jr. Prior to that, he held senior roles at Pizza Hut, Burger King and Church's Chicken — a résumé that spans both company-owned and franchise system management across North America, Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe.

Growth Priorities

In his new role, Sánchez will concentrate on four near-term priorities: operational excellence, same-store sales acceleration, brand awareness and guest experience. Those pillars echo the playbook most regional QSR chains lean on when shifting from pure unit growth to quality-of-growth mode — a posture that typically signals franchise partners are being asked to lift average unit volumes before the pipeline expands further.

"Julio combines deep operational expertise with sound business judgment and a proven record of delivering results," said José Gregorio Baquero, global CEO of CMI Foods, Campero's parent division within family-owned Corporación Multi Inversiones. "He is the right leader to guide Campero into its next stage of growth."

Sánchez is known internally for a floor-level management style — staying close to crew members, franchise operators and guests rather than managing from a corporate remove. That orientation matters in a system where franchisee alignment on food quality and hospitality standards directly drives comp-sales performance.

What It Means for the System

Pollo Campero operates more than 400 restaurants globally across the U.S., Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras and Ecuador, employing more than 10,000 people. The U.S. count of 150-plus represents a meaningful domestic footprint for a brand that spent years concentrated in gateway markets with large Latin American diaspora populations before broadening its geographic ambitions.

The leadership transition follows the departure of Luis Javier Rodas, who served as chief operating officer and concluded nearly 26 years with CMI on Oct. 16. That tenure covered much of the brand's U.S. buildout, making Sánchez's mandate one of refinement and acceleration rather than pure groundbreaking.

For c-store operators and foodservice-at-retail watchers, Campero's trajectory is worth tracking: fried-chicken programs at convenience retail have expanded as chains like Campero demonstrate sustained consumer demand for craveable, heritage-driven chicken that competes on flavor differentiation rather than price alone. The brand's emphasis on roasted alongside fried chicken also gives it a menu profile that translates well into grab-and-go and prepared-foods formats that overlap with c-store foodservice strategy.

Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.