secwatch.observer — SEC 8-K summary
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Issuer:     El Pollo Loco Holdings, Inc. (LOCO)
CIK:        0001606366
Form:       8-K
Filed at:   2026-09-25T20:11:46+00:00
Accession:  0001606366-26-000051
Event type: leadership
Sentiment:  neutral
Materiality: 0.30
Item codes: 5.02
LLM model:  deepseek-v4.1-flash:cloud@v2

El Pollo Loco appoints Damon Thomas Chief Operating Officer, effective Sept 21, 2026
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- Damon Thomas, 49, named COO effective Sept 21, 2026, reporting to CEO Elizabeth "Liz" Williams; previously SVP Operations at Shake Shack through Sept 2026.
- Base salary $425,000; target cash bonus equal to 75% of salary, with a guaranteed minimum 2026 bonus of $225,000.
- One-time sign-on grant of restricted stock and performance share units valued at ~$500,000 vesting over three years, plus a $25,000 cash sign-on bonus.
- Annual equity awards of ~$400,000 beginning 2027, vesting 33% per year over three years; severance of 12 months of continued base salary if terminated without cause or for good reason.
- Prior roles include VP Operations at Yoshinoya America (June 2022-Aug 2023) and senior operations posts at Quest Food Management Services and Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers.

Source:
  EDGAR index:    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1606366/000160636626000051/0001606366-26-000051-index.htm
  Primary doc:    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1606366/000160636626000051/loco-20260925x8k.htm
  HTML page:      https://secwatch.observer/filing/0001606366-26-000051

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