La Salsa is a

chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. ...

fast-casual A fast casual restaurant, found primarily in the United States and Canada, does not offer full table service, but advertises higher quality food than fast food restaurants, with fewer frozen or processed ingredients. It is an intermediate concep ...

Tex Mex Tex-Mex cuisine (from the words ''Texan'' and ''Mexican'') is an American cuisine that derives from the culinary creations of the ''Tejano'' people of Texas. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern United ...

restaurants founded in Los Angeles in 1979 and headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona and is owned by Canadian franchisor

MTY Food Group MTY Food Group is a Canadian franchisor and operator of numerous casual dining, fast casual, and quick service restaurants operating under more than 70 brand names, some of them through wholly owned subsidiaries. Headquartered in the Montreal bor ...

. The chain emphasizes fresh ingredients, and each restaurant features a self-serve salsa bar. La Salsa has been closely associated with its sister company

Baja Fresh Baja Fresh is an American chain of fast-casual Tex Mex restaurants founded in Newbury Park, California in 1990 and headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona and is owned by Canadian franchisor MTY Food Group. The chain emphasizes fresh ingredients, e ...

, which purchased the company from

CKE Restaurants CKE Restaurants Holdings (an acronym from Carl Karcher Enterprises) is an American fast food corporation and is the parent organization for the Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Green Burrito, and Red Burrito brands. CKE Restaurants is a subsidiary of the pri ...

in 2007. Since then, the companies have shared their corporate headquarters. In 2016, MTY acquired La Salsa with its sister company Baja Fresh and is current being managed by MTYs Kahala Brands division. The chain operated 23 restaurants in the United States, most of which are franchised.

History

The opening of La Salsa in 1979 predated the opening of similar chains such as

Chipotle A chipotle (, ; ), or ''chilpotle'', is a smoke-dried ripe jalapeño chili pepper used for seasoning. It is a chili used primarily in Mexican and Mexican-inspired cuisines, such as Tex-Mex and Southwestern United States dishes. It comes in dif ...

(1993), Baja Fresh (1990), and

Qdoba Qdoba ( ) is a chain of fast casual restaurants in the United States and Canada serving Mexican-style cuisine. After spending 15 years as a wholly owned subsidiary of Jack in the Box, the company was sold to a consortium of funds led by Apo ...

(1995). The La Salsa restaurant chain was founded in 1979 by Howdy Kabrins as a single location at the corner of

Pico Pico may refer to: Places The Moon * Mons Pico, a lunar mountain in the northern part of the Mare Imbrium basin Portugal * Pico, a civil parish in the municipality of Vila Verde * Pico da Pedra, a civil parish in the municipality of Ribe ...

and Sepulveda boulevards in West Los Angeles. By 1986, there were six locations, all within Los Angeles County. The first mentioned of La Salsa being in Orange County was in an article that showed that La Salsa was at the MainPlace Mall in Santa Ana when the mall first opened in August 1986. The first San Diego area location was opened in Horton Plaza in August 1985. After expanding the La Salsa chain throughout Southern California, Kabrins sold control of the company to a consortium that included Sienna Holding and InterWest Partners in June 1992. La Salsa opened their first Northern California location, the 38th in the chain, in Sacramento in 1993. In July 1999, Santa Barbara Restaurant Group acquired La Salsa via a stock swap. At the time of the acquisition, La Salsa had 98 locations throughout the United States, 48 of which were franchised. CKE Restaurants obtained La Salsa in March 2002 when it acquired its then parent company, Santa Barbara Restaurant Group.

Baja Fresh

In 2007,

sold La Salsa to

for an undisclosed amount. At the time of the sale, La Salsa had over 100 locations in approximately a dozen states. In September 2016, it was announced that Baja Fresh's parent, BF Acquisition Holdings, was sold to MTY Food Group for $27 million. At the time of the acquisition by MTY, Baja Fresh had 162 restaurants and its sister company La Salsa had 23 restaurant; 16 of the combined 185 locations were franchised. It is unclear if the new owner would combined the two chains or keep them separate. In an earlier press release announcing MTY's acquisition of

Kahala Brands Kahala Brands is a wholly owned subsidiary of Canada-based MTY Food Group Inc. of Montreal, Quebec. Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, Kahala is one of North America's largest holding company of franchise fast food restaurant companies. In May 2016 ...

just two months previously, MTY gave the vague statement that "Kahala will stay in Kahala's current headquarters... while MTY's US operations will move into Kahala's offices".

References

External links

* {{Fast-food chains of the United States 1979 establishments in California Fast casual restaurants Fast-food chains of the United States Fast-food franchises Fast-food Mexican restaurants Mexican restaurants Restaurants established in 1979 Tex-Mex restaurants Companies based in Scottsdale, Arizona

History

Baja Fresh

See also

References

External links