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. A ...

of fast-casual Tex Mex restaurants founded in Los Angeles, California in 1979, headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona and is owned by Canadian franchisor

MTY Food Group MTY Food Group Inc. 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 Montr ...

. 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, which purchased the company from

CKE Restaurants CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. (an acronym for 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 headquartered in ...

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. At the time of the acquisition, the chain operated 23 restaurants in the United States, most of which are franchised. Under MTY, the number of locations has since dwindled down to five locations by August 2024.

History

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 MainPlace Mall (formerly known as Westfield MainPlace) is an enclosed shopping mall at the north edge of Santa Ana, California near Downtown Santa Ana, adjacent to the Orange, California, City of Orange and the Orange Crush interchange of the S ...

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 Baja Fresh 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 restaurants; 16 of the combined 185 locations were franchised. It is unclear if the new owner would combine the two chains or keep them separate. In an earlier press release announcing MTY's acquisition of Kahala Brands 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". By July 2017, La Salsa had 21 restaurants, with 12 in California, 3 in Nevada (Las Vegas), 2 in Arizona (Tucson), 2 in Texas, plus one each in Indiana and Missouri.

Closures

In June 2016, Eater Las Vegas reported the closure of one out of three La Salsa locations in Las Vegas to leave only two operating restaurants. La Salsa withdrew from Arizona in 2018 when a franchisee closed both of its Tucson locations. La Salsa withdrew from the San Diego metropolitan area in 2019 by closing its sole location there. La Salsa withdrew from Indiana in 2020 when its sole Indiana franchise that was located at the Purdue Memorial Union on the Purdue University campus was closed when the university declined to renew existing contracts when the university renovated its dining facilities. By August 2024, La Salsa was down to five locations, three in Northern California at Mountain View, San Bruno, and San Leandro; one in Southern California at Los Angeles; and one in Nevada at Las Vegas.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Salsa 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

Closures

See also

References

External links