La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill

What La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill does

La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill is a quick-service Mexican restaurant franchise founded in 1979 in Los Angeles and now headquartered at 9311 E Via de Ventura, Scottsdale, Arizona. It operates a regional network of franchised and company-owned restaurants across Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada, built around made-to-order burritos, tacos, salads, platters, and "favorites" prepared with a fresh-grill method and a signature salsa bar. The brand is owned and managed through MTY Franchising USA, INC. (the franchisor, doing business as LaSalsa) and affiliate Kahala Management, L.L.C., operating under parent Kahala Brands. The "LaSalsa" trademark is registered in the United States.

The business derives revenue from four primary streams: (i) in-restaurant food and beverage sales via company-owned and franchised locations; (ii) franchise fees of $30,000 per restaurant plus a 5% ongoing royalty, with qualified franchisees required to have $200,000 in liquid cash and $500,000 in net worth per unit; (iii) catering for events of 5 to 500 guests, including taco/fajita bars, burrito trays, taquito platters, and party platters; and (iv) merchandise through an email-based loyalty program branded "Salsa Club." Customer-facing technology is limited to an online ordering storefront (order.lasalsa.com), iOS and Android mobile apps, and location-based discovery via the corporate website, with no public API or developer platform.

Go-to-market is split between a direct-to-consumer retail-restaurant channel and a franchise-channel-partner motion, supplemented by fundraising programs for schools and organizations and catering inquiry handling for group events. Customers are primarily individual quick-service diners, with secondary segments in catering/enterprise buyers and qualified franchise investors. The corporate entity is private and reports 11–50 corporate employees, does not disclose revenue or unit count, and operates solely across three U.S. states despite stating national and international franchise availability.

Name

La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill

Legal name

MTY Franchising USA, INC.

Website

https://lasalsa.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill, founded 1979, is a quick-service Mexican restaurant franchise operating across Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada under MTY Franchising USA / Kahala Brands, serving made-to-order burritos, tacos, salads, and catering to individual diners, group customers, and franchise investors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Quick-Service Mexican Restaurant

NAICS

Limited-Service Restaurants (722513)

SIC

Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Mexican & Tex-Mex Fast Casual (THAFABAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Mexican/Latin QSR (Tacos, Burritos, Bowls) (THAFAAAE)

Keywords

• Quick-service Mexican restaurant
• Fresh Mexican food
• Restaurant franchise
• Mexican catering services
• Fast-casual dining

Headquarters

HQ city

Scottsdale

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Restaurant Food and Beverage Sales: Direct-to-consumer sales of fresh Mexican food items including burritos, tacos, salads, platters, and favorites through company-owned and franchised restaurant locations
2. Franchise Fees and Royalties: One-time franchise fee of $30,000 per restaurant plus ongoing royalty fees of 5% of sales from franchised locations
3. Catering Services: Corporate and event catering services including party platters, taco bars, fajita feasts, and beverage services

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill operates a quick-service Mexican restaurant chain serving made-to-order burritos, tacos, salads, platters, and signature favorites prepared with fresh ingredients, house-made salsas, and flame-grilled meats. The company supplements its in-restaurant dining with catering services for events of 5 to 500 guests, online and mobile ordering, and a franchise program that expands the brand through qualified investors under MTY Franchising USA, Inc.

Product overview

La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill is a quick-service restaurant chain operating since 1979, offering freshly prepared Mexican food with a signature fresh-grill approach. The company's product portfolio centers on made-to-order burritos, tacos, salads, platters, and favorites prepared with high-quality ingredients including flame-grilled meats, hand-chopped produce, and house-made salsas. These core food products are complemented by catering services for events of 5 to 500 guests, including taco bars, fajita stations, and party platter trays. The company also operates a loyalty program (Salsa Club), an online ordering platform (order.lasalsa.com), mobile applications for iOS and Android, and a fundraising program for schools and organizations. La Salsa is franchised through Kahala Brands/MTY Franchising USA, with locations across Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Burritos A line of freshly grilled burritos featuring flame-grilled chicken, steak, or shrimp with house-made salsas, guacamole, and various toppings, served to in-store and online ordering customers.
• Tacos Authentic Mexican-inspired tacos including Mexico City Tacos, Tacos La Salsa, Carnitas Guadalajara Tacos, Baja Grilled Fish Tacos, and Baja Style Shrimp Tacos, prepared with fresh ingredients daily.
• Favorites Signature dishes guests return for, including Fire-Roasted Bowl, Classic Quesadilla, Stuffed Fajita Quesadilla, Nachos, Chicken Taquitos, Los Cabos Shrimp Burrito, and Chicken Tortilla Soup.
• Salads Mexican-style salads built from hand-chopped produce with toppings such as grilled chicken, shrimp, or steak, including Chipotle Shrimp Salad, Chile-Lime Salad, and Taco Salad.
• Platters Generous portion platters combining chargrilled meats, fire-roasted veggies, house-made salsas, and guacamole, including Two Tacos La Salsa, Taquitos & Quesadilla, Chicken & Avocado Enchilada, Enchilada, and Three Pepper Fajita.
• Catering Services Full-service catering for events from 5 to 500 guests, including taco and fajita bars, burrito trays, taquito platters, party platters, and beverages, available to corporate and individual customers.
• Tacos & Fiesta Fajitas Catering Catering packages featuring build-your-own taco bars and fajita stations with options for charbroiled chicken, slow-roasted carnitas, or tender steak, accompanied by fire-roasted vegetables, tortillas, rice, beans, guacamole, and various salsas.
• Party Platters Catering Pre-made catering trays including Burrito Grande Tray (serves 4), Taco Grande Tray (12 tacos), Taquito Grande Tray (12 taquitos), and Sampler Platter Tray with assorted items, available to event hosts.
• Salsa Club Loyalty Program Loyalty/rewards program offering members deals, discounts, and special offers, with rewards and exclusive promotions delivered via email.
• Online Ordering Digital ordering platform allowing customers to place orders online for pickup or delivery through the order.lasalsa.com portal.
• Fundraising Program Fundraiser program allowing schools and organizations to partner with local La Salsa locations to host fundraising events.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• MTY FRANCHISING USA, INC.coreOthersMTY FRANCHISING USA, INC. is the franchising entity for La Salsa, operating under the dba LaSalsa. The company owns or licenses the LaSalsa trademark, intellectual property, and franchise system. Parent company also known as Kahala Brands.
• Kahala Management, L.L.C.coreOthersKahala Management, L.L.C. is an affiliate entity providing operational management and support for the La Salsa franchise system, including customer service (866-4-KAHALA), franchise development, and corporate operations.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Taco Bell: Mass-market QSR Mexican competitor; represents the value end of the category and a key substitute for price-sensitive La Salsa customers.
• Del Taco: Hybrid QSR/fast-casual Mexican chain with broad California and Southwest presence — competes for the same lunch and dinner occasions as La Salsa.
• Chipotle Mexican Grill: Largest fast-casual Mexican chain in the US, dominating the same category La Salsa occupies; sets the price and digital-experience benchmark La Salsa must compete against.

Direct peers

• Chronic Tacos: California-anchored fast-casual Mexican franchise concept with comparable menu, customization model, and franchise-driven expansion strategy.
• Qdoba Mexican Eats: National fast-casual Mexican chain operating a similar menu (burritos, tacos, salads) with counter-service and a customization model directly comparable to La Salsa's positioning.
• Freebirds World Burrito: Regional fast-casual burrito chain with customization-led positioning; a smaller-scale but comparable operating model to La Salsa.
• Baja Fresh: Sister brand under MTY/Kahala offering fast-casual fresh-Mexican grilled fare with a similar franchise model and overlapping customer base; effectively La Salsa's closest in-house comparable.
• Moe's Southwest Grill: Fast-casual Southwest/Mexican franchise chain with similar menu architecture (burritos, tacos, quesadillas) and franchise-driven unit growth model.
• Salsarita's Fresh Mexican Grill: Franchised fast-casual Mexican chain with a similar menu (burritos, tacos, salads), comparable franchise economics, and overlapping customer base.
• Rubio's Coastal Grill: West Coast-focused fast-casual Mexican chain, particularly strong in California — directly overlapping La Salsa's core Southern California trade area.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/Viva_LaSalsa
• Facebookfacebook.com/lasalsa
• Instagraminstagram.com/lasalsafreshmexicangrill
• Pinterestpinterest.com/lasalsafresh
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lasalsa-fresh-mexican-grill

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about La Salsa Fresh Mexican Grill