LocoL wanted to fix food deserts with healthy fast food and closed within 3 years

Celebrity chefs Roy Choi and Daniel Patterson opened LocoL's flagship location in Watts, a low-income Los Angeles neighborhood, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2016 — a fast-food concept built around the premise that cheap, quick food could also be healthy and made from real ingredients, aimed at a 'food desert' with few fresh-food options. The opening drew celebrities including Jon Favreau and Jim Brown, and national press coverage framed it as fast food's conscience finally catching up with its convenience.

The initial excitement faded within months. Reviewers, including a critical New York Times notice, flagged inconsistent food and service, and the customer base skewed toward food-media tourists rather than Watts residents the concept was built for. Choi and Patterson expanded to Oakland and San Jose to diversify revenue and subsidize the Watts store, added more fried items to the menu to chase sales, and raised prices — none of it closed the gap between what the restaurants cost to run and what they brought in.

Oakland's locations closed in 2017. The San Jose and flagship Watts locations both closed in August 2018, with Choi posting publicly that 'the truth is we ran out of money.' The Watts space was converted into a catering kitchen and event space, and a LocoL food truck continued operating after the storefronts shut.