La Salsa

La Salsa is a chain of fast-casual Tex Mex restaurants founded in Los Angeles in 1979 and headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona and is owned by Canadian franchisor MTY Food Group. The chain emphasizes fresh ingredients, and each restaurant features a self-serve salsa bar.

Since 2007, La Salsa is close associated with its sister company Baja Fresh which purchased the company from CKE Restaurants when La Salsa had over 100 locations in a dozen states. Since its acquisition, the company has always shared corporate headquarter offices with Baja Fresh.

In 2016, MTY acquired La Salsa with it 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.

The opening of La Salsa in 1979 predated the opening of similar chains such as Chipotle (1993), Baja Fresh (1990), and Qdoba (1995).

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