Portillo's stands out in the restaurant industry with sales of more than $8 million per location. To put that into perspective, average annual sales per location at Chipotle Mexican Grill and Panera Bread are roughly $2.3 million to $2.5 million.



"They are in a category all their own," said Darren Tristano, executive vice president at Technomic, a food industry research and consultancy in Chicago. He said the average sales at a Portillo's restaurant are roughly three times as high as sales at an Applebee's restaurant.



Dick Portillo said he has no investors other than a landlord at one of the locations who "gets a small part of the action." Otherwise, he is the sole owner of the company, he said.