El Corral: History, Key Facts and Reviews

1983-2000: a student project facing the Javeriana tunnel

El Corral began on February 8, 1983, as a small self-service burger restaurant in Chapinero, Bogotá, across from the tunnel of the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Pulzo). Its founders, Pablo Emilio Bueno and Guillermo Calderón, were 24 and finishing their business degrees at CESA; the restaurant started as their graduation project. Students from the nearby campuses became the first regulars. The chain then moved into shopping centers and the north of Bogotá before reaching other Colombian cities. Many Colombians long assumed it was a foreign brand.

2001-2013: El Corral Gourmet and the first franchises abroad

El Corral added a second format and its first foreign restaurants in the 2000s. In 2001 the founders opened the first El Corral Gourmet, with table service and a more elaborate menu (Wikipedia). Abroad, the brand went through franchisees: Panama first, then Ecuador in 2007 (Wikipedia ES), Chile, and in 2013 a first US restaurant in Doral, near Miami. The same company also ran the Colombian franchises of Papa John’s, Yogen Früz and Krispy Kreme.

2014-2023: Grupo Nutresa buys the chain

El Corral has belonged to Grupo Nutresa since 2014. On November 28, 2014, the Colombian food group announced it was buying El Corral for 830,000 million pesos, about 11 times the chain’s estimated 2014 EBITDA (La República). The deal included El Corral Gourmet, Leños y Carbón and the Papa John’s franchise. The restaurants are run by a Nutresa subsidiary, Industria de Restaurantes Casuales (IRCC). In 2023 Jaime Gilinski’s group secured 87% of Grupo Nutresa, and with it control of El Corral (Portafolio).

2024-2026: 221 restaurants and the Todoterreno

El Corral now outsells McDonald’s in Colombia. IRCC’s sales reached 732,065 million pesos in 2024, up 6.9% on 2023 and slightly above those of McDonald’s Colombian operator, with 4,182 employees (Halcones y Palomas). In April 2026 Felipe Baquero Saldarriaga, president of El Corral, said the chain had 221 restaurants and 14 El Corral Gourmet. It sells about 16 million burgers a year, and the Todoterreno alone accounts for 15 to 20% of sales (La República). The 2026 plan includes 25 new El Corral and Gourmet restaurants, mostly in mid-sized Colombian cities, while franchisees keep the brand going in Ecuador.

Key dates

• 1983: Pablo Emilio Bueno and Guillermo Calderón open El Corral in Bogotá on February 8.
• 2001: the first El Corral Gourmet introduces table service.
• 2007: El Corral arrives in Ecuador through a franchise.
• 2013: first US restaurant, in Doral, Florida.
• 2014: Grupo Nutresa buys El Corral for 830,000 million pesos.
• 2023: the Gilinski group takes control of Grupo Nutresa.
• 2026: 221 El Corral restaurants and 14 El Corral Gourmet in Colombia.