Roy Choi Reveals His Fast-Food Concept Loco'l Is Heading to Detroit

Earlier this summer, California chefs Roy Choi (of Los Angeles's Kogi) and Daniel Patterson (of San Francisco's Coi) announced plans to launch a fast-food concept called Loco'l, with the first two locations opening in the chefs' home cities. This afternoon, during a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" session, Choi confirms that the concept's first non-California location is planned for Detroit: "We want to go toe to toe with all the big boys," Choi says of the expansion plans. "Start small in SF and LA then we are gonna go to Detroit for first location outside of Cali then the world. So you will see us for sure on the beast coast [sic]."

In an interview last month, Choi told Eater that he and Patterson were planning an ambitious roll-out, hoping to open "right next to any other fast food joint. This is not just inner cities, this is everywhere. We eat some of the worst food in our suburbs... So I would love it if Loco'l sat next to McDonald's, a Burger King, a KFC, a Taco Bell, a Del Taco. So anyone who doesn't know about who we are, will just see another fast food restaurant."

But Choi and Patterson have already experienced one hiccup. Earlier today, Loco'l — which plans to serve a healthier version of the 99-cent hamburger to the masses — was slapped with a trademark infringement lawsuit by the ironically vegan-friendly Locali chain. In the suit, Locali argues the similar-sounding names may cause confusion among consumers: "it is imperative that competitors in the same markets, offering the same services not use names that sound very similar."