Western United States
In early June 1999 Kam and Flores noticed that a former employee was doing fairly well selling Hawaiian-style plate lunches in the San Francisco Bay Area, in spite of their restaurant's less than ideal location. Since he realized that it was possible to sell this cuisine in California, Kam and Flores obtained a location in October of the same year inside the Puente Hills Mall in the City of Industry, California to open the first mainland L&L location.[8] Due to differing expectations of the types of food usually served at drive-ins, Flores decided to change the name on the mainland to L&L Hawaiian Barbecue to strengthen the chain's association to Hawaiian cuisine.[9]
There were 49 L&L locations in Hawaii when the first California L&L location opened in October 1999.[8] After opening at the Puente Hills Mall, the chain opened other locations throughout Los Angeles County. In September 2000, L&L opened its first location in Orange County.[10]
The first L&L in the Western United States outside of California was opened in Hillsboro, Oregon in August 2001.[11] Soon after, a location opened in July 2002 in Henderson, Nevada 2002.[12][13] A number of other locations started opening up, including Lynnwood, Washington in March 2003,[14][15] Mesa, Arizona in June 2004,[16] Provo, Utah in August 2004,[17] Aurora, Colorado in August 2004,[18]
Eastern United States
L&L opened its first location in this region in May 2003, located in Manchester, Connecticut.[21] This location has since closed.
As for New York, the first L&L location was opened on Fulton Street in New York City in November 2004.[22][23] The New York City location has since closed.[24] L&L's only current New York location is near the Canadian border in Evans Mills,[25] though three locations are planned to open in East Harlem,[26] the Lower East Side
Central United States
As of 2022, there are several locations in the Central region. The Plano, Texas, location opened in November 2008.[30] Other Texas locations are in San Antonio, Houston, Katy and Waco. Previously operating locations included Champaign, Illinois, near the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign campus in October 2004,[31] East Lansing. Michigan in June 2005,[32] Lewisville, Texas, which opened in April 2008.[33] and Franklin, Tennessee in June 2015.[34]
American Pacific territories
The company previously had locations in the American territories in the Western Pacific. The first expansion westward of Hawaii occurred when L&L opened in American Samoa in June 2008,[35] though the franchise closed sometime between September 2012[36] and March 2013.[37]
A location in Guam was opened in October 2014,[38] but later closed in January 2018.[39]
International
L&L's first international location was opened in Auckland, New Zealand, in February 2009.[40] In Japan, the first location was opened in the Shibuya section of Tokyo in June 2010, and a second location near Enoshima, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, in December 2017.[41][42][43] In China, the first location was opened in June 2013.[44]
The first L&L location in Malaysia was opened in Kuala Lumpur in December 2014.[38] In 2015, the first L&L location in Indonesia was opened in
