Moe's Southwest Grill, referred to informally as Moe's, was founded in Atlanta, Georgia, in December 2000, by Raving Brands. In August 2007, the brand was purchased by Focus Brands. As of 2015, there were about 600 locations in operation in 38 states. As of July 14, 2014 the number of Moe's locations increased to over 600 in the US after signing 120 new franchises in six months. According to the 2016 Harris Poll EquiTrend survey, Moe's is the "Fast Casual Mexican Restaurant of the Year", passing former top restaurant Chipotle Mexican Grill even with less than half the number of locations as Chipotle has.