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Mexican Lifestyles Food & Dining Pizzas For Pesos Triggers Debate
Mexican Lifestyles Food & Dining Pizzas For Pesos Triggers Debate | Pizzas For Pesos Triggers Debate |
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| Written by JOY HEPP | |
| Saturday, 08 September 2007 | |
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If you've got some extra pesos in your pockets on your next trip to the States head over to a Pizza Patron franchise for a pizza pie topped with chorizo and extra controversy. The Dallas-based restaurant chain has locations in communities with large Hispanic populations and has always made an effort to cater to their clients' needs. So when they decided to implement a program called "Pizza for Pesos" it seemed like a logical idea.
"What began as a sound business decision to create a unique experience in our stores and offer an added convenience to our customers quickly evolved into a national debate on illegal immigration," said Pizza Patron representative Andrew Gamm in a recent company press release. The stores allow customers to use Mexican currency to buy pizza at an exchange rate of 12 pesos to the dollar, which is just slightly higher than the average 11-peso rate used by most exchange houses. Change is given in U.S. dollars. Within days of the company's announcement in January, news organizations like the New York Times and CNN ran stories about the unusual business plan. Death threats and hate mail followed. Fox News asked its website viewers to write in and share their thoughts about Pizza for Pesos and their answers reflected the conflicting views of the current immigration debate. "This is just another step in the agenda the Hispanic community and Mexico have in store for the United States," said "Kirk" of Fort Worth, Texas. "Americans need to wake up before it is too late. This country will be taken over without a shot ever fired." The Pizza for Pesos program has done more than just stir up controversy. It has also helped boost profits for the company. Since the program started in January, sales are up as much as 30 percent in some stores. It was so successful that the company recently implemented yet another program with a binational flavor. Along with their pizza, customers can now purchase Mexican calling cards at each of the 65 locations. While it's possible that Pizza Patron's recent success could have been built solely on the spare change of the Mexican-American community, it's likely that the media blitz and subsequent curiosity played a significant part. Deanna Dent is a student from Arizona who just got back from a two-week trip through Mexico. Although she still had a couple of 50-peso notes in her wallet, she hasn't yet considered trading them in for a pizza. "Honestly I doubt if anyone even does it, because its like 100 pesos for a pizza at the cheapest and most people would just change that in," she said. "I think it was just a marketing thing, but it would be interesting to go there and see who ends up coming in." |
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