Pollo Campero in Chicago: Nostalgia served piping hot

Move over, Krispy Kreme--fans flock to the opening of a Guatemalan fast-food eatery in Chicago, where meals come with a taste of home

July 30, 2005
By Oscar Avila

Screaming crowds strained at metal barriers. Blue and white Guatemalan flags waved, while a marimba band laid down a peppy xylophone-like soundtrack.

Then the crowd parted, and in waddled the hero of the day, a yellow inflatable chicken wearing an apron and a cowboy hat--Pollo Campero.

The Guatemalan fast-food chain with a cult following--some compare its hold on Central Americans to America's Krispy Kreme addiction--officially opened its first Pollo Campero outlet in Chicago Friday, dishing out equal parts fried chicken and nostalgia among immigrants.

About 200 devoted fans waited in line, some as early as 6 a.m., for the noon opening in the Brickyard Mall on the Northwest Side.

Among them was Bulmaro Calderon, a chef at the Four Seasons Hotel who was desperate for his Pollo fix.

In fact, Calderon had been hankering so badly for the secretly spiced chicken that he tried to replicate the chain's recipe with a mix of crushed cornflakes, red pepper and paprika. He never could get it just right.

Patrons Friday waxed poetic about the juiciness and crispness of the chicken. But they also spoke of their childhoods in Guatemala, when a trip to Pollo Campero was seen as a gesture of love by their parents. They spoke of celebrating birthdays there, taking first dates for dinner.

Regina Garcia, who moved to Chicago from Guatemala City, recalled how her entire family would go there after Sunday mass, a chance to linger for hours in conversation. She was in the first group that arrived shortly after dawn Friday.

"This is something very special," she said. "It's part of all of our childhoods. It's a piece of our homeland."

Juan Jose Gutierrez, president and CEO of Campero USA Corp., said the company benefits here from a built-in customer loyalty, tied to the sentimentality of immigrants far from home.

Inside the Chicago location, a mural displayed Guatemalan icons such as the Mayan pyramids of Tikal and the pastel arch in the colonial city of Antigua.

"Our Land. Our People. Our Pride," reads the slogan on the mural. Like the icons, the advertising is meant to evoke a warm association between the homeland and the smiling chicken of Pollo Campero (which roughly translates to "Country Chicken").

"Campero appeals to nostalgia," Gutierrez said.

In Los Angeles, the lines stretched for blocks after a branch opened in 2002. The first New York location served 100,000 customers in the first two weeks. Chicago is the sixth U.S. city that the chain calls home.

But even with the restaurants' growing presence here, so many people bring the chicken from Central America to the U.S. that company officials report getting requests from one airline that they create airtight boxes--the jet cabin was starting to smell like a fryer. The company reports selling 3 million orders a year to go from airport locations.

Some Guatemalans say their countrypeople have brought back food to Chicago and resold it for $3 a leg.

"Americans don't get it," said Aldo De Leon of Chicago. "They look at us on the plane and say, `Why are these people carrying all that chicken?'"

Even now, chef Calderon said he would take a three-piece Campero meal over the filet mignon with mushroom sauce that he serves his wealthy customers.

"It makes me feel good inside," he said.

De Leon, like many customers in line, said he wouldn't have to look at a menu. He had been waiting 22 years to taste the chicken since leaving Guatemala at age 10. He knew what he wanted: three pieces of chicken, fries, a soda.

And with a childlike anticipation, he hoped the menu still featured his boyhood favorite, the fruit dessert that would fill his heart and stomach with a bit of home.

Source: Chicago Tribune

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