Hispanic-Targeted Pizza Patron Chain Opens First Franchises in Denver

Kristi Arellano from The Denver Post reports on June 9, 2004:

Antonio Swad hit on the Pizza Patron concept in 1986 when he opened his first pizza store in a heavily Hispanic neighborhood in Dallas. He struggled to communicate with his Spanish-speaking customers and realized that he could tap into a huge market if he could reach out to those customers.

The company [now] operates 16 stores and has announced development agreements for 94 more in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.

"Our pizza is no different than what you would find at Domino's or Papa John's," said Pizza Patron spokesman Andy Gamm, although some stores offer toppings like chorizo.

Pizza Patron is relying largely on language and cultural familiarity to set it apart from other pizza chains. The stores are staffed by bilingual employees, and store managers are required to live in the neighborhoods they serve.

The company doesn't do much advertising and instead relies on word of mouth among its customers.

The company announced in April that it had signed a deal with Randy Schmidt to open four stores in metro Denver. "This is an untapped market," Schmidt said. "Granted, there are pizza places all over the place, but this is something that Hispanic people can identify with..." When Schmidt opens his first restaurants this summer, the brightly colored stores will be staffed with Spanish-speaking workers. Contemporary Latino music will play from the speakers, and menus will be printed in Spanish and English.

"One of the nice things about pizza is its broad market appeal," Gamm said.

"People who aren't comfortable with English will feel safer calling because they know they will get someone who speaks Spanish," said Janina Calderon-Ferguson, president of Calderon Hispanic Marketing in Denver.

She said immigrant parents who don't speak English often rely on their children to place their meal orders on the phone or in person. The comfort level created by having Spanish-speaking staffers could rapidly build brand loyalty, she said.

I believe that by a combination of catering to the "Hispanic Culture" and a small twist of ethnic flavors, even more than with the language, Pizza Patron will keep on hitting home runs accross the nation's Latino communities. Even English-speaking Hispanics will appreciate a good pizza along with the warmness of the Hispanic culture surrounding them. This is vital: Pizza Patron is betting on their food, relying primarily on word of mouth to grow its business. That alone shows me that they have what it takes to succeed.

Basically, they are giving people what they want and making them feel good and comfortable in a familiar environment. New immigrants most likely have eaten at Pizza Hot or Domino’s back in their home countries, comfortably ordering in Spanish. So any pizza chain could have done this... but they DIDN'T. So Pizza Patron has claimed this "mountain" their own.

Kudos Pizza Patron!

Read the entire article at HispanicBusiness.com

Comments

[Jean Warner]

Today (1/8/07) I listened to an NPR interview with the founder of Pizza Patron and I was so impressed. He spoke of his decision to accept Peso's along with dollars. While that sounded like a sound marketing tool and one that has long been used along the USA Canadian border, that is not what impressed me so much. But instead, the way he answered the questions of the interviewer. It seemed that she was baiting him and trying to get him to say something negative. He never did, even when he spoke of some of the negative e-mails he has received over this issue. what a class act. If there is ever a Pizza Patron opened in Panama City Florida I will be a faithful customer. I hope his success continues. Good Luck Jean

[n/a]

Isnt it racist to favor the hispanic community anyways?!? noone goes around and flaunts "we try and support the caucasion community" and now they are accepting pesos?!?

[Roberto Rivera]

I believe what Pizza Patron is doing by accepting Mexican pesos is wrong it sends the wrong message to the the general population that hispanic don't want to assimilate to the culture in large. I am an American of hispanic decent and I am all for being proud of your heritage but at the same time we are living in the United States and there are some things that one must do for example language. I'm not saying don't speak spanish but you also have to learn English. Pizza patron saids it caters mainly in the hispanic community and is helping them ,but of what they are doing is not helping. Pizza patron is ghettotizing them,isolating them, they should be ashamed of themselves.