Pizza shop under fire for taking pesos

After announcing that they would accept pesos, a pizza chain based in Dallas is now receiving hate mail and death threats. From the Star-Telegram:

Dallas-based Pizza Patron said it was not trying to inject itself into a larger political debate about illegal immigration when it posted signs this week saying "Aceptamos pesos" - or "We accept pesos" - at its 59 stores across Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and California.

Pizza Patron spokesman Andy Gamm said the company was just trying to sell more pizza to its customers, 60 percent of whom are Hispanic.

Having worked at a hole-in-the-wall pizza joint until recently, I can tell you that it is an absolute must to come up with unique promotions to be able to compete with the big chains. It seems to me that this is exactly what this pizza chain is attempting to do. Setting themselves apart in order to attract business.

Wal-Mart, H-E-B supermarkets and other American businesses in towns along the Mexican border accept pesos. And some businesses in New York and Minnesota communities along the northern border accept Canadian dollars.

The difference here is that many of the pizza joints are far from the border, in places like Dallas, more than 400 miles away, and Denver, more than 700 miles.

"If people would understand that the majority of our customers are Hispanic, then it might make more sense for a company to sell pizza for pesos," Gamm said. "It doesn't make sense in Connecticut. And it doesn't make sense in North Dakota or in Maine. But it makes perfect sense here in Dallas, in Phoenix, in Denver - areas far from the border that have significant Hispanic populations."

This makes perfect sense to me. Any business, in order to survive, must cater to it's base. If you are running a business in a largely hispanic area, I see no reason why it shouldn't be acceptable to take pesos. They can be converted to dollars. It is done every day. Money is money. If there are a lot of pesos in the area your business is located in, why not take it? It is better than not making anything at all.

While praising the pesos plan as an innovative way to appeal to Hispanics, a partner in the nation's largest Hispanic public relations firm said a backlash was inevitable.

"Right now there's a lot of anti-immigrant rhetoric going around that could make them a lightning rod," said Patricia Perez, a partner at Valencia, Perez & Echeveste in Los Angeles.

What does this have to do with immigration? It seems to me that it has more to do with making your customers lives easier. "Don't worry about converting your pesos. We can do that ourselves."

When I went to Mexico a few years ago, I didn't convert my dollars. After I had been told that it wasn't necessary, I certainly didn't go out of my way to do it. That is basically what this pizza chain is doing. Telling their customers that it isn't necessary.

Pizza Patron proclaims on its Web site that "to serve the Hispanic community is our passion."

If serving their Hispanic community is their passion, then by all means, let them do it! Accepting pesos is one way they can go about that!

Many Pizza Patron customers have pesos "sitting in their sock drawers or in their wallets," Gamm said. "We're talking small amounts, where it would be inconvenient to stop and exchange on the way back - maybe 10 or 20 dollars' worth of pesos."

In the first week, payments in pesos have accounted for about 10 percent of business at the five restaurants operated by the corporation, Pizza Patron said.

Ten percent is a fairly good amount. By no means is it a majority of their income, but it is enough to make the promotion worth it. There is a decent chance some of the people who ordered using pesos would not have done so if they had to get the money converted first, especially if the amount is small. When pesos are ten percent of your income though, suddenly it does become worth it.

The people who are so offended by illegal immigration need to wake up and realize that this pizza chain's promotion has nothing to do with their cause. This is simply about a company trying to attract more customers and more money, which is something that all companies try to do. What is so wrong with accepting pesos as a way to do such?