Dallas-based food chain to accept Mexican Pesos

Dallas Morning News ^ | 01/07/2007 | Karen Robinson-Jacobs

[devane617]

Starting Monday, patrons of the Dallas-based Pizza Patrón chain, which caters heavily to Latinos, will be able to purchase American pizzas with Mexican pesos. Restaurant experts and economists said they knew of no other food chain with locations so far from the Mexican border offering such a service. "We're trying to reach out to our core customer," Antonio Swad, president of Pizza Patrón Inc., said Friday. "We know they come back [from Mexico] and have pesos left over. We want to be a convenient place for them to spend their pesos." While U.S. restaurant chains have stepped up their marketing to Latino consumers and incorporated Latin flavors in the menu, it's unusual to see that outreach extend to the cash register. "I think it's a very interesting idea," said Ron Paul, president of Technomic Inc., a Chicago-based restaurant market research firm. "They are catering to that audience." But Mr. Paul said he did not see other chains rushing to emulate the program, in part because of bookkeeping headaches.

[devane617]

Makes life easier -- that is if you want to eat pizza all the time.

[zook]

Growing up in Detroit, most stores accepted Canadian money, until around the late 1960s when the value of the Canadian dollar dropped substantially.

[cripplecreek]

Canadian is worth a lot more than a peso. Canadian coins are still common.

[xcamel]

Probably at 15p/$1 - making a killing along the way...

[stopem]

All I can say is

I still live in the United States of AMERICA!

NOT

the United States of MEXICO!!

Or at least I thought I did.

DISGUSTED in Texas!!

[zook]

I recently got a Taiwan dollar in change, mixed in with some pennies. I think it's worth about 30 cents.

[cripplecreek]

A friend of mine got a Euro with his change a while back.

[1rudeboy]

Canadian coins used to work in the automatic toll machines on the Illinois Tollway, giving you something on the order of a 30% discount. :)

[since 1854]

The Mexican peso was the de facto currency of the United States for the first couple decades after the American Revolution.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Bump for reference.

[Cheburashka]

My understanding of the law is that all debts have to be settlable in American money. So if they will accept American money in payment of debts, no problem. They can accept Mexican as well, if they want.

Just a little businessman trying to provide a better service to his costumers. Or get his business noticed amongst all the other pizza joints. Big fat hairy deal.

[zook]

That's funny because didn't Canadian coins always used to stick to magnets? That's why they wouldn't work in a lot of vending machines.

[zook]

Right. And now that I think about it, most merchants near the Detroit-Windsor border accept each other's money.

[stevem]

I don't know how it is these days, but I seem to recall that when I was quite young there were places along the Canadian border that happily traded in Canadian dollars. I think I would if I had a superb handle on exchange rates.

I know some private contractors that do some business in values that have zip to do with money of any sort. I think the latter may be a bit of a tax dodge.

[1rudeboy]

Something about the machines being an order of magnitude lower on the low-tech scale. They were ultimately replaced.

[Sybeck1]

So it begins. The small item that will blow up to be the "NARO", a currency that will be recognized in the northern hemisphere.

[codercpc]

My husband and I are going to San Diego in April for vacation, we also want to travel into Tijuana for the day. I was very pleased to read that most vendors on the Mexican border take American dollars (we won't have to try and find an exchange location), so I don't see much of a difference here.

I realize that Mexican immigration (illegal immigration) is a huge problem in the border States, but this doesn't seem to be that big of a deal. IMHO.

[Graybeard58]

Coming back from Canada, I stopped in New York to eat and gave the waitress about $8 in Canadian money as a tip because I didn't want to bother with exchanging it, she was delighted to get it.

[zook]

I think it would be great to shift the focus of this thread toward numismatics.

[Bassfire]

Won't be long now.....

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