Posted on 01/07/2007 2:36:11 PM PST by kellynla
Pizza lovers who don't happen to have American currency on them can still purchase their favorite pies with Mexican pesos, thanks to a Texas-based restaurant chain.
Starting this week, Pizza Patrón outlets, which caters heavily to Mexicans, will offer the alternative form of payment.
"We're trying to reach out to our core customer," Antonio Swad, president of Pizza Patrón Inc., told the Dallas Morning News.
"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."
It's believed no other food chain operating so far from the Mexican border is allowing customers to pay with foreign currency.
Swad said he's prepared to take criticism from American consumers possibly offended by the bypassing of greenbacks.
"We're not really interested in finding the safest spot on the board," he told the paper. "We know the purity of our intention, and we're willing to take the heat when there is heat."
About 60 percent of Pizza Patrón customers and 45 percent of its franchisees are Hispanic.
"If you're not in a border town, I don't see the functional benefit," said Juan Faura, president and chief executive of Cultura, a Dallas-based marketing and advertising firm. "I would see it as a move by the chain to communicate unequivocally to the Hispanic market that they are for them."
"I don't see any other reason for it," Faura added.
Andrew Gamm, Pizza Patrón's director of brand development, said the company has already seen customers spending "a couple hundred pesos" without any advertisement of the service during a test in a Mesquite location.
Founded in 1986, Pizza Patrón has gone from four locations to 59 and more than 40 under development across the American Southwest.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
Perhaps someone should explain to them that dollars are the official currency of the United States of AMERICA. If they want pesos so badly, why don't they move their operation to a country where the peso is the national currency?
There is only one legal tender in the US to settle debts....
Mexican peso's do not fall under legal tender here...
I do believe that the chain is violating US law. If they set themselves up as a registered currency exchange (highly regulated) then they could exchange the peso's for dollars.....then for pizza....
Even US States are no longer allowed to print currency any longer...only the Feds...
No big deal. Happens every day within 100 miles either side of the US/Canadian border.
-just so they do not try to not collect and pay sales tax.
Pizza Hut in Mexico City accepts dollars.
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When I was stationed in Germany all the bars and clubs accepted U.S. dollars. I'm pretty sure the U.S. dollar is welcome everywhere in the world, especially in countries where the government expressly forbid their citizens them.
Then you'd better tell the T-Men to shut down every Wal-Mart, gas station, and convenience store north of Bangor, Maine.
Violating US Law?...Nope. If someone wants to pay you with potatoes or pop bottles it's fine. The Gov't only requires you declare the value of those potatoes or pop bottles or pesos, or drachma as income denominated in dollars.
I don't either. They are free to take any currency they wish.
Did you ever trade a Willie Mays for a Mickey Mantle?
Was that against the law?
A Guy walks in with 1 million pesos ( about 98,000 dollars) and wants to buy your 1993 Toyota. Do you tell him...Sorry,I only accept US currency?
I don't think so.
Care to explain exactly why that comment was inane? Or did it just strike a nerve?
All the stores in South Texas take pesos. When I cross to Mexico,they take dollars. No big deal.
All that means is that the dollar is the only currency you could be forced to accept to settle a debt (assuming the debt was in dollars). You can choose to accept whatever you want.
Nah. Dane is still operating out in the open.
"Care to explain exactly why that comment was inane?"
if you can't figure out for yourself then I can't help you.
but does the fact that TENS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS made by illegals, not to mention the BILLIONS OF DOLLARS of illegal drug sales are being sent back to Mexico annually ring a bell...duhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
just don't pull a muscle trying to figure it out!
They can take whatever payment they want, but the pizza really isn't very good.
I'll remember that the next time someone passes me a Canadian coin...
Ever heard of a currency exchange? As long as they're making money, it probably doesn't matter to them what the currency is.
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