MONEY ON THE MENU
Latin-style food biz makes $1 million in just 36 days.
The company ex-panded into the New York market in July 2004 and served nearly 6,000 customers on opening day and more than 100,000 customers within the first two weeks of operation. Last June, the company announced they would be expanding into Asia with plans to build 600 restaurants in China and Indonesia. Campero is one of the first Latin American chains to target Asia. The move was prompted by worldwide fascination with Latino culture, food, and celebrities and Pollo Campero has received requests from prominent would-be franchisees for the past two years. The company has already tested its chicken during marketing studies in the region with positive results. Campero plans to also adapt its menu to local tastes. It’s a win-win concept.
THE HISPANIC MARKET AND YOUR BIZ
Pollo Campero is proud to be part of the Hispanic community, which has contributed so much to the United States. Consider the following statistics as you conceptualize marketing campaigns for your small business: Hispanics are pronounced the nation’s largest minority group after census figures were released in 2001 showing the U.S. Hispanic population at 37.1 million. It is expected that the number of Hispanics will triple to more than 100 million by the year 2050. Hispanics, according to Campero, have “changed the way Americans dance, dress, watch the news, eat, buy, amuse themselves and live. Pollo Campero is proud to be part of the Hispanic community. We are proud to be Latin.” For more information, visit www.campero.com.
The first location is due to open soon in Shanghai. Campero intends to open 50 restaurants in the Shanghai metro area and to have 100 franchises in Indonesia, mostly in Jakarta. Expansion into China’s capital, Beijing, and its southern province of Guangdong will eventually mean an additional 450 Pollo Campero locations. The franchise is booming.
The Pollo Campero exclusive chicken recipe is full of herbs and spices typical of Latin American cuisine. More seasoned and flavorful than the traditional American variety, the fried chicken is first marinated, then breaded and fried. The result is tender, juicy inside, crispy outside, and mouthfuls of flavor in every bite, says the franchisor.
Chicken is available by the piece and with a variety of side order options. Family dinners vary in the number of chicken pieces and side orders to best fit the family appetite. For the little ones, a Kids’ Meal is available and is packaged with a little surprise gift inside. Side dishes include classic U.S. fries and coleslaw and more Latin options such as tostones, Mexican-style beans and spicy rice. Campero offers soda fountain drinks and horchata (made from nuts, cinnamon and rice) and tamarindo juice. Desserts include Latin American staples such as flan (Spanish custard), arroz con leche (homestyle rice pudding) and classic-style dulce de leche.
Connected to Pollo Campero is the Juan Bautista Gutierrez Foundation to maintain the ideals of solidarity and community service to which Mr. Juan Bautista Gutiérrez lived by. The foundation seeks to work to raise the living standards of Guatemalans and consolidate under participative and ethical principles in the search for equality. The Juan Bautista Gutierrez Foundation was created to centralize and formalize a series of social and benefit projects which the Gutiérrez Mayorga and the Bosch Gutiérrez families have worked on for many years. The Foundation is the social branch of Multi Inversiones Corporation, which is, the parent company of several companies that include Pollo Campero, Avicola Villalobos and Empacadora Toledo among others.The Foundation is a nonprofit and apolitical organization dedicated to social services with emphasis in education and health areas and whose objective is to help raise the living standards of Guatemalans.