As Pizza Patrón found out, it can be hard to go after a potential profit without starting a political debate.
“Our entire brand is dedicated to making a deeper connection with the Hispanic community. That creates some opportunity for adversity in our business, but we think it’s good business,” said Andrew Gamm, Pizza Patrón’s director of brand development.
“Our brand targets the youngest, largest and fastest-growing segment of our population.”
The article said: By the chain’s estimation, the controversial peso promotion ranks among its most successful ever. The small pizza chain raised its national profile as more news outlets, bloggers and enraged citizens got wind of the story.
“If there wasn’t any controversy linked to it, it obviously wouldn’t have been as interesting on the scale that it was,” said Gamm, who noted that 31 percent of the stores have set weekly sales records since the campaign began.
“We fully understand the reason it got the attention was because of the connection between Pizza Patrón and immigration. We’re OK with that. It wasn’t our intention, it wasn’t by design.”
