Pizza por pesos

Chicago Tribune: What a devilish convergence of attitudes. A promotion of pizzas for pesos raised nativist fears of the end of civilization as we know it and drew applause from people who recognize a smart and catchy marketing idea when they see it.
A planned two-month promotion by a small pizza chain in southwestern states to accept Mexican currency rattled anti-immigration activists on talk radio and the blog world.
Thousands of e-mails, plus a few death threats, greeted the Dallas-based owner of Pizza Patron when he declared his 59 shops in Texas, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and California would accept pesos as payment.
The rhetorical tempest blew about such trade being "un-American," yet many businessmen gave grudging admiration to the campaign. You can't buy that kind of publicity and, anyway, what's the big deal? Shopkeepers from Lake Placid to Miami long have accepted Canadian currency from cross-border shoppers and winter snowbirds.
Unspent pesos
Back in Texas, the El Paso Times noted that the Central Business Association estimates 70 percent of the stores there routinely accept pesos. The pizza chain (slogan: Mas Pizza. Menos Dinero) claims that about 60 percent of its customers are Mexican or Mexican-American, including some who travel frequently across the border. The chain's owner (who is of Italian-Lebanese heritage and came from Ohio) recognized that many customers were taking trips to Mexico and coming back with unspent pesos.
Why not help them dispose of that cash? He also decided that his store managers must be bilingual, and he added chorizo and other traditionally Latino ingredients to the pizza toppings.
A threat to the American way of life? Oh, come on. "Pizza por pesos" shows in a small way that the Latino market across the U.S. is expanding, that it is an opportunity.
This is nothing more than some smart marketing.