Texas Based Pizza Chain Accepts Mexican Pesos

[matcom]

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DALLAS, Jan 8 (Reuters Life!) - Mexican pesos won't buy you much north of the border. But from Monday they'll buy you a pizza.

A Dallas-based pizza chain which caters to the Hispanic community is accepting the Mexican currency at all of its 59 U.S. stores starting on Monday, giving the greenback some unusual competition at the cash register.

"Unlike many other businesses for us it makes sense. Our stores are located in predominately Hispanic communities and so the majority of our customers are Hispanic," said Andrew Gamm, director of brand development for Pizza Patron.

"We know that a large number of them travel back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico and consequently have some pesos left over in their pocket. The pizza business is extremely competitive and we thought this was a way to position ourselves in relation to our competitors," he told Reuters.

Gamm said he was aware of businesses in border towns which accepted pesos but believed Pizza Patron was the first to offer such a service at outlets far from the Rio Grande.

The franchise operates in five states: Texas, Arizona, California, Nevada and Colorado.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070109/od_nm/pesos_pizzas_usa_dc