Peso policy results in backlash for pizza chain

Surely you remember Pizza Patrón, the Dallas-based pizza chain that started accepting Mexican pesos as well as U.S. dollars this week in a dual-currency trial program. Well, you're not the only one: Since it announced the program, Pizza Patrón has gotten a slew of hate mail and death threats, the AP reports. Who knew people would get so upset that they would threaten to kill a pizza restaurant?

Some of the e-mail messages seemed to be standard anti-immigration rhetoric: "This is the United States of America, not the United States of Mexico," one read. "Quit catering to the damn illegal Mexicans," read another — because, of course, illegal immigrants are the only people who might have some pesos hanging around. But the reaction hasn't all been negative: One person who posted on a Denver Internet message board applauded the move. "I think it's just smart business," the post read. "Most banks do this - take Pesos and trade for dollars. And they make a significant profit by giving fewer dollars than the Pesos are worth. Why shouldn't other businesses be allowed to do this?" And that person is right: Many businesses along the Mexican border, including Wal-Mart and H-E-B, take pesos, and other businesses up north take Canadian dollars.

Pizza Patrón spokesman Andy Gamm said the chain is just trying to make things more convenient for the Hispanic customers it caters to, many of whom travel to and from Mexico often and may not have converted all their pesos back into U.S. dollars. "We're talking small amounts, where it would be inconvenient to stop and exchange on the way back — maybe 10 or 20 dollars' worth of pesos," Gamm said.

In the week that the program has been in effect, the five corporation-owned Pizza Patrón locations have done about 10 percent of their business in pesos. The chain's other 60 locations, which include five in Houston, are franchised and haven't turned in sales reports for the last few days yet.