Article: NY Campero

Franchise clucks with customers
Debut of Guatemalan-based fried chicken chain in Queens and Brooklyn is attracting immigrants who want a taste of home

By Jason Boog
New York Newsday

One gloomy recent evening, 4-year-old Christina Rodriguez danced the salsa with an 8-foot-tall neon-yellow chicken while her mother ate a plate of fried chicken and Mexican rice at the Pollo Campero in Corona.

Every few days, a restaurant employee dons the massive "Little Chicken" costume. A battery-powered blower puffs out the vinyl suit's tail-feathers and cowboy hat. Pollo Campero in Spanish means "Country Chicken," so the mascot sports farmer clothes from the company's Guatemalan homeland.

"We came here for the chicken, only the chicken," said Johanna Rodriguez, 24, of Sunset Park, Christina's mother. "She likes it, so we'll come back."

Dressed in a fuzzy pink jumper, her daughter was barely tall enough to hold the chicken's wing. The girl had finished her helping of lightly spiced chicken, cole slaw, soda and tortillas, but the bird kept her busy while her mother finished.

Rodriguez moved here from Venezuela 10 years ago and now works as a baby-sitter. She's visited the Queens business three times since she first tasted Campero in July.

Two franchises open in city

This summer, the 30-year- old company opened two franchises in New York City, expanding a network that spans nine Central American countries. The openings in Corona and Sunset Park attracted thousands of Latino immigrants who loved the chicken from home. Now the company is trying to grab uninitiated customers like Rodriguez.

According to the store's managers, the Queens franchise served 6,000 customers on opening day, during a gala that featured Central American dignitaries, Latino pop stars and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Customers waited in lines for five hours to buy bags of chicken.

Pollo Campero first arrived in the United States in 2002, starting out in Los Angeles, home to a large Hispanic population. Since then, more stores have sprung up in Texas and Virginia.

"The [New York City] community has embraced Pollo Campero since the first day," said Neil Colley, owner of the New York franchise.

The entrepreneur from Westchester tasted the company's fried chicken during a business trip to Guatemala two years ago. After some 18 months of planning, he opened the Corona restaurant in July and the Sunset Park one in August.

Wanted: more customers

Colley says he still wants more customers like Rodriguez.

"We're looking for crossover customers, people from every nationality that don't know Pollo Campero," he said. "We want these people to be ambassadors for our brand."

Colley is already scouting new locations. He has studied all five boroughs but is also looking into the suburbs.

The Queens branch serves crowds along jam-packed Roosevelt Avenue, but the Sunset Park Campero offers a quieter scene. A walk-up window lets customers wander through, while inside, 16 waiters are in charge of serving 145 seats.

Angel Garcia, 31, manages the Brooklyn branch, but he is a relatively new customer himself.

The Ecuadorean native from Washington Heights tasted Campero chicken during a recent management-training session in Guatemala. There, Garcia learned the company standards. Each franchise uses the same recipes, uniforms, orange wallpaper, fryer machines and mashed potato scoopers.

All Campero restaurants also sell the same toys to children. Every week, the store sells around 250 Campero toys: plastic action-figures of the mascot dressed like a Guatemalan farmer or a robot.

In the coming months, the chain hopes to lure new customers with adult prizes: VIP discount cards, food prizes and free resort trips.

This month, groups of three or more customers who purchase a family size-item will get a free five-minute international phone card. The promotion is designed to allow immigrant patrons to call home after a familiar meal.

Posted by elcanche at October 13, 2004 07:18 PM