Guillermo Estrada has been studying Hispanic customers since he was a kid back in Mexico, working the after-school shift at a taco restaurant and then taking the bus back home. When he was a teen, his parents sent him and his siblings to the United States through student exchange programs. So it’s no wonder the 38-year-old president of the pizza chain Pizza Patrón knows a little something about attracting and keeping the chain’s Latino (Hispanic-American) customers.
Through key research and an undying interest, he knows whether the chain’s core customers speak a little Spanish with their families, or a lot. He knows whether they’re second- or third-generation immigrants. And he knows how important, or unimportant, Hispanic cultures are in their homes.
Long before the U.S. Census reminded us that Hispanics were the fastest-growing demographic in the United States, Pizza Patrón was researching this emerging growth market, and going after it not only by offering distinctly Latin flavors and ingredients, but also through marketing, customer service and overall ambiance. “A lot of companies think you can just put up a sign in Spanish that says, ‘I’m open,’ ” says Estrada, whose boss, company founder Antonio Swad, opened the first store in Dallas 25 years ago.