Selling fresh pizza is a $35 billion industry. In 2010, according to PMQ Pizza Magazine’s 2011 Pizza Power Report, there were 65,283 pizza stores in the United States. The competition for customers can be stiff and so anything a pizza store can do differently to stand out from a crowded field will be done. Just ask Dallas-based Pizza Patrón.

From its beginnings in 1986, Pizza Patrón cut a unique slice of the industry for itself by appealing to the Latino market. Understanding the bicultural environment Latinos live in, Pizza Patrón management didn’t just market their pizzas to Latinos but created a buying experience that made their stores Latino-friendly with bilingual staff and a pricing strategy — “Más pizza. Menos dinero” (More pizza. Less money.) — that understood the financial reality of their customers.

Targeting Latino consumers early on has proven to not only be a successful strategy for the chain that celebrated its 100th store opening in 2011 but a visionary one as well. The research firm Mintel reports that 72 percent of Latinos get food or drink from pizza restaurants compared to 67 percent of non-Latinos. With an ever-growing Latino population those kinds of statistics illustrate that Pizza Patrón is on the right track.

So, it’s not surprising that a chain, located in seven states, that has made it its business to know the U.S. Latino market would do certain campaigns highlighting this special relationship — even if it sounds strange to everyone else.

Read the full story at Latina Lista