From Guatemala to China

BY CHRONICLE STAFF

Guatemalan recipes for preparing chicken may not seem like an export item with much potential, but it's a winning concept for Pollo Campero, a Guatemala-based restaurant chain that has parlayed success at home to a fast-growing international brand.

"The brand, the products and the experience is appealing to a very large number of people," says Roberto Denegri, president and COO of Campero USA, the successful U.S. subsidiary of the Guatemalan company. "We are the only authentic Latin brand."

He acknowledges that Pollo Campero faces stiff competition from "any one who sells chicken products" but believes it can compete on the way it prepares the food. Pollo Campero's chicken is typically less greasy than Kentucky Fried Chicken. It's fried, while Pollo Tropical typically grills its chickens. And it offers a menu of side orders and desserts that are catered to each market where it operates.

"In China for instance we have soups and rice," he says.  "In Mexico we have tortas and sincronizadas. The core is the same, but with different side orders and desserts."

All that is adding up. Denegri declined to release revenue figures, but says Pollo Campero has been growing "between...

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Keywords: China, Indonesia, Mexico, Spain, US