Unfortunately there aren’t any Starbucks in Guatemala. (Perhaps the fact that most Guatemalans would have to work more than a day to afford a cup of coffee from there has something to do with that.) No, instead of there being a Starbucks on every corner, in Guatemala the sacred fried chicken joint Pollo Campero gets the ubiquitous chain award.
The picture below is of Calzada Roosevelt (pronounced ruse-e-belt), the road that heads out of Guatemala City to Antigua or Chimaltengo, depending on which fork you take (I highly suggest the one that leads to Antigua). The Pollo Campero sign circled on the left does not belong to the Pollo Campero restaurant circled on the right. No, just out of view of this picture is another Pollo Campero restaurant that sits directly across the street from the visible one. And there is also another Pollo Campero in the Tikal Futura shopping center (next to where I took this picture) as well as another in the adjacent Miraflores shopping mall. That is four Pollo Campero restaurants in less than a square mile radius. Now that’s a lot of chicken.
On a related side note: While Guatemalans love PC’s (that is Pollo Campero, not Peace Corps) chicken, they generally find the establishment’s tortillas to be lacking, in both quantity and flavor. So, where there is a Pollo Campero, there is at least one woman sitting outside the front door with a basket full of tortillas. People will buy a Q or 2 worth of tortillas and bring them inside to enjoy with their meal. I would love to see how a set up like that would go over at McDonald’s.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Guatemala's Starbucks
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2 comments:
You're right, PC is the "national junk food joint" in Guatemala. I'm a chapin and even after 20 years, I still get my "fix" every now and then. Yes, I'd rather have my PC with "tortillas".
Now, just as a reference, Starbucks original business plan was based on a supply of Guatemalan coffee, just as Dietrich Coffee - the precursor of Starbucks - did. The latter ended up being acquired by the former.
Now, PC in the US has presence in 13 states, plus DC, I'd venture to say that there are around 75 by now and their expansion plans have not stopped since in the process the chain has acquired other "markets", like the Asians, African Americans, and ironically, the most inclined to eat this delicacy white population, somewhere between the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans...but their expansion is not only in the US, there're PCs all over Central America, Mexico, Ecuador, China, Spain, etc. http://www.pollocampero.com/index.php?showPage=175
Regarding McDonald's, I believe there are around 30 stores scattered around the main urban centers in Guatemala. I'm not fan of McDonald's, but in Guatemala the service and quality of the "junk" are admirable, you can even have it delivered, when in the States if you ask them for home delivery, they'll flat out just laugh at your face.
Pollo Campero anyone?
Wow does this guy work for Pollo Campero? While Guatemalans love this stuff I would rank it towards the bottom of the fast food food chain. Nice photo by the way. Here in China we love Kundege (Kun Da gee), or also known as KFC. Maybe there is something about fried chicken that could unite the world in peace. Doctoral dissertation to follow.
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