Pollo Campero Opens First Restaurant in Georgia
Gainesville residents will now have the opportunity to enjoy the great-tasting flavor of Pollo Campero, the world’s largest Latin American chicken restaurant chain. Pollo Campero introduced its first location in early December, with special guest Gov. Sonny Perdue.
Franchise owner, Nora Hatchett, became familiar with the Pollo Campero brand while doing humanitarian work in Guatemala with the Ayúdame a Vivir Foundation. This foundation receives financial support from Pollo Campero. While working closely with Guatemalan children through the foundation, she witnessed their love for Pollo Campero.
Besides providing Gainesville with the Pollo Campero family experience, Hatchett has continued her humanitarian work by helping families adopt children from Guatemala and other countries, as well as domestic adoptions. She has helped place more than 200 children in loving homes across the United States.
One of the many families that has seen the results of Hatchett’s efforts includes Gov. Perdue’s family. Hatchett helped the Governor’s daughter through the adoption process of a Guatemalan boy named “J.” Gov. Perdue, his grandson, and Beatriz Illescas, Consul General of Guatemala in Georgia, along with Hatchett cut the ribbon at the grand opening ceremony.
Known for its signature, pressure-cooked chicken and traditional Latin side dishes, Pollo Campero offers family-friendly take-out or eat-in dining. Side dishes include its award-winning Campero beans, Campero rice, yuca fries and sweet plantains, as well as French fries. In addition to its expansive and popular menu, the Gainesville restaurant features grilled chicken entrees, including quarter-chicken and whole chicken on-the-bone meals and grilled chicken Caesar salad.
Pollo Campero’s fried chicken is marinated, rolled in specialty seasoned flour and slowly pressured cooked in trans-fat-free oils to produce the flavorful, juicy meals that have inspired robust sales across the nation. The citrus-infused grilled chicken features a blend of lime and orange juices, prepared with red bell peppers, rosemary, oregano, cilantro and Campero’s own blend of secret ingredients.
Founded in 1971 by the Guitiérrez family in Guatemala, Pollo Campero opened its first U.S. restaurant in 2002 to record-breaking sales. Since then, the company has opened 44 locations in the United States from California to New York and Florida. Having established its U.S. headquarters in Dallas, Pollo Campero has launched an aggressive expansion plan.
The company’s success has not gone unnoted. Pollo Campero has been voted “best of” in several categories and in several publications across the markets in which it operates, including New York, Houston, Chicago, Dallas and Washington, D.C. Pollo Campero was recently recognized as a 2008 “Hot Retailer” by the International Council of Shopping Centers. The award honors organizations with innovative retail concepts. The chicken restaurant chain also opened its first site in a Walmart Supercenter earlier this year in Rowlett, Texas.
