National pizza chain Pizza Patron received death threats and xenophobic emails ("This is the United States of America, not the United States of Mexico," and "Quit catering to the … illegal Mexicans") after it announced that it would accept pesos, as well as dollars, at its stores:
Pizza Patron proclaims on its Web site that "to serve the Hispanic community is our passion." Its restaurants are in mostly Hispanic neighborhoods, and each manager must be bilingual and live nearby, said Pizza Patron founder Antonio Swad, who is part-Italian, part-Lebanese.
Many Pizza Patron customers have pesos "sitting in their sock drawers or in their wallets," Gamm said. "We're talking small amounts, where it would be inconvenient to stop and exchange on the way back–maybe 10 or 20 dollars' worth of pesos."
As the article points out, many stores on the Canadian border accept Canadian dollars.
