They have not advertised, and the new building next to Fiesta Plaza didn’t sport a Pollo Campero sign. Yet somehow the Central American community in the Tampa Bay area figured out a familiar fast-food taste is coming.
“We’re getting calls and people at the door asking when we open,” said Stephen Carlson, local operations director of a Guatemalan chicken chain with a cultlike following. “We open in early July.”
Fried chicken may not be a growth industry in today’s health-conscious society, so Pollo Campero is one of the few chains offering roasted items as well. It also was the first with a self-serve salsa bar, a tactic since picked up by Miami-based Pollo Tropical.
The Gutierrez family backed into the business after cash-poor customers at its general store in Guatemala traded chickens for flour. So in 1971 they added a restaurant.
Today there are 326 with sales of $400 million across Central America and the Caribbean. One of the busiest is in the Guatemala City Airport, where it’s common for departing passengers to fill carry-ons with Pollo Campero for homesick relatives.
The expansion followed migration patterns north to Los Angeles in 2002. Today, there are 50 U.S. stores.
The flavor’s not spicy, but distinctive. Credit a citrus marinade and Peruvian seasonings in the oven-baked chicken. The fried chicken is cooked in soy oil.
The chain is been no shrinking violet in real estate, either. Pollo Campero signed a deal to replace McDonald’s in Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World. At 4060 N Armenia Ave., the first to open here is in the heart of West Tampa’s Latino community. The chain is looking to expand next into Town ‘N Country and eventually have five stores in Hillsborough County.
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