CEO and founder Antonio Swad has had success expanding a franchise system devoted to Latino neighborhoods throughout the southwest. This year the brand debuts in Miami, where Swad will discover whether Pizza Patron appeals to a Latino market composed mainly of Cubans and Columbians.

Dollars or pesos: It doesn't matter which form of currency Pizza Patron customers use to purchase menu items.

An important strategy of Pizza Patron, which targets Latino neighborhoos for expansion, is keeping close ties to the communities it serves.

“It's a great opportunity to prove our brand doesn't just appeal to Mexicans,” he says. About two-thirds of Miami's population is of Hispanic descent; most are either Cuban or Colombian, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Swad was startled to discover that people already knew the brand. While wearing a Pizza Patron jacket, he was stopped several times by people who asked if he was opening a store. “By airport workers and people in a shopping center,” he recalls. “I don't know if it was the peso campaign or what. We seem to connect to people.”

The reference is to a controversy Swad stirred two years ago after announcing Pizza Patron units were accepting Mexican currency. Big signs bearing the Mexican flag announced inside each unit, “Acceptamos pesos” (We accept pesos). It made sense. The 84-unit chain, headquartered in Dallas, sells pizza chiefly in Latino neighborhoods in Texas and California, where residents regularly travel to and from Mexico. Many return with pesos.

Anti-immigration forces, including radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, reacted immediately, flooding his company (and news organizations) with hate mail and death threats. Swad told reporters, who covered the issue extensively: “We have carved this niche in the pizza industry to compete and serve an underserved market, the Latino customer, not to make any political statement.”

Meanwhile, sales rose, though Swad attributed only a small portion of the increase to pesos. Today, Mexican currency remains an acceptable form of payment at all Pizza Patrons.

MORE: Franchisors discover that ethnic and low-income markets suit their expansion plans.