While quick-serves scramble to recession-proof their menus, stripping top-dollar offerings and chef-driven innovations, Pollo Tropical is adding the all mighty steak to its lineup.
Beginning April 6, the Florida chain will begin offering Churrasco Steak, a Latin-style skirt steak. And in true economic-crisis fashion price played an important role in the item’s rollout.
“Value is incredibly important in today’s dining environment,” says Kim Miller, senior marketing director for the company.
For $6.99 diners get the center-of-the-plate addition along with their choice of two sides including black beans, balsamic tomatoes, white rice, sweet kernel corn, yellow rice with vegetables, boiled yucca, curly fries, or a Caesar salad.
The Churrasco Steak is a classic dish in Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.
Despite the dish’s international origins, though, Miller has no reservations about consumers’ enthusiasm for the steak.
“Churrasco is actually a popular and well-known cut of steak, particularly in Florida and the northeast, where Pollo Tropical serves,” she says.
The Churrasco Steak will be accompanied by the chain’s Chimichurri Sauce, which is an olive oil–based sauce from Argentina that includes onions, cilantro, pepper, herbs, and spices.
To ensure an authentic taste, the chain will also prepare the meat over an open flame as is done in Latin America.
The Churrasco steak as an entrée only is priced at $5.99 and with a side of beans and rice is priced at $6.39.
By Blair Chancey
