Pizza Marketplace Podcast

Peter Piper Pizza truly engrained in the communities it serves

In this podcast episode, Peter Piper Pizza CMO Genaro Perez discusses how the 50-year-old legacy brand drives growth through affordable lunch buffets and a "trans-creation" marketing strategy that prioritizes deep cultural nuances and bilingual outreach over simple translation.

February 11, 2026

In this episode of the Pizza Marketplace Podcast, host Mandy Detwiler, editor of Pizza Marketplace, chats with Genaro Perez, chief marketing officer for Peter Piper Pizza, a legacy brand with more than 50 years in the industry.

The brand has about 115 restaurants in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico and the northern part of Mexico.

The restaurants all have a lunch buffet Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Peter Piper "is an interesting concept because we target different demographics at different times of the day," Perez said. "So (the) lunch buffet is for those workers or families or a lot of construction workers, nurses, officers, people that need to grab a bite and obviously they don't want to break the bank. So our lunch buffet in the Arizona market is $10.99 for all you can eat. And we have pizza, pasta, salads, desserts and literally there's people that stack their plates with like 15 slices of pizza. Hey, no one's judging, right?"

Perez, who was born and raised in Mexico City, moved to the U.S. about 25 years ago to further his education. It's important for Peter Piper Pizza to understand the cultures and values of the communities in which they are situated.

"One of the things that I noticed being truly bilingual and native in Spanish is that a lot of brands translate. And with Peter Piper Pizza, we don't do that," Perez said. "We truly trans-create our programs and our campaigns. We want to make sure that we are using the cultural nuances from the community and that what we're trying hard to truly understand the different, you insights and holidays and traditions. So it's not only about the language, but understanding the cultural values."

The brand creates all of its PR in both English and Spanish.

"Obviously the Spanish language is integrated in everything we do — our website, our app, our campaigns, our messaging," he said. "Even when we reach out to media, we reach out in both languages. So it's really important for us to meet the consumer where the consumer is at, because a lot of the Hispanic consumers also may not necessarily speak Spanish, but consume news in Spanish."

To learn more about Peter Piper's community involvement, listen to the podcast in its entirety.