Florida chicken chain opens doors in Woodbridge
Pollo Tropical offers grilled chicken with Caribbean and Latin flare
BY KATHY CHANG Staff Writer
The Latin and Caribbean flavor of the Pollo Tropical Chicken on the Grill chain restaurant has traveled from southern Florida to the Menlo Park Terrace section of Woodbridge.

PHOTOS BY DANIEL HULSHIZER staff Top: Francisco Fieueroa enjoys his meal during the grand opening festivities of the Pollo Tropical Chicken on the Grill restaurant, 77 Route 1 south, Menlo Park Terrace, on Dec. 8. Bottom: Santa Claus welcomes patrons to the grand opening.

The restaurant on 77 Route 1 south officially opened its doors on Dec. 3 and held its grand opening festivities over the Dec. 7-8 weekend, with strobe lights, green, yellow, and red balloons, and a ribbon cutting with Mayor John E. McCormac and the yellow Pollo Tropical Chicken mascot, who is the official icon of the chicken-on-the-grill restaurant.

"In our restaurant, pollo [Spanish for chicken], is king," said Amy Hyble, vice president of the Pollo Tropical restaurants in New Jersey and some of the restaurants in southern Florida.

Hyble said the Carrols Restaurant Group, based in Miami, which owns, operates and franchises more than 560 restaurants under the Burger King, Pollo Tropical, and Taco Cabana brands, chose Woodbridge Township because of the township's good location.

This is the company's third restaurant in New Jersey, with the other two restaurants in Union City and Clifton.

"We have been looking for a while for areas where we could be successful," said Hyble. "The township has a great traffic population mixture where we have an opportunity to not only offer our flavor to our Latin customers, but others as well."

The restaurant features a drive-through window, which is the first for their restaurants in New Jersey, and can seat 74 customers.

"It provides easy access for our guests to visit," said Hyble.

The restaurant's grand-opening festivities featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the restaurant Dec. 7, featuring Hyble, Daniel Lessem, event marketing manager, the mayor, council President Brenda Velasco, Ward 2 Councilman Richard Dalina, Middlesex County Freeholder Stephen Dalina, Kevin Wertz, a former councilman and current president of Iselin Volunteer Fire Company No. 1, and Edward R. Mullen, first deputy chief of Iselin Volunteer Fire Company No. 1.

"This is a great new business in the township," said McCormac. "They actually came to see us a few months ago and talked to us about how they could help the township even before they put a shovel in the ground."

Pollo Tropical, whose trans-fat-free menu recently was recognized nationally for its healthful foods, announced its partnership with the Mayor's Wellness Campaign on Dec. 7 and is creating a New Jersey-wide nutritional education outreach campaign that will target elementary school curriculum lesson plans throughout the school year.

The outreach campaign is based on the success of its nutrition education outreach campaign that took place in Florida, where fifth-grade students took part in a lesson plan created for teachers to emphasize the four food groups, diet and exercise, as well as healthful ingredients.

Pollo Tropical was recently recognized by QSR Magazine and received industry recognition as well as for the success of the Florida teachers' lesson plans.

The Mayor's Wellness Campaign is committed to promoting community health and physical activity through cosponsored activities.

The first Pollo Tropical restaurant opened in November 1988 in Miami and the company became part of the Carrols family the same year. Today, the company has over 70 company-owned restaurants in Florida and more than 20 franchised units, primarily located in Puerto Rico.

"Our food is fresh and manually cooked on an open grill … the chicken is tasty and healthy with reasonable prices," said Hyble. "We pretty much have the same menu as the restaurants in Florida; however, instead of sandwiches in the Florida restaurants, we have wraps. We also have added red beans for our Dominican and Puerto Rican customers, and lentil for the large Indian population here."

The chain restaurant is famous for its flame-grilled, 24-hour citrus marinated "chicken on the grill," as well as Caribbean ribs, steak skewers, sweet plantains, yucca, black beans, and much more.

Hyble said sales have been good since they opened on Dec. 3.

"We spend a lot of time talking to our customers and we have been well received by the new location," she said. 'The few that have never tried us before swear that they would be back."

Virginia Lima and her daughter Denise Laskiewicz, of Menlo Park Terrace, have dined at the restaurant twice - Dec. 4 and Dec. 7 - in one week since it opened.

"This is very nice and reasonable compared to going to a restaurant," said Lima, who enjoyed a meal of spare ribs. "The environment

is bright, exciting and festive."

Laskiewicz, who enjoyed a Cobb salad, said the close proximity of the restaurant to their neighborhood is nice.

"There is an entrance on the other side of Route 1, which is nice for us because it beats coming from Route 1," she said. "I'm planning to come here to have lunch with a co-worker next week."

Rose Anderson and her daughter Zena, of Iselin, who dined at the restaurant on Dec. 7, said they would definitely come back.

"It's a lot of food for the price we pay," said Zena, who enjoyed a meal of steak. "And they have a drive-through, which is good."

Pollo Tropical is open from 10:30 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week, except for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

For more information about Pollo Tropical, visit www.pollotropical.com.