Pumper Nic
|
La nueva forma de comer (The new way of dining) | |
| Industry | Restaurant |
|---|---|
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
| Founded | 1974 |
| Defunct | 1999 |
| Headquarters | Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Products |
Hamburgers French fries Soft Drinks |
Pumper Nic (or just Pumper) was a popular chain of fast-food restaurants in Argentina during the 1980s. It is currently considered by many Argentines to be a cult classic. Its name is derived from the German pumpernickel, a type of bread. The signature sandwich was the Mobur, a sandwich with an egg in between.
It was founded by Tito Lowenstein in 1974, also an ex-owner of Quickfood, founder of the renowned Argentine beef hamburger supplier, "Paty", and the "Las Leñas" tourist complex in Argentina.
Pumper Nic's name and logo was a based upon Burger King's, before the latter started operating in Argentina. When Burger King and McDonald's started business in Argentina, Pumper had to change its logo due to a lawsuit by Burger King and started losing money, eventually going bankrupt. Pumper Nic became defunct in 1999.
The franchise had a mascot, a green hippo called "NIC".
Products
One of their famous menu items was Dos por uno − two burgers for the price of one. French fries were called Frenys.[1] Names of other Pumper Nic sandwiches include: Mobur, Jaque (JAmon y QUEso, ham and cheese) and Jaque'H.
Slogans
Their most famous tagline was "Pumper Nic, the new way of dining" (La nueva forma de comer)
In popular culture
Nic the hippo, is featured among the animals that escape from the Los Angeles Zoo during an earthquake that hits Los Angeles in the short animated Oscar-winning film Logorama (2009).