PBA Reporter
Just in case you missed it, popular pizza makers, Domino’s Pizza has shut down its Italian stores after struggling for seven years in Italy – the birthplace of pizza.
Reports say, the fast food giant closed the last of its 29 stores on the Italian Peninsula after struggling to gain a foothold as the locals reportedly proved to be difficult to win over for the American chain.
The fast-food chain’s Italian franchise partner, ePizza SpA, which operated 29 branches across the country, filed for bankruptcy in early April.
As part of insolvency proceedings, it was granted a 90-day court protection from its creditors, which stopped them demanding repayments or seizing company assets. But the stay elapsed last month.
Domino’s Italian operations succumbed to a combination of falling sales, increased running costs, high debts and “an exponential increase” in competition from traditional pizza restaurants offering delivery through apps, such as Glovo, Just Eat and Deliveroo, according to the bankruptcy filings from April.
The Michigan-headquartered pizza chain has about 18,800 stores in 90 markets worldwide, most of which are run by franchisees.
The company’s exit from Italy was met with ‘cheers’ on Twitter, where users mocked Domino’s for even attempting to establish a foothold in the homeland of pizza in the first place.
One Twitter user @Alicia_Smith19 said: “Trying to open Dominos Pizza in Italy is like trying to sell snow in the North Pole.”
Another user, @L_Macfarlane tweeted with a picture of pizza: “Hilarious to think that Dominos thought they could conquer Italy. Did they actually acompare their distinctly-average-but-extortionate pizzas to an authentic Napoletana? Madness.”
Yet another ‘analyst’ with the handle @damonspencer said: “If you ever feel you’re being outrageously over confident about something, just remember that Dominos thought they’d be able to justify opening 880 stores in Italy.”
As recently as early 2020, the US chain announced ambitious plans to add 850 stores in Italy and achieve 2 per cent market share by 2030, but the pandemic pushed its Italian franchise partner to the brink. “The Covid-19 pandemic and the prolonged successive restrictions have gravely damaged . . . ePizza,” the bankruptcy filings added.
Domino’s stopped accepting delivery orders from its Italian website on July 29. Domino’s Pizza Inc, the US umbrella company, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Marcello Bottoli, ePizza SpA’s chair and biggest shareholder, refused to comment when contacted by newsmen.
The news of Domino’s closure in Italy, becomes another indication of the mixed fortunes of US restaurant brands hoping to succeed among exacting Italian consumers.
The arrival of the first Starbucks in Italy in 2018 was greeted with scepticism. But Starbucks chief executive Howard Schultz said last week the coffee chain, which operates a single coffee bar in Milan, was “flourishing” and would add two more branches in Rome and Florence.
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