After seven years, Domino’s Pizza closed its Italian locations because the US company found it difficult to attract customers in the country where pizza was invented.
The Italian franchisee of the fast food company, ePizza SpA, which had 29 locations across the nation, declared bankruptcy in the first week of April.
It received a 90-day court protection from its creditors as part of insolvency procedures, preventing them from demanding payments or seizing corporate property. The stay, though, ended last month.
According to the bankruptcy filings from April, Domino’s Italian operations failed as a result of a combination of declining sales, rising operating costs, high debts, and “an exponential increase” in competition from traditional pizza restaurants that offer delivery through apps, such as Glovo, Just Eat, and Deliveroo.
The majority of the 18,800 restaurants that make up the pizza giant with its global headquarters in Michigan are operated by franchisees.
On July 29, Domino’s ceased taking delivery requests from its Italian website.
The US umbrella company, Domino’s Pizza Inc, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The chairman and largest stakeholder of ePizza SpA, Marcello Bottoli, declined to comment when approached by the Financial Times.
