The last 29 Domino's Pizza locations have closed, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
Entering Italy in 2015 through a franchise agreement with ePizza Spa, the American chain planned at the time to open 880 stores while distinguishing itself with its national delivery service and its pineapple pizza.
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This was without taking into account the know-how of local restaurateurs, who were able to adapt and compete fiercely with Dominos Pizza.
Indeed, since the pandemic, they have expanded their delivery services and traditional pizza makers have signed agreements with third-party services such as Deliveroo Plc, Just Eat, Takeaway.com or Glovo.
“
We attribute this issue to the significantly increased level of competition in the food delivery market
,” ePizza said in an investor report accompanying its fourth quarter 2021 results.
surprise closure
“
The closures surprised some customers, who took to the chain's Italian social media to ask why their calls and orders weren't going through or why their local store had closed
,” reports Bloomberg.
Last April, a court in Milan granted the company legal protection from creditors for 90 days, according to a statement from ePizza.
The company had 10.6 million euros ($10.8 million) in debt at the end of 2020, according to the latest audited annual reports.
A few signs announced this departure, such as the delivery service which had not been offered since the end of July on the chain's website.
