Domino's pizza fails to impress customers in Italy; exit after 7 years

Pizza chain Domino's Pizza is closing its 29 local stores in Italy after locals failed to embrace American pizza, shared a Bloomberg report.

The QSR chain had a franchising agreement with local franchisee e Pizza SpA starting in 2015.

EPizza SpA had hoped to open more than 800 Italian locations but failed to do so and had filed for bankruptcy in April, after it struggled to make enough sales during two years of pandemic restrictions, as per a document filed in a Milan court.

"We attribute the issue to the significantly increased level of competition in the food delivery market with both organized chains and 'mom & pop' restaurants delivering food, to service and restaurants reopening post pandemic and consumers out and about with revenge spending," ePizza said in a report to investors accompanied by its Q4 2021 results.

Domino's had high hopes when it entered the Italian market in 2015, signing a 10-year franchising deal with ePizza. It planned to introduce a large-scale pizza delivery service to the country, which was absent at the time, the court filing said.

By the start of 2020, ePizza was managing 23 stores in Italy and six more through a sub-franchise partner, reported CNN.