Italy: Domino's Pizza Inc.'s presence in the country where pizza was invented was short-lived as Italians preferred regional eateries to American chains.

After seven years of operation, the last of Domino's 29 locations have closed their doors. It borrowed a lot of money with the intention of opening 880 stores, but when nearby restaurants began offering delivery services during the pandemic, it faced fierce competition and was forced to ask for help after running out of money and skipping payments. turned to the creditors.

The American chain entered Italy in 2015, through a franchise agreement with ePizza SpA. It aimed to differentiate itself by offering a structured national delivery service with American-style toppings such as pineapple.

As restrictions prevented people from eating out, traditional pizza makers increased deliveries or tied up with third-party services such as Deliveroo plc, Just Eat Takeaway.com NV, or Glovo to get their products delivered to customers' homes. did. This complicated its ambitious expansion plan.

We attribute the problem to a significantly increased level of competition in the food delivery market, which is fueled by both organized chains and "Mum & Pop" restaurants to distribute food, service and reopen restaurants after the pandemic, and serve customers. Because of spending more. The retaliation amount, according to ePizza in a report to investors that was included with its fourth-quarter 2021 results.

Representatives for Domino's and ePizza in the US and Italy did not respond to requests for comment. All 13 locations of Italian Domino's that are still open did not return calls.

From its peak in 2020, the company had already withdrawn operations there. On July 29, it stopped delivering through its website.

However, some of the chain's customers were baffled by the closure and turned to their Italian social media channels to ask why their calls and orders were not going through or why their local store had closed.

According to a filing with ePizza, in April a court in Milan granted business court protection against creditors for 90 days.

The ban, which barred creditors from requesting debt repayments or confiscation of company assets, expired on July 1. According to the Tribunal e-filing or the Italian Chamber of Commerce, there have been no new developments regarding the court process.

According to the most recent audited annual reports, the company had total debt of €10.6 million (US$10.8 million) as of the end of 2020.

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