Here's Why Domino's Shut Down Its Stores In The Ancestral Home Of Pizza

Updated on August 11, 2022 17:41 PM by Dhinesh

Domino's ambitious experiment to launch American pizza tastes in the ancestral home of pizza has come to a quiet, predictable end. According to a report by Milano Today, seven years after its debut in the country, Domino's has formally shut its stores after it failed to win over locals who preferred homegrown options.

EPizza SpA filed for bankruptcy:

In April, EPizza SpA, the franchise operator of the Domino's (DMPZF) brand in Italy, filed for bankruptcy after it struggled to make enough sales during two years of pandemic restrictions, according to a document filed in a Milan court.

Unprecedented competition from local restaurants!

The firm stopped activity in all its Domino's stores on July 20, as per a report by Food Service, an Italian food industry publication. Although some may attribute Domino's failure to its brazen attempt to infiltrate pizza's homeland with American fare, Pizzo said it went bust because of competition from food delivery apps.

The court filing said that the Milan-based company faced "unprecedented competition" from local restaurants that started using services such as Glovo, Just Eat, and Deliveroo during the pandemic.

Domino's said in a document attached to the court filing that ePizza's troubles last year resulted from a "significantly increased level of competition in the food delivery market with both organized chains and 'mom & pop' restaurants delivering food to survive." It said it also faced problems once pandemic restrictions were eased and consumers started visiting sit-down restaurants again.

Domino's had high hopes when it moved into the Italian market in 2015, signing a 10-year franchising deal with pizza. 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.