(NEWSER) – Domino’s Pizza has abandoned its attempt to conquer Italy. The American chain—which borrowed heavily to finance an expansion into the birthplace of pizza in 2015—has closed its last 13 stores in the country, Bloomberg reports. The Michigan-based chain had originally planned to open 880 stores across Italy by 2030 as part of a franchising deal with ePizza SpA but the number peaked at 29. When the company opened its first Italian locations, it promised to use “purely Italian” ingredients, per CNBC, but it also hoped to win over Italians with American-style touches like pineapple on pizzas and cheese-filled crusts—along with a US-style delivery service.
Domino’s domination plans, however, were foiled by steep growth in food courier apps in Italy in the years after its arrival, especially during the pandemic, when traditional pizzerias stepped up their own delivery services or made deals with companies like Deliveroo. When it reported its fourth-quarter results for 2021, ePizza cited a “significantly increased level of competition in the food delivery market with both organized chains and ‘mom & pop’ restaurants delivering food.” The firm filed for bankruptcy in April.
Domino’s stopped delivery operations in Italy on July 29 but according to posts on social media, some customers were still surprised when their local stores shut down, reports Bloomberg. After the chain’s exit from Italy was announced, it was mocked in the country’s media for having believed it could compete in Italy’s pizza market,
Same wrong idea Washington elites have thinking they are going to give Americans a different flavor of freedom that we have grown up on. Prove me wrong.
Maybe they can parley their genius idea into Borscht kiosks in all the Russias!
Or take over the Air Conditioning market in Iceland!
Or how about that whole “monkey-on-a-stick” thing in the Philippines?
mortem tyrannis
izlamo delenda est …
Anyone notice the new ‘order pizza with your mind’ commercial? At the end, the black kid steals the pizza. Surprised there’s been no stink over it.
Hey, they tried.
Tim, I never drank enough San Miguel (San Magoo) beer in Olongapo City in the Philippines to ever consider eating either skewered monkey on a stick or a balut. However, they did have very good fried rice. I just never asked kind of mystery meat (cat, dog, snake, monkey meat etc.) was in it.
There are so many non-Italians living in Italy (i.e. African immigrants) who never had a pizza, that the business model was sound. The problem is, in taste tests, people couldn’t tell the difference between Dominoes pizza, and the box it came in.
Do they sell Eskimo Pies in Alaska?
Their next genius marketing idea: N. Korea!
Dominoes makes pizza? Who knew?
People in America that eat Domino’s Pizza also don’t know what authentic tastes like.
I wait until I’m passing through Trinidad and go to Bella Luna – best kept secret in Colorado.
Honestly, What’s next?
Opening up a Curry Franchise in India to teach them how to cook…
BTW: A few years ago Turdeau brought an Indian Canadian Chef to India on a trip at tax payer expense to “show them how we do it in Canada. That didn’t go well either.
@Wild Bill “Dominoes makes pizza? Who knew?”
That’s not pizza!
Their boxes boxes cost more than their ingredients.