The American pizza giant shut its stores after it failed to win over locals who preferred homegrown options seven years after its debut in the country, according to a report by Milano Today.
EPizza SpA, the franchise operator in Italy, filed for bankruptcy in April, after it struggled to make enough sales during two years of pandemic restrictions, according to a document filed in a Milan court.
According to a report by Food Service, the company stopped all of its Domino's stores on July 20.
Although some may think Domino's failure is due to its attempt to infiltrate the homeland of American fare with American fare, ePizza said it went bust because of competition from food delivery apps.
The court filing said that the Milan-based company faced a lot of competition from local restaurants that started using services such as Glovo, Just Eat and Deliveroo during the epidemic.
Domino's said in a document that was attached to the court filing that ePizza's troubles last year were the result of an increased level of competition in the food delivery market, with both organized chains and'mom pop' restaurants delivering food to survive. It said it faced problems once pandemic restrictions were eased and consumers started visiting sit-down restaurants again.
The company was given a 90 day grace period, during which its creditors were not allowed to demand repayment or take its assets. Domino's hopes were high when it moved into the Italian market in 2015, when it signed a 10 year franchising deal with ePizza. The court filing said that it planned to introduce a large-scale pizza delivery service to the country, which was not present at the time.
By the beginning of 2020 ePizza had 23 stores in Italy and six more through a sub-franchise partner.