U.S. pizza chain Domino’s closed its last store in Italy after the American pizza style failed to catch on in the dish’s birthplace.
Domino’s closed the last of its original 29 branches, a far cry short of the planned 880 locations the franchise was planning to open in Italy, according to Bloomberg. The company discovered that Italians much prefer local pizza, overall rejecting the American style, and it was not able to get an edge in deliveries as third-party delivery services stepped up operations.
“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, Domino’s partner franchise in Italy, said in a report to investors accompanying its fourth-quarter 2021 results, according to Bloomberg.
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Domino’s opened its first store in Milan in 2015, partnering with ePizza, and there was talk about a commitment to using local ingredients, according to CNBC.
Former Domino’s chief executive Patrick Doyle decided to hedge his bets, going on the logic that Italians consume so much pizza that they were bound to get at least some takers looking for variety.
“We don’t expect to replace all of the pizza consumption in Italy with Domino’s, but honestly we only have to get a few occasions from each customer. The consumption is so high per capita there that if we get a few occasions from each customer we can have — we can have a very attractive business in Italy,” Doyle said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
But it appears that in the famously purist homeland of pizza, even that was asking too much. The chain’s distinguishing offers of an American-style pizza, including toppings such as pineapple, didn’t play well with locals. By the end of 2020 the company was $10.8 million in debt, according to the latest audited annual reports reported by Bloomberg.
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Domino’s has bode much better in other parts of the continent, operating 1,169 stores in the United Kingdom and 457 stores in France.
