MILAN, Italy: Milano Today has reported that seven years after launching in the country, American pizza giant Domino's has now closed all of its stores.

The company, franchised by EPizza SpA, had failed to win over Italians, who preferred local options.

According to a document filed in a Milan court, after struggling to be profitable during two years of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, EPizza SpA filed for bankruptcy in April.

Italian food industry publication Food Service reported that the company closed all its Domino's stores on 20th July.

According to ePizza, it lost out to competition from food delivery apps, while others attributed its failure to its brazen attempt to infiltrate the motherland of pizza with American fast food.

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

In a document attached to the court filing, Domino's said that ePizza's failure last year was due to the "significantly increased level of competition in the food delivery market with both organized chains and 'mom & pop' restaurants delivering food to survive."

After COVID-19 restrictions were eased and consumers began visiting sit-down restaurants again, the company faced further troubles, the document added.

In 2015, Domino's signed a 10-year franchising agreement with ePizza, aimed at introducing a large-scale pizza delivery service to the country, which was absent at that time, the court filing stated.