Major pizza chains have been closing dozens of locations over the last three years, as a result of fierce competition, financial issues, such as higher labor and food costs driven by inflation, and rising interest rates on debt.
The competition was fueled by a 1% increase in the total number of dining locations from 2023 to 2024, with a total of over 74,000 pizza restaurants operating in 2024.
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Food and labor costs increased by an average of 29%, and labor costs rose by 31% from 2019 to 2024, according to the National Restaurant Association.
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A lot of these costs were passed on to consumers, as average menu prices rose by 27.2% from February 2020 to June 2024.
Financial distress led East Coast pizza chain Bertucci's Restaurants to file for Chapter 11 protection three times in seven years, with the first time in April 2018. It filed a second time in December 2022, when it operated 31 restaurants and had 15 restaurants when it filed a third time in April 2025.
Domino's Pizza Enterprises, the largest franchisee of global pizza chain Domino's, in February 2025 said it will shut down 205 low-performing locations, which will include 172 units in Japan “to sharpen market focus and improve profitability.”
The franchisee said it would conduct location closings from April 2025 to June 2025 and expects to save about $9.72 million annually with a one-time cost of $60.8 million.
Huge Pizza Hut franchisee EYM Pizza L.P., which at one time operated 142 Pizza Hut locations in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, South Carolina, and Wisconsin, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2024 and sold 77 of its restaurants at a bankruptcy auction.
Image source: Shutterstock
Wood-fired pizza chain files for bankruptcy
Finally, popular San Francisco wood-fired pizza restaurant chain Fiorella has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to reorganize certain locations and to continue operating.
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Project Pizza LLC, which operates the chain's pizza and Italian restaurant flagship Fiorella Clement location in San Francisco's Richmond District, filed its Subchapter V petition on May 20 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California, listing $50,000 to $100,000 in assets and $1 million to $10 million in liabilities in its petition.
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The debtor's significant creditors include gift card company inKind Card Inc., owed over $83,000; California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, owed over $49,000; and various food suppliers, wine importers, and restaurant service providers.
Fiorella Sunset filed a Chapter 11 petition in April
The debtor's affiliate, Project Pizza Sunset LLC, previously on April 1, 2025, filed a Chapter 11 Subchapter V petition on behalf of its Fiorella Sunset location on 9th Avenue in San Francisco.
Fiorella also operates locations in San Francisco's Russian Hill neighborhood on Polk Street and in the city's Noe Valley neighborhood on 24th Street, but neither of those restaurants has filed separate Chapter 11 petitions at last check.
The restaurant chain's partners Boris Nemchenok and Brandon Gillis opened the first location on Clement Street in 2016, followed by the Russian Hill location opening in 2019. The partners opened the Sunset location in 2021 and Noe Valley restaurant in 2024.
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