It seems that Domino’s Pizza intends to leave Russia: the licensee is working on the sale of the assets.
Over the last few months the Russia has been a theater of a real exodus by western brands: from Calrsberg beer to the Lindt chocolate, the idea was to interrupt commercial operations on Russian territory, thus leaving the local market, as a sign of solidarity and at the same time as a concrete form of retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine dating back to last February. Several Western brands were then replaced by Russian “clones”: this is the case of McDonald’s, whose golden arches have given way to the unsuspected Vkusno & tochka. A long line of “fugitives”, therefore, which could also be added in the near future Domino’s Pizza.
Domino’s Pizza in Russia: negotiations are underway
Our attentive readers will no doubt have noticed that we have employed the conditional, and we certainly did not do it by accident. According to what was reported byEuropean Food Agency (EFA for friends), in fact, it seems that DP Eurasia, holding which actually manages the Domino’s Pizza brand in Turkey and of course also in Russia, is evaluating the possibility of surrender her activities in Russia. Despite the obvious tip-off, let leaked moreover by the company itself, there are no concrete details about the outcome of the operation: the only practically confirmed information is that the interested parties are working on a “potential transition in progress”.
The company, going into more detail, has deemed it appropriate to respond to the proverbial rumors with a simple (and rather dry) press note: “DP Eurasia is evaluating its presence in Russia, the impact of sanctions and its ability to continue serving its customers in Russia” can be read in the statement prepared in response to Reuters about the speculations of the market regarding, precisely, a possible exit from the commercial activities present on the Russian territory.
Then the sentence, which instead of acting as a beacon in the fog does nothing but feed i doubts: “The company is evaluating various options that could include the divestment of its operations in Russia.” In short, in other words – the idea is there, it is undeniable; but what is currently missing is the simple agreement.
A small and short time machine trip with destination April 2022, when the war in Ukraine was still stalled in its early stages, reminds us that DP Eurasia had publicly declared its intention to stay active on Russian territory, while limiting investments in the country. A few months later, in October, the company said it would continue to optimize the number of stores in Russia and that at the end of the month it had 171 stores overall, down sharply from 192 a year earlier.