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Today, we're going to take a look at some popular American restaurant chains that failed overseas
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Dominoes believed that the people of Italy would embrace its business model because they didn't have a lot of home delivery options
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And it was with that optimism that in 2015, Domino's opened its first location in Milan
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To keep things palatable to the locals, the company even sourced all its ingredients from Italian vendors
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But this was still Domino's, so they added an American flair by including menu items like cheeseburger pizza
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Hawaiian pizza and barbecue chicken pizza. You know, things most Italians probably wouldn't eat at gunpoint
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Domino's strategy did not pay off. Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit and other restaurants began offering delivery options
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Domino's biggest selling point was moot. Sales dropped and by the summer of 2022
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the last Domino's location in Italy closed for good. Back in the 80s, Wendy set out to conquer Europe
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They opened several locations in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg. Only to close them all just a few years later
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No harm done, right? Wrong. When the fast food chain pulled out of Europe, a businessman named Raymond Warren's opened a fish and chip shop in the Netherlands called, you guessed it, Wendy's
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Warren's registered Wendy's for trademark in 1995, claiming that he named the restaurant after his daughter
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and wasn't trying to take advantage of the existing chain's name recognition
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Okay he wasn only trying to do that Whatever the reason the American Wendy has been unable to open a location in the EU ever since When McDonald first opened in Russia in 1990 it was a huge political deal It was the
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first time Russians would be able to experience Western consumerism in the form of mass-produced burgers
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fries, and clowning in the Soviet Union. In March of 2022, the McDonald's shut down all of its
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company-owned locations in Russia in response to the country's decision to invade Ukraine
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Two months later, the company made the decision irreversible by selling all 850 restaurants to Siberian franchise owner Alexander Gover
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Taco Bell first tried to expand south of the border by opening a taco stand in Mexico City in 1992
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Starting small turned out to be a good idea because the Mexican clientele was immediately confused
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The stand had to change the tacos on the menu to tacosadas, because the crunchy shells more resembled traditional toostatas than the tacos Mexican locals knew
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and loved. Just two years later, Taco Bell, or should we say Tacostata's bell, closed up and left
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the country. But time heals all wounds, and Taco Bell tried again in 2007. This time, they
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decided to lean into their status as an American fast food joint by offering things like french
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fries and soft serve ice cream. Things typically enjoyed by children that are also staples of
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American cuisine. The locals still couldn't get past the tacosadas, or any of the other
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strange versions of their favorite dishes. Mexican pizza, it's like pizza, but it's different
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The chain closed all its doors in Mexico in 2010
