Donatos - Munich

As of this Tuesday (16.Dec.2004) Donatos on Leopoldstrasse is closed and will remain closed. Donatos is (was!) a pizza chain owned by McDonalds. Apparently McDonalds was getting into the pizza business only as an experiment. They opened three test restaurants in Germany (all of them in Munich). However McDonalds this week suddenly changed their minds and decided they don't want to sell Pizzas afterall. They would rather concentrate on their main "Burgers" brand instead. So what will open at this location on Leopoldstrasse instead? Wait and see, I guess.

They probably realised there was no way they could compete with all the "proper" italian pizza joints in town...

Donatos actually started as a single pizza shop in a German Village in Columbus, Ohio by Jim Grote. Jim sold the very succesful chain to McDonalds. It is still very popular in Ohio. Its thin crust, piles of toppings type of pizza is true "Columbus" Stlye pizza as opposed to the Chicago and New York style. Too bad Germans didn't take to it...I wouldn't eat anything else. Es ist sehr, sehr gut!! Todd Hoffman Columbus, Ohio

In fact, Germans liked it. But McDonals sold Donatos back to its previous owners, which didn't want any restaurants abroad.

Shame they closed. The thicker crust and mountains of toppings style pizzas they used to do was much better than the thin pizzas that you get everywhere else over here.

Shame? Donatos was terrible, never had a worse pizza aside from frozen aldi pizzas.

Each to their own. Personally, I really liked the donatos pizzas as well.

The truth of the matter is this... Donatos was very successful in Germany. They did about $45,000 a week in gross sales. But when McDonald's decided to sell the corporation back to Jim Grote, Donatos (under Grote ownership) couldn't afford to ship product across the sea. No more bad mouthing Donatos... RESPECT THE PIZZA!

At $45,000 a week, I can't see how you could afford NOT to ship product across the sea....