Leopoldo Fernández Pujals facts for kids

Leopoldo Fernández Pujals is a successful businessman. He was born in Cuba on March 12, 1947. He holds Cuban, Spanish, and American citizenship. He is known for starting the popular pizza chain, Telepizza.

Early Life and Military Service

Leopoldo Fernández Pujals grew up in Cuba. His family was from Spain and had a good life there. His mother was an architect, and his father was a notary. When Leopoldo was 13, his family moved to Miami in the United States. This happened one year after the Cuban Revolution.

In 1968, Leopoldo joined the Marines. He went to officer school in Virginia. He was very good and even became an instructor. He fought in the Vietnam War. When he returned to the United States, he had earned a medal and became a captain.

From Finance to Pizza

After his military service, Leopoldo studied finance. He worked for big companies like Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. But he had a different dream.

In 1987, he decided to open his own pizzeria in Madrid, Spain. He started small, making pizzas himself and even giving them to kids in the neighborhood. He worked at Johnson & Johnson during the day. Then, in the evenings and on weekends, he would put on his apron and make pizzas until late at night.

His small pizzeria grew into a company called Pizzaphone. Later, it became very famous as Telepizza. By 1993, Telepizza had 100 stores in Spain. This number quickly grew to 150 stores a year later, and then 204 stores the year after that.

Growing the Business

Leopoldo continued to expand Telepizza. In 1997, he bought another pizza company called Pizza World. He also bought a transport company and even a company that supplied cheese. By 1998, Telepizza was very big, controlling 62 percent of the pizza market in Spain.

The business kept growing and expanding into other countries. In 1999, Leopoldo sold all his shares in Telepizza. This was a very big deal, and he received a lot of money for his shares.

Besides pizza, Leopoldo also started a horse farm in 1995. It was called Centurión and raised purebred Spanish horses.

New Ventures

In 2004, Leopoldo Fernández Pujals entered the world of telecommunications. He bought a large part of Jazztel, a company that provided internet services. He invested a lot of money to help the company grow.

Later, in 2009, he returned to his roots in the pizza business. He helped create a new chain of pizzerias called La Original. He worked with two of his former directors from Telepizza on this new project.

See also

In Spanish: Leopoldo Fernández Pujals para niños