Telepizza facts for kids
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Trade name
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Telepizza |
|---|---|
| Sociedad Anónima | |
| Traded as | BMAD: TPZ |
| Industry | Restaurant |
| Founded | Madrid, Vigo (1987) |
| Founder | Leopoldo Fernández Pujals |
| Headquarters |
,
Spain
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Area served
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Nationwide |
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Key people
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Pedro Ballvé |
| Products | Pizza, salads, other food products |
Telepizza is a well-known pizza restaurant chain that started in Spain. It's one of the biggest pizza chains in the world, especially among those that didn't begin in North America. They are famous for delivering pizzas right to your door.
Contents
How Telepizza Started
Telepizza was founded in 1987 in Madrid, Spain. It was first called "Pizza Phone." The company was started by Leopoldo Fernández Pujals, a businessman from Cuba. Telepizza grew very quickly in Spain. By 1995, just eight years after it began, it had 200 locations across the country. It also had a big share of the pizza market in Spain.
Making the Pizzas
Telepizza has factories where they prepare the pizza bases. These bases are then sent to all the different Telepizza stores. This helps make sure that all pizzas have a similar taste and quality. At first, they had factories in several Spanish cities, but later they moved all their production to one main factory in Daganzo de Arriba, near Madrid.
Challenges and Growth
Leopoldo Fernández faced some tough times while building Telepizza. He had to overcome financial difficulties and even briefly stepped down from leading the company in 1995. However, with support from a bank, he returned to his role as chairman in 1996.
On November 13, 1996, Telepizza became a public company. This meant that people could buy and sell parts of the company, called shares, on the Spanish stock exchange. At that time, Telepizza was a leader in home-delivered pizza. It had 233 stores in Spain and had already started opening restaurants in other countries like Portugal, Poland, Chile, Mexico, and Morocco.
A Change in Leadership
Over time, Leopoldo Fernández decided to sell his part of the company. By October 1999, he had sold all his shares. The control of Telepizza then went to new leaders, Pedro Ballvé and José Carlos Olcese. Leopoldo Fernández said he wanted to focus on defending human rights after leaving Telepizza.
Telepizza Around the World
Telepizza continued to grow and expand globally. By 2010, it had more than 1,000 stores worldwide. About 600 of these were in Spain, and over 400 were in other countries. These included places like the United Kingdom, Peru, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. In 2010, Telepizza also bought a pizza chain in Colombia called Jeno's Pizza.
In April 2016, Telepizza again offered its shares to the public, raising a lot of money to help it grow even more. In 2017, Telepizza opened its first store in the United Kingdom. It also opened its first store in Iran that year, expanding its reach into the Middle East and South Asia. Later in 2017, Telepizza also opened stores in Paraguay.
Recent Changes in Some Countries
In 2023, Telepizza made some changes to its operations in certain countries. For example, in Guatemala and El Salvador, the stores that were Telepizza started operating under a new name, Pizza Campero. A similar change happened in Bolivia, where Telepizza stores became known as Tpizza.
In January 2025, Telepizza announced that it would close its operations in Chile after being there for 29 years. This decision was made due to economic challenges and strong competition in the country.
See also
In Spanish: Telepizza para niños
