Dodo Pizza sold its UK business to a senior local manager

The new owner of Dodo International Group Limited (this is the legal entity of Dodo Pizza in the UK) is David Christopher Sweeney, who has been a director of this company since its inception in February 2019.

Previously, Sweeney was a senior manager at Papa Johns, Burger King and easyPizza.

Dodo Brands’ press service declined to comment on the details of the shareholder change. “International Business [“Додо Пиццы”] it is in the process of reorganization, until it is completed, we do not comment,” a company representative told the publication.

A Forbes source knows that the company has sold the business in the United Kingdom, since it cannot develop it after the start of a special operation in Ukraine due to problems with financing from Russia.

According to the interlocutor, Sweeney is the temporary owner of the British legal entity and will subsequently sell the company to the “real buyer”.

It will be easier for the beneficial owner to sell a company owned by a Briton, so the company arranged such a transaction structure, the Forbes interlocutor added. In his opinion, the valuation of the company when it is sold to the final buyer will be small in relation to his income.

• In early March, Fedor Ovchinnikov announced the closure of his UK business and the “freezing” of startups Doner42, Drinkit and the international master franchise. Investments in Dodo Pizza UK amounted to around £3 million.
• The first British Dodo Pizza opened in Brighton in 2017, followed by three more, one in Coventry and two in Walsall. They all operate on a franchise model. By 2023, the company planned to open up to 50 pizzerias in the UK.