Pizza Fan: Five to six franchise outlets not expected to reopen immediately

Pizza Fan plans to resume taking orders on Wednesday 11 November 2026, although some franchise outlets will not reopen at that stage. Around five to six franchised stores are not expected to reopen immediately, as some owners do not wish to continue trading. Some of the chain’s newest outlets are also expected to remain temporarily closed.

Which stores are excluded from the reopening plans?

According to a report published by Greek news outlet To Kouti tis Pandoras on 9 November, the parent company has informed the network that operations will resume on 11 November, and preparations have begun. The plans cover most stores, rather than every business operating under the Pizza Fan brand.

The main exception concerns around five to six franchised stores. According to the company’s lawyer, quoted in the same report, some owners do not wish to continue because of their age and approaching retirement. These are therefore decisions by individual franchisees about the future of their own businesses, separate from the chain’s overall reopening plans.

The situation is different for stores that opened recently and are not yet ready to resume operations. Newsbreak reports that two to three very new outlets will remain temporarily closed. Neither their addresses nor specific dates for their return to customer service have been given.

This distinction matters: the reasons for not reopening immediately are not the same across all outlets. One group involves owners who reportedly do not wish to continue, while the other involves stores that are not yet ready to reopen.

The announcement on employees at the affected outlets

For employees of businesses that will not reopen alongside the rest of the network, the company has announced that the parent company will take them on temporarily until the stores resume operations. Reported by To Kouti tis Pandoras, this arrangement is the company’s response to the immediate question of their employment.

However, the announcement does not confirm that these transfers have already taken place. The same report says management has begun telephoning employees, asking them to return to their posts ahead of the planned restart.

Employees remain cautious about returning, with questions still outstanding over job security. A further meeting was scheduled for the afternoon of Monday 9 November at the Athens Labour Centre, with representatives of the Attica Tourism, Catering and Hotel Workers’ Union attending.

Temporary employment by the parent company and the reopening of a store are two separate matters. The former is an interim employment arrangement, while the latter requires the individual business to be able to fulfil orders again.

What has made the planned reopening possible?

Preparations across the network follow a decision to lift the temporary freeze on the company’s current accounts to allow it to meet operating needs. A statement by the company’s lawyer, Michalis Markoulakos, published by Bankingnews on 6 November, sets out the permitted transactions.

These include payments to employees, suppliers, landlords, public utilities and franchise outlets, as well as payments of taxes, social security contributions, loans and finance lease obligations. The company can also receive payments from customers and ordering platforms such as efood and Wolt.

Permission to carry out these transactions provides the operational basis for the restart. It does not, however, override individual franchisees’ decisions or mean that every outlet is ready to open on the same day. A planned restart remains distinct from confirmation that each store is trading.

What this means for the franchise community

This development highlights the difference between a chain’s central planning and the continued operation of each franchisee’s business. In Pizza Fan’s case, plans for most of the network to reopen sit alongside decisions by some owners not to continue and temporary delays affecting new stores.

For the franchise community, the key is outlet-level information, not just announcements about the brand as a whole. In practice: franchisees and employees should confirm the plans for their particular store and, where temporary employment by the parent company is proposed, the details of how that arrangement will work.