MIZZONI\u2019S Pizza, one of Ireland\u2019s oldest pizza chains, has announced the temporary closure of its Portlaoise branch on due to \u201callegations of offenses and serious misconduct\u201d.<\/p>\n
According to a statement released 15 April by the pizza chain, the store will be closed \u201cwith immediate effect\u201d while an internal formal investigation takes place.<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to the seriousness of said allegations we today made the decision to withdraw our services which has forced the shop to close\u201d, the statement reads.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, a woman posted a TikTok alleging that she had been sexually harassed by one of the store\u2019s delivery drivers.<\/p>\n
She reported receiving multiple sexually aggressive voice notes from the person in question. She says she has reported the incident to Mizzoni\u2019s and the Garda\u00ed.<\/p>\n
In an initial statement, Mizzoni\u2019s said: \u201cWe are deeply concerned by the reports circulating on social media alleging that a delivery driver associated with a Mizzoni\u2019s Pizza franchise sent inappropriate and sexual messages to a customer.<\/p>\n
\u201cMizzoni\u2019s Pizza has a zero-tolerance policy for harassment or misconduct of any kind. Although the location involved is an independently owned and operated franchise using the Mizzoni\u2019s Pizza name under license, we take any allegation involving our brand very seriously.\u201d Mizzoni\u2019s said they had reached out to the franchisee in question to ask them to cooperate fully with the authorities and to conduct an immediate internal review.<\/p>\n
In the statement released 15 April, the pizza chain said that “an experienced franchisee” will reopen the Portlaoise branch in about three weeks.<\/p>\n
The statement continues: \u201cWe ask that members of the public and social media users refrain from targeting Mizzoni\u2019s Pizza staff, customers, or anyone involved in the ongoing investigation. This is a serious matter, and it is also an isolated incident to Portlaoise.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe request anyone with information relating to this incident or have information of any other incidents involving Portlaoise to make contact with us at info@mizzoni.ie We can assure you this will be confidential and your safety is our top priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe appreciate the community\u2019s understanding as we prioritize safety and a thorough, fair investigation for all involved.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIZZONI\u2019S Pizza, one of Ireland\u2019s oldest pizza chains, has announced the temporary closure of its Portlaoise branch on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60],"class_list":{"0":"post-402534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}