A Cyprus-registered holding company controls Greece’s Pizza Fan restaurant chain, which has been hit by an alleged €25 million VAT fraud, nationwide store closures and uncertainty over the future of a franchise network whose annual sales exceed €100m.

The Cyprus connection runs through Fanatics Pizza Deliveries and Food Services Limited, incorporated in Nicosia on March 30, 2004. The company, registration number HE 147008, holds almost the entire equity of the Greek operating business, according to company records and corporate information reported in Cyprus.

A Cyprus Registrar of Companies extract dated October 22 shows that Pizza Fan founder Konstantinos Antaras owns 90 per cent of the holding company, while Dimitrios Iliopoulos holds the remaining 10 per cent. The Cyprus company, in turn, owns 15,760 of the Greek company’s 15,763 shares, equivalent to approximately 99.98 per cent.

That structure places the Greek chain under a Cyprus-registered parent, although it does not establish any wrongdoing by the Cyprus company. The criminal investigation concerns alleged tax evasion within the chain’s Greek operations.

For the business, the timing is particularly difficult. Financial statements filed in Greece on October 19 show that the operating company increased turnover by 18.6 per cent to €60.44m in 2025, from €50.97m a year earlier. However, net profit fell 66.5 per cent to €533,112, compared with €1.59m in 2024.

Profitability weakened more widely. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell from €3.84m to €1.94m, while the gross profit margin narrowed from 37.68 per cent to 34.36 per cent. The net profit margin consequently slipped below 1 per cent, despite higher sales.

The company ended 2025 with €4.86m in cash, down from €6.02m, against total liabilities of €17.13m. These figures predate the current investigation and do not measure its potential financial cost.

The accounts also carry a qualified audit opinion. The auditor said the company’s tax liabilities for 2020 to 2025 had not been examined by the Greek tax authorities, and no provision had been recognised for any additional taxes or surcharges that might arise. Their amount could not be reliably estimated.

Separately, the auditor identified missing provisions of about €979,000 for doubtful and disputed receivables and €164,000 for employee termination benefits. If recognised, those adjustments would reduce the company’s reported €4.46m in equity by approximately €1.14m. These accounting reservations are not findings of fraud.

Beyond the balance sheet, the investigation is testing the chain’s franchise model. Pizza Fan reported a network of 110 outlets and retail sales exceeding €100m in 2025, although the Greek operating company’s turnover is a separate, smaller measure.

Its central ordering system, procurement arrangements and common marketing strategy link independently run franchise businesses to the parent operation.

All outlets across Greece were closed on Thursday, with customers unable to place orders by telephone or online, according to Greek reports.

The shutdown has immediate consequences for franchise operators, employees, delivery partners and suppliers. The longer trading is interrupted, the more difficult it may be to recover lost orders while continuing to meet operating costs.

Meanwhile, Greek investigators are examining the conduct of managers at 91 outlets, after police alleged that software in the central ordering system enabled some cash-paid purchases to be recorded as complimentary items.

The suspected practice, which authorities believe began in 2022, allegedly concealed sales and associated VAT. By Thursday evening, 22 arrests had been reported.

The Greek Association of Organised Catering Businesses has suspended Pizza Fan’s membership pending the outcome of the investigation. The chain, which had announced plans earlier this year for another 36 stores, now faces questions over its expansion plans and its ability to restore confidence across the network.

Pizza Fan previously opened two restaurants in Nicosia, in 2018 and 2019, although available reporting does not establish that either remains operational. Its principal link to Cyprus today is therefore the holding company rather than a confirmed local restaurant network.

For the Cyprus-registered parent and the Greek operating business, the immediate commercial challenge is to resume trading and protect relationships with franchisees, workers and suppliers, while the investigation takes its course. The allegations remain unproven, and everyone involved is entitled to the presumption of innocence.