MY-based US Pizza teases possible rebrand amidst Israel-Gaza boycotts

Malaysian-based restaurant, US Pizza, is reportedly rebranding to Kita Pizza amidst consumers saying that they will boycott brands that support Israel, according to the South China Morning Post.

The rebrand was teased via a Facebook post where the pizzeria said that it will change its name to Kita Pizza if it receives 10,000 likes and comments. The post was accompanied by a caption with emojis of the US flag, Malaysian flag and the Palestinian flag.

At the time of writing, the post only received 2.8K likes and 653 comments.

Many netizens on the post seemed favorable of the name change. Some suggested that the chain should be renamed to MY Pizza, where MY stands for Malaysia to bring a Malaysian identity to the brand .

US Pizza was reportedly founded by American pizza maker Donald Duncan in the 1990s. It opened its first Malaysian outlet in 1997 and was later acquired by Malaysian entrepreneur Jeremy Hiew in 2015. There are currently 100 US Pizza outlets across Malaysia and Indonesia.

Others noted that the restaurant should change more than just its name and work on its interior and branding to make it less US-centric. 

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US Pizza later shared in a separate Facebook post that it will donate RM1 from every receipt created to a Palestinian humanitarian aid organisation.

"Don't worry, US Pizza does not pay royalties to the US," the company assured its customers.

MARKETING-INTERACTIVE has reached out for more information.

US pizza's efforts come as more brands come under fire for supporting or seeming to support the ongoing war between Israel and Gaza and as they attempt to distance themselves as a result. 

Recently, McDonald’s Malaysia confirmed that it has made a contribution of RM1 million to the Palestine Humanitarian Fund which was launched by the Prime Minister's department, according to a statement by the fast-food giant that was posted on its official Instagram page. 

The move aligns with the government's "noble initiative", as unveiled by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim during the tabling of the 2025 budget in the Dewan Rakyat, it said. 

The donation came days after the company released a statement addressing the fact that McDonald’s Israel donated free meals to Israeli soldiers, causing many online to question if the company was contributing to the destruction caused to those in Gaza. 

In its statement, McDonald's Malaysia clarified that the actions taken by its Israel branch were those of an independent market and that it does not reflect the values or practices of McDonald's Malaysia.

It added that a unilateral decision made by an individual franchisee should not be considered a global action, company policy or an official political stance taken by McDonald's globally. 

"The actions of the McDonald's operator in Iseral serve as an example of such individual actions; they were not global decisions and were not approved by any other local operators," it said.

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