Hidenori Asano, the chairman of Four Seeds Inc. (Pizza-La's parent company), was inspired to create the chain after viewing E.T.

Asano then decided to establish his own chain, and in April 1987 the first Pizza-La store opened in the Mejiro district of Toshima, Tokyo.

On August 24, 2013, images in which two part-time employees of Pizza-La's Higashiyamato branch in Tokyo posed inside its sink and refrigerator were released onto the Internet.

The following day a public apology was made by the company, and the Higashiyamato branch was temporarily closed while disposal of preserved foods and disinfection of the sink and refrigerator began.

[5] The company that acted as a franchisee of the Higashiyamato branch had lost consumer trust due to the incident and suspended business in October 2015.

[6] It was also found that said employees had released images of themselves squatting on display shelves and inside refrigeration cabinets at the Seiyu supermarket in Ōme, Tokyo a day before the incident, on August 23.