Peak Pizza? Domino's Pizza Chief Executive Exits Following Pivot Towards Chicken.

The boss of the UK's Domino's Pizza chain who indicated the UK might have hit peak pizza while expanding the company into fried chicken has been replaced after conflicts with its governing body.

Executive Shake-Up

The former CEO is departing after a brief tenure in leadership, and will be succeeded on an acting basis by the organization's operations head, Frampton, while the pizza giant looks for a permanent CEO.

Rennie, who worked for the company for more than two decades, had aimed to redirect the UK's leading pizza food delivery firm towards chicken offerings, stating recently there was not “massive growth” left in the British pizza industry. He said poultry was the most rapidly expanding food category in the world.

Board Friction

It is understood that there was disagreement between the CEO and the governance team over his approach and management style, although the company's official statement said he was leaving “by mutual agreement”.

Recent Brand Launch

In September, Domino's unveiled its Chick 'N' Dip brand – which the former chief described as a “major strategic shift” for the company – and is trialling it in over 200 locations in the north-west of England and the province.

While the business is still planning to expand it across its almost 1,400 stores in the coming year as scheduled, it considers fried chicken as complementary to its primary pizza operations.

Leadership Statement

Bull, the Domino's chair, commented: “The board believes that there are a series of prospects to boost expansion and value creation in the main pizza segment. We are concentrating on finding the ideal CEO to oversee the systematic rollout of that growth strategy.”

Market Difficulties

In the latest update, Domino's, which has millions of users in the UK and Ireland, said sales declined by 1.5 percent in the Q3. In August, it cautioned that the quick-service industry had “grown more challenging” as it blamed reduced spending in the run-up to the government announcement and higher payroll outlays for weaker-than-expected sales and a 15% drop in half-year profits.

Rival chains are also facing challenges. Another major chain announced the shutting of multiple locations a last month, after the firm behind its outlets entered insolvency.

Wellness Efforts

Responding to customer preferences towards balanced diets, Domino's has introduced reduced-calorie products, such as its thin-crust selection of pizzas below 400 kcal as well as plant-based and allergy-friendly pizzas. A large pepperoni pizza has over 2,300 kcal. A family cheese pizza has 2,171 kcal, while a personal has under 1,000 calories.

Interim Management

Nicola Frampton has been with the company since the recent past, and had a background at the gaming group William Hill. It is thought that she prefers not to occupy the chief executive role long-term.

She said: “Our team has a several ongoing growth and performance initiatives that we will be concentrating on carrying out at a rapid rate.”

She added these included ongoing development on the company's procurement system and product development, and its loyalty scheme.

Domino's is also in need of a long-term CFO until March 16, when Andrea comes aboard from the beverage producer a well-known firm. Until then, Snow is temporary CFO.