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A chief executive of Domino's Pizza Group who suggested the United Kingdom might have reached maximum pizza demand while expanding the company into fried chicken has been ousted after conflicts with its directors.

Leadership Transition

Rennie is leaving after a brief tenure in charge, and will be replaced on an temporary basis by the company's chief operating officer, Nicola Frampton, while the pizza giant seeks a new leader.

Rennie, who served at the company for over 20 years, had attempted to shift Britain's leading pizza food delivery firm towards fried chicken, commenting recently there was not “huge potential” left in the pizza sector in the UK. He observed poultry was the quickest rising protein in the world.

Board Disagreements

Sources suggest that there was friction between the CEO and the board over his approach and direction, although the company's release said he was stepping down “as a joint decision”.

Recent Product Introduction

In the autumn, Domino's unveiled its poultry product line – which the former chief described as a “major strategic shift” for the organization – and is trialling it in select stores in the north-west of England and Northern Ireland.

While the business is still intending to launch it across its nearly 1,400 branches in the coming year as planned, it considers fried chicken as a supplement for its core pizza business.

Board Comment

The Domino's chair, the company chair, said: “We are confident that there are a range of possibilities to boost expansion and performance improvement in the main pizza segment. We are focused on identifying the ideal CEO to lead the systematic rollout of that growth strategy.”

Industry Challenges

Recently, Domino's, which has a substantial customer base in the UK and Ireland, said orders declined by 1.5% in the third quarter. In the summer, it alerted that the food delivery sector had “intensified” as it blamed economic uncertainty in the period before the government announcement and rising wage costs for weaker-than-expected sales and a significant fall in six-month income.

Rival chains are also experiencing difficulties. Another major chain revealed the closing of multiple locations a last month, after the firm behind its British operations faced financial collapse.

Wellness Initiatives

Responding to consumer trends towards balanced diets, the company has introduced reduced-calorie items, such as its thin-crust range of bakes below 400 calories as well as meat-free and gluten-free options. A big pepperoni bake has 2,311 calories. A large cheese and tomato pizza has 2,171 kcal, while a small has 909 calories.

Interim Management

Frampton has been with the company since 2021, and was formerly with the gambling company a well-known operator. It is thought that she prefers not to occupy the chief executive role long-term.

Frampton stated: “We have a several ongoing development and efficiency programs that we will be concentrating on executing at a rapid rate.”

She said these included additional efforts on the organization's procurement system and menu innovation, and its customer retention initiative.

The pizza chain is also in need of a permanent finance director until March 16, when Andrea starts from the beverage producer C&C Group. Until then, Snow is interim finance chief.