🔗 Share this article

The head of the UK's Domino's Pizza chain who indicated the United Kingdom might have hit maximum pizza demand while broadening the company into poultry items has been ousted after disagreements with its governing body.

Leadership Shake-Up

Andrew Rennie is exiting after a brief tenure in charge, and will be succeeded on an acting basis by the company's chief operating officer, Nicola Frampton, while the pizza giant looks for a long-term chief.

Rennie, who was with the company for over 20 years, had sought to shift the UK's leading pizza takeaway chain towards fried chicken, remarking earlier this month there was not “massive growth” left in the British pizza industry. He said chicken was the quickest rising menu item in the world.

Board Tensions

Sources suggest that there was disagreement between Rennie and the governance team over his approach and direction, although the company's official statement said he was stepping down “by mutual agreement”.

New Product Launch

In September, the chain introduced its Chick 'N' Dip offering – which Rennie described as a “major strategic shift” for the organization – and is trialling it in select stores in the North West region and Northern Ireland.

While the firm is still intending to launch it across its nearly 1,400 branches next year as intended, it considers fried chicken as complementary to its core pizza business.

Board Statement

Ian Bull, the company chair, stated: “The board believes that there are a series of prospects to boost expansion and value creation in the main pizza segment. We are focused on identifying the right chief executive to direct the systematic rollout of that development approach.”

Industry Difficulties

Earlier this month, the pizza delivery giant, which has millions of users in the British Isles, said orders declined by one and a half percent in the Q3. In the summer, it alerted that the takeaway market had “grown more challenging” as it blamed weaker consumer confidence in the lead-up to the government announcement and increasing labor expenses for weaker-than-expected sales and a 15% drop in interim earnings.

Other pizza operators are also struggling. Pizza Hut revealed the closing of 68 restaurants a recently, after the firm behind its outlets fell into administration.

Health Initiatives

Responding to market shifts towards better nutrition, the company has rolled out reduced-calorie items, such as its light base selection of bakes below 400 kcal as well as plant-based and wheat-free options. A large pepperoni pizza has 2,311 kcals. A big margherita has 2,171, while a small has 909 calories.

Acting Leadership

The interim chief has been with Domino's since 2021, and had a background at the gambling company a well-known operator. It is understood that she prefers not to occupy the CEO position permanently.

She commented: “Our team has a multiple active expansion and operational projects that we will be focused on carrying out at speed.”

Frampton noted these involved ongoing development on the company's logistics network and new item creation, and its customer retention initiative.

Domino's is also lacking a permanent finance director until the spring, when Andy Andrea joins from the drinks company a well-known firm. In the meantime, Richard Snow is temporary CFO.