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A chief executive of Domino's Pizza Group who indicated the United Kingdom might have reached pizza saturation while expanding the franchise into fried chicken has been ousted after conflicts with its board.

Leadership Change

Andrew Rennie is exiting after just two years in charge, and will be succeeded on an interim basis by the company's operations head, Frampton, while the pizza giant seeks a long-term chief.

Rennie, who was with the company for more than two decades, had aimed to shift Britain's leading pizza takeaway chain towards chicken offerings, remarking recently there was not “significant expansion” left in the UK's pizza market. He noted chicken was the fastest-growing food category in the world.

Board Tensions

Reports indicate that there was tension between Rennie and the directors over his strategy and management style, although Domino's official statement said he was leaving “as a joint decision”.

New Product Introduction

In September, Domino's launched its Chick 'N' Dip product line – which the former chief called a “bold new chapter” for the group – and is trialling it in over 200 locations in the north-west of England and the province.

While the firm is still intending to launch it across its nearly 1,400 branches in the coming year as planned, it views fried chicken as complementary to its main pizza offerings.

Leadership Comment

The Domino's chair, the company chairman, commented: “Directors think that there are a range of possibilities to drive further growth and performance improvement in the main pizza segment. We are concentrating on finding the suitable leader to lead the disciplined execution of that growth strategy.”

Industry Challenges

Earlier this month, Domino's, which has a substantial customer base in the British Isles, said transactions dipped by 1.5 percent in the latest quarter. In August, it alerted that the food delivery sector had “intensified” as it blamed economic uncertainty in the period before the budget and rising wage costs for disappointing revenue and a significant fall in interim earnings.

Competitors are also experiencing difficulties. Another major chain revealed the shutting of dozens of outlets a month ago, after the firm behind its outlets faced financial collapse.

Health Efforts

Trying to keep up with consumer trends towards balanced diets, the company has introduced light items, such as its thin-crust selection of pizzas below 400 kcals as well as vegan and allergy-friendly pizzas. A family-sized pepperoni has over 2,300 kcal. A family cheese pizza has 2,171 kcal, while a small has 909 kcal.

Acting Leadership

Nicola Frampton has been with the company since 2021, and had a background at the betting firm a well-known operator. It is believed that she is not seeking to take on the chief executive role on a full-time basis.

She said: “Our team has a multiple ongoing development and operational projects that we will be focused on carrying out at a rapid rate.”

She said these included further work on the company's logistics network and menu innovation, and its customer retention initiative.

Domino's is also lacking a long-term finance director until 16 March, when Andy Andrea comes aboard from the drinks company a well-known firm. In the meantime, Richard Snow is interim finance chief.