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A chief executive of Domino's Pizza Group who indicated the United Kingdom might have reached peak pizza while expanding the company into poultry items has been replaced after tensions with its board.

Executive Transition

Andrew Rennie is exiting after only 24 months in charge, and will be replaced on an acting basis by the company's chief operating officer, Nicola Frampton, while Domino's seeks a long-term chief.

Rennie, who served at the company for more than two decades, had sought to shift Britain's largest pizza takeaway chain towards chicken offerings, remarking recently there was not “huge potential” left in the UK's pizza market. He noted poultry was the most rapidly expanding food category in the international market.

Board Disagreements

Reports indicate that there was friction between the CEO and the governance team over his approach and management style, although the company's announcement said he was stepping down “by mutual agreement”.

New Product Launch

In September, Domino's launched its poultry product line – which Rennie described as a “major strategic shift” for the organization – and is testing it in over 200 locations in the North West region and the province.

While the firm is still planning to expand it across its extensive network in the coming year as scheduled, it views fried chicken as an addition to its main pizza offerings.

Leadership Comment

Ian Bull, the Domino's chair, commented: “We are confident that there are a number of opportunities to boost expansion and performance improvement in our primary operations. We are focused on selecting the ideal CEO to oversee the careful implementation of that development approach.”

Market Challenges

Recently, the pizza delivery giant, which has 13 million customers in the UK and Ireland, said transactions dipped by one and a half percent in the third quarter. In August, it alerted that the food delivery sector had “become tougher” as it blamed economic uncertainty in the period before the government announcement and increasing labor expenses for disappointing revenue and a 15 percent decline in interim earnings.

Other pizza operators are also experiencing difficulties. Pizza Hut revealed the closure of multiple locations a month ago, after the business behind its British operations entered insolvency.

Health Efforts

Trying to keep up with market shifts towards better nutrition, the company has introduced lower-calorie products, such as its thin-crust range of bakes below 400 kcals as well as plant-based and wheat-free pizzas. A big pepperoni bake has 2,311 kcals. A large cheese and tomato pizza has 2,171, while a personal has 909 calories.

Interim Leadership

The interim chief has been with Domino's since 2021, and was formerly with the betting firm William Hill. It is believed that she does not want to occupy the top job long-term.

Frampton stated: “The company has a number of current development and efficiency programs that we will be concentrating on executing at pace.”

She added these involved further work on the company's supply chain and product development, and its rewards program.

Domino's is also without a long-term chief financial officer until the spring, when a new appointee joins from the beverage producer C&C Group. For now, Snow serves as interim finance chief.