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A chief executive of Domino's Pizza Group who proposed the United Kingdom might have hit maximum pizza demand while diversifying the chain into poultry items has been ousted after tensions with its directors.

Leadership Change

Rennie is leaving after a brief tenure in leadership, and will be replaced on an temporary basis by the company's chief operating officer, Nicola Frampton, while Domino's seeks a permanent CEO.

Rennie, who served at the company for a substantial period, had sought to pivot Britain's largest pizza takeaway chain towards chicken offerings, remarking recently there was not “huge potential” left in the pizza sector in the UK. He observed poultry was the most rapidly expanding protein in the world.

Governance Disagreements

Sources suggest that there was tension between Rennie and the governance team over his strategy and management style, although Domino's release said he was departing “through mutual consent”.

Recent Product Launch

In the autumn, Domino's unveiled its poultry offering – which Rennie described as a “major strategic shift” for the organization – and is piloting it in 210 outlets in the North West region and the province.

While the business is still going to roll it out across its almost 1,400 stores in the coming year as planned, it views chicken products as complementary to its core pizza business.

Leadership Statement

The Domino's chair, the company chairman, said: “The board believes that there are a range of possibilities to drive further growth and performance improvement in our primary operations. We are concentrating on identifying the right chief executive to direct the systematic rollout of that growth strategy.”

Market Challenges

Recently, Domino's, which has a substantial customer base in the UK and Ireland, said transactions dipped by 1.5 percent in the latest quarter. In August, it alerted that the takeaway market had “intensified” as it blamed reduced spending in the run-up to the government announcement and increasing labor expenses for disappointing revenue and a 15% drop in interim earnings.

Competitors are also facing challenges. Pizza Hut revealed the closing of dozens of outlets a month ago, after the company behind its outlets faced financial collapse.

Wellness Initiatives

Trying to keep up with consumer trends towards better nutrition, Domino's has rolled out reduced-calorie options, such as its light base line of bakes below 400 kcal as well as plant-based and wheat-free pizzas. A big pepperoni bake has 2,311 kcals. A family cheese pizza has 2,171, while a individual has 909 kcal.

Interim Leadership

Frampton has been with Domino's since the recent past, and was formerly with the gaming group a well-known operator. It is believed that she prefers not to take on the top job permanently.

She commented: “We have a number of active growth and efficiency programs that we will be dedicated to carrying out at a rapid rate.”

She said these included additional efforts on the company's logistics network and menu innovation, and its rewards program.

The pizza chain is also without a long-term chief financial officer until the spring, when Andy Andrea starts from the Irish cider and beer maker a well-known firm. Until then, Snow acts as acting financial officer.