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The head of Domino's Pizza Group who proposed the United Kingdom might have reached pizza saturation while expanding the company into fried chicken has been replaced after tensions with its board.

Executive Transition

Andrew Rennie is leaving after only 24 months in the top role, and will be succeeded on an acting basis by the company's operations head, Frampton, while Domino's seeks a permanent CEO.

Rennie, who worked for Domino's for over 20 years, had aimed to shift the UK's leading pizza food delivery firm towards poultry-based products, commenting in a recent interview there was not “significant expansion” left in the British pizza industry. He said chicken was the quickest rising food category in the international market.

Board Tensions

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

Recent Product Launch

In September, the chain introduced its chicken-focused offering – which Rennie described as a “significant new phase” for the organization – and is piloting it in select stores in the north-west of England and Northern Ireland.

While the company is still planning to expand it across its nearly 1,400 branches in the coming year as planned, it views fried chicken as an addition to its main pizza offerings.

Board Comment

Ian Bull, the company chairman, said: “We are confident that there are a range of possibilities to enhance value and value creation in the main pizza segment. We are concentrating on selecting the ideal CEO to direct the disciplined execution of that expansion plan.”

Industry Difficulties

Earlier this month, Domino's, which has millions of users in the British Isles, said transactions dipped by 1.5 percent in the third quarter. In August, it cautioned that the quick-service industry had “grown more challenging” as it blamed reduced spending in the run-up to the budget and rising wage costs for disappointing revenue and a significant fall in half-year profits.

Competitors are also experiencing difficulties. Pizza Hut announced the shutting of 68 restaurants a recently, after the company behind its British operations faced financial collapse.

Health Initiatives

Responding to market shifts towards balanced diets, Domino's has rolled out reduced-calorie products, such as its light base line of bakes below 400 calories as well as plant-based and gluten-free options. A large pepperoni pizza has 2,311 calories. A big margherita has over 2,100, while a small has under 1,000 calories.

Acting Management

Frampton has been with Domino's since the recent past, and had a background at the betting firm a well-known operator. It is understood that she prefers not to assume the chief executive role on a full-time basis.

She commented: “Our team has a several current development and efficiency programs that we will be focused on executing at speed.”

She added these included additional efforts on the company's supply chain and product development, and its loyalty scheme.

Domino's is also lacking a permanent chief financial officer until 16 March, when a new appointee starts from the drinks company C&C Group. In the meantime, Snow serves as temporary CFO.