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A chief executive of Domino's Pizza Group who proposed the UK might have hit pizza saturation while expanding the company into chicken products has been removed after tensions with its governing body.

Executive Change

Rennie is exiting after just two years in leadership, and will be replaced on an interim basis by the organization's chief operating officer, Nicola Frampton, while Domino's searches for a new leader.

The outgoing executive, who was with the company for a substantial period, had aimed to pivot Britain's biggest pizza food delivery firm towards fried chicken, stating recently there was not “significant expansion” left in the pizza sector in the UK. He observed poultry was the most rapidly expanding food category in the world.

Governance Friction

Sources suggest that there was disagreement between Rennie and the board over his approach and business vision, although the company's official statement said he was leaving “as a joint decision”.

Recent Product Introduction

In the autumn, Domino's launched its chicken-focused offering – which Rennie called a “major strategic shift” for the company – and is testing it in 210 outlets in the north-west of England and the province.

While the firm is still planning to expand it across its almost 1,400 stores in the coming year as intended, it views chicken products as a supplement for its main pizza offerings.

Board Statement

Bull, the company chairman, said: “The board believes that there are a number of opportunities to boost expansion and performance improvement in our primary operations. We are focused on finding the right chief executive to direct the careful implementation of that expansion plan.”

Market Difficulties

Earlier this month, the pizza delivery giant, which has 13 million customers in the UK and Ireland, said transactions dipped by 1.5 percent in the Q3. In August, it alerted that the food delivery sector had “intensified” as it attributed economic uncertainty in the lead-up to the budget and increasing labor expenses for below-target performance and a 15% drop in six-month income.

Other pizza operators are also experiencing difficulties. Another major chain announced the closing of 68 restaurants a recently, after the company behind its outlets entered insolvency.

Health Efforts

Adapting to market shifts towards better nutrition, Domino's has launched reduced-calorie options, such as its light base range of pizzas below 400 kcals as well as plant-based and gluten-free pizzas. A large pepperoni pizza has over 2,300 kcal. A large cheese and tomato pizza has 2,171 kcal, while a small has under 1,000 calories.

Interim Leadership

Frampton has been with the company since the recent past, and was formerly with the gaming group William Hill. It is understood that she prefers not to assume the chief executive role permanently.

She commented: “We have a several current growth and operational projects that we will be concentrating on carrying out at speed.”

She said these involved further work on the organization's procurement system and product development, and its customer retention initiative.

Domino's is also lacking a permanent CFO until March 16, when Andy Andrea joins from the beverage producer a well-known firm. For now, Snow acts as interim finance chief.