🔗 Share this article

The boss of the UK's Domino's Pizza chain who suggested the United Kingdom might have reached maximum pizza demand while diversifying the company into fried chicken has been ousted after tensions with its governing body.

Leadership Shake-Up

The former CEO is leaving after a brief tenure in charge, and will be succeeded on an acting basis by the company's operations head, Frampton, while Domino's looks for a new leader.

The outgoing executive, who served at the company for a substantial period, had aimed to redirect the UK's largest pizza takeaway chain towards chicken offerings, remarking earlier this month there was not “massive growth” left in the pizza sector in the UK. He noted chicken was the fastest-growing food category in the international market.

Governance Friction

Reports indicate that there was friction between the CEO and the governance team over his strategy and business vision, although Domino's release said he was leaving “through mutual consent”.

New Brand Introduction

In the autumn, the chain introduced its Chick 'N' Dip offering – which Rennie called a “major strategic shift” for the company – and is testing it in 210 outlets in the North West region and Northern Ireland.

While the company is still going to roll it out across its nearly 1,400 branches in 2026 as intended, it views chicken products as complementary to its core pizza business.

Leadership Statement

Bull, the Domino's chair, said: “The board believes that there are a range of possibilities to boost expansion and value creation in our primary operations. We are focused on identifying the suitable leader to direct the disciplined execution of that development approach.”

Industry Difficulties

In the latest update, the pizza delivery giant, which has millions of users in the British Isles, said orders fell by 1.5 percent in the latest quarter. In the summer, it cautioned that the food delivery sector had “intensified” as it blamed reduced spending in the lead-up to the government announcement and rising wage costs for disappointing revenue and a 15% drop in interim earnings.

Rival chains are also facing challenges. Pizza Hut revealed the closing of 68 restaurants a last month, after the business behind its UK venues entered insolvency.

Wellness Efforts

Trying to keep up with customer preferences towards better nutrition, the company has rolled out lower-calorie items, such as its Thin & Crispy selection of pizzas below 400 kcals as well as vegan and gluten-free pizzas. A large pepperoni pizza 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 was formerly with the gaming group William Hill. It is understood that she prefers not to occupy the chief executive role long-term.

She said: “We have a number of active development and performance initiatives that we will be focused on executing at a rapid rate.”

Frampton noted these included further work on the company's logistics network and new item creation, and its loyalty scheme.

The pizza chain is also in need of a full-time CFO until 16 March, when a new appointee comes aboard from the drinks company C&C Group. In the meantime, Snow serves as interim finance chief.