TORONTO — The new executive chairman of Restaurant Brands International Inc. has laid out a sweeping vision for the fast-food giant’s four chains, with plans to borrow from his winning playbook as CEO of Domino’s Pizza.
Patrick Doyle — credited with having the Midas touch after transforming Domino’s lagging sales into meteoric growth — told investors during a wide-ranging conversation on Wednesday that each of the company’s brands is positioned for momentum and growth.
But he says there is room to improve operations and grow earnings at Tim Hortons, Burger King, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs.
Doyle says the company is committed to helping franchisees become “wildly successful” if they are willing to put in the work.
He was joined by incoming CEO Joshua Kobza, a 36-year-old rising star in the company who offered his own views on positioning the company for success.
Kobza says one of his first and biggest priorities will be giving more “autonomy of decision making” to the business unit presidents.
“One of the things that I need to do is really empower the business unit leaders around the world to be as autonomous (and) fast moving as possible and be able to have full ownership of their (profits and losses) and their business,” he said.
“In practice what that means is giving them a bit more autonomy, reducing a bit the amount of centralized groups that support all the businesses and giving those resources back to the brand and just allowing a little bit more autonomy of decision making to the business unit presidents.”
The president of Tim Hortons in Canada and the United States is Axel Schwan.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 22, 2023.
