Burger King Welcomes Expertise, Capital Of Domino’s Veteran Doyle

Burger King has tilted at Wendy’s for years in an up-and-down battle for the spot as the world’s No. 2 burger chain after McDonald’s.

Now Patrick Doyle comes along to give the flagship property of Restaurant Brands International a healthy dose of expertise and capital in the hopes of making a decisive difference for the home of the Whopper. The highly successful former CEO of Domino’s and executive chairman of RBI is teaming with the new chief of the Burger King brand, Josh Kobza, to enact a multi-year plan they hope will put the chain firmly on the path to financial and franchisee success for the long term.

Doyle has got $30 million of his own money invested in the effort and a five-year contractual commitment to see it succeed. He’s also got a track record and a roadmap for navigating many of the issues he sees at Burger King because he already encountered them at Domino’s.

“I’ve done this before,” Doyle told me exclusively. “I understand the dynamics and what it takes to get a [QSR] business moving forward quickly and how to accelerate growth. Some of it is just experience. You can move quickly and confidently when you’ve done it before.”

What Doyle did before, over a decade at the helm of Domino’s, was display a strong concern for franchisee health, overhaul a weak product, break through with candid marketing messages, build a winning company culture, keep international operations growing apace, and create a groundbreaking mastery of ordering and delivery technology to catapult Domino’s to the No. 1 spot in the pizza industry worldwide.

After retiring from Domino’s in 2018, leaving the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based chain at the apex of the pizza industry, Doyle spent a few years with the giant Carlyle private-equity firm but didn’t engage in any major gambits there. Now with RBI, Doyle said, he’s drilling into “some big opportunities to create value here.”

At Burger King, Doyle said, franchisee health is his biggest focus. “They need a path to more cash flow,” he said. “There are lots of operators who are doing well. But they need a comprehensive plan for meaningful investment from [the chain] to get momentum in their business again and for them to believe we are putting their success front and center.”

Doyle said that as an investor, “My incentives are perfectly aligned with those of the franchisees. The only way this will work in the medium to long term is if they’re thriving.”

Doyle said that the chain needs better execution in its restaurants, and getting buy-in from franchisees is key — the same imperative that he used at Domino’s to create momentum that led to success. “We’re putting additional dollars in, and assuming we get franchisees to certain levels of profitability, they’ll pick it up and invest more into the brand in 2025 and 2026,” he said.

The chain recently has begun moving in a new direction by placing more of an emphasis on franchisee profitability, re-imaging its restaurants, and finally jettisoning “the King” mascot in favor of a new advertising campaign, “You Rule,” which brings to mind Burger King’s iconic “Have It Your Way” from the 1970s.

Under an initiative internally called “Reclaim the Flame,” a reference to the chain’s “flame-broiling” modus operandi, Burger King in the U.S. recently dedicated $400 million to strategic turnaround efforts that include $150 million for advertising and digital investments, restaurant remodelings, operational overhauls, and financial incentives for franchisees who successfully leverage what the company is doing for the brand.

The other partner in Burger King’s new management pairing is Kobza, who already has served as the chief operating officer, chief financial officer and chief technology officer in his 11 years with the Toronto-based fast-food operator, which also owns Tim Hortons, Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen, and Firehouse Subs.

“As an admittedly young CEO, I’m thankful to have this set-up,” Kobza told me exclusively. Doyle “is one of the most successful folks who’ve ever operated in this industry.”

Indeed, when Doyle took over as CEO in 2010, Domino’s was mired in a post-recession rut and needed rebuilding from the ground up. Doyle started with the food quality, himself starring in TV ads in which he admitted Domino’s pizza didn’t taste good.

By contrast, at Burger King, Doyle said, “The food is great, and it starts with the Whopper. It’s a terrific hamburger. And when you get people to try it, or try it again, and it’s well-executed in the restaurants, you’re going to have a customer that will stick with you.” Burger King’s new ad campaign emphasizes the Whopper.

Otherwise on the food front, Burger King has replaced its original new chicken sandwich, which was hand-breaded, with a later version that comes into the restaurant pre-breaded. “It’s easier to prepare,” Kobza said. “It’s doing well.”

At the same time, Kobza said, breakfast is “a meaningful day part” but Burger King isn’t likely to focus on boosting its breakfast menu — an area where McDonald’s, of course, excels — for a while. “Also, our whole beverage platform,” including coffee, is “on the radar. [They’re] a little further out in the calendar.”

The new ad campaign is part of what franchisees felt they needed for greater success and to encourage more of their own investment in the brand. Franchisees “felt they needed more operations support and field support,” Kobza said. “We’ve put that in place to drive sales in the right direction. We have a new field-deployment agreement, and now we’re making a lot of investments in advertising.”

Sales “have started to move in the right direction,” Kobza said, “and operator profitability is up by about 40% in the fourth quarter” over a year ago. “It’s early, but it’s starting to work.”