RBI’s Patrick Doyle Aims to Win With Food and Franchisee Success

Keynote speaker Patrick Doyle packed a lot of industry insight and wisdom into a lively and entertaining address that was at times sprinkled with humor to kick off the Restaurant Finance & Development Conference’s first day, November 13.

But it was the Restaurant Brands International executive chair’s powerful reminder about the role and responsibility of franchisors and franchisees that likely resonated the most with the audience at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

“Our product is an economic model. As the franchisor, what we provide is a great economic opportunity for franchisees both in the U.S., Canada and around the world, and that has to be where we spend 99 percent of our time; improving that economic model for the franchisees,” Doyle said during a 45-minute question and answer session with Franchise Times President and Restaurant Finance Monitor Publisher John Hamburger.

Doyle’s career success in the restaurant and finance industries is well established. Prior to joining RBI in November 2022, he served as an executive partner of the Carlyle Group, a global diversified investment firm, focused on the consumer sector. He's perhaps best known for his time at Domino's Pizza, where he was CEO from 2010 to 2018 after having served as president from 2007 to 2010, as executive vice president of Domino’s Team USA from 2004 to 2007 and as executive vice president of Domino’s Pizza International from 1999 to 2004.

In its most recent earnings report, RBI reported systemwide Q3 year-over-year sales growth of 10.9 percent, up $1.1 billion from 2022, and double-digit, year-over-year growth in home market franchisee profitability. It has more than 30,000 restaurants across four brands.

Doyle had earned instant credibility when he joined the umbrella company for Burger King, Tim Hortons, Popeyes and Firehouse Subs, by investing $30 million of his own money in the Toronto, Canada-based franchisor.

His message for conference attendees was simple and direct—the franchisees are the franchisor’s customers and it is the franchisee’s success that is critical to the brand’s success.

“Franchisees are the ones that are in the local market, connecting with your customers, hiring great people, training great people and delivering great service, and making great food,” Doyle said.

Doyle covered a lot of ground in his Q&A with Hamburger. Some of the highlights included: 

• On helping turn around Domino’s: “We knew we had a big perception problem with the quality of our pizza and people’s perception around the taste of the pizza. The best way to tell people about the changes is just to be honest. And, so we went out and said, you know, our pizza’s pretty bad. Sorry about that. We're going to fix it.”

• On why he committed $30 million of his own money to investing in RBI: “I started looking at the business and the different brands and just got very, very excited about what can be done. And, I will tell you, a year later I am even more excited than when I was first looking at it.”

• On Burger King's struggles in the U.S., as a third large franchisee filed bankruptcy in October: Franchisees operated with too much risk, which was amplified during the pandemic. Doyle, a former banker, said he learned that “great businesses are built with risk, and if you have zero risks, then you’re not generating great returns, you’re buying bonds or buying treasuries.” Burger King, though, "had too many risks at one time,” said Doyle as he described three types of risks—fundamental business risks, financial risks and structural or external risks.

Burger King, he continued, was “not operating at the level it needed to be operating at" before the pandemic. "A lot of people were going after it. There were operators who were doing well. Some were struggling more." Many franchisees, he said, had leverage of five to six times cash flow.

Related: Why RBI? Patrick Doyle Says It’s All About the Food

To help address multiple issues in the brand, BK launched "Reclaim the Flame" last fall. The $400 million program includes investments in marketing and remodels, and is aimed at growing sales and driving operator profitability. The franchise system is “doing much better,” Doyle said, other executives have indicated that franchisee profitability is up this year.

• On Tim Hortons and the issues of growing the brand outside of Canada: “I think the market just didn't quite understand Tims. It is a powerhouse in Canada, and there is no brand in the restaurant industry more beloved in its home market than Tims."

• On Popeyes: “It’s booming outside of the U.S. We've got to figure out how to make it easier for franchisees to run it and to get better customer service to our customers.”

• On international franchise expansion: “I always start from, 95 percent of the people in the world live outside of the U.S., so eventually, the vast, vast, vast majority of your restaurants, if you've got a great restaurant business, you should be outside of the U.S.”

• On multi-unit, multi-brand franchisees: “It’s clearly a little bit harder, but if you're great at hiring terrific people, motivating them by putting the right incentive plans in place, it can work.”

• On what makes a successful franchisee: “People use the term owner-operator interchangeably with franchisees, and I think where people have gotten in trouble is when they're just owners. You have to be both and the numbers are going to tell you whether somebody is staying connected to their restaurants or not.”

• On franchising: “Sometimes I think people get lost in spreadsheets, and forget that at the end of the day it's about people. It's about great food. It's about terrific service.”

The Restaurant Finance & Development Conference, presented by the Restaurant Finance Monitor, Franchise Times and Food On Demand, runs Monday, November 13, through Wednesday, November 15, at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.