“There is no need to add change where it isn’t required,” he said. There are no plans to replace his role at Burger King and all regional presidents will continue to report to Cil directly. One thing to note: Cil said the leadership changes wouldn’t affect how the three brands are being run today. Those “key areas” he was referencing revolved around operations, marketing, restaurant development, and franchise relations. He said stepping into the CEO position at RBI would allow him “to more formally focus on these key areas to drive continued long-term growth at Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeyes.” He also dropped an M&A carrot, saying, “importantly, it also allows Dan to focus even more on his particular strengths, including capital allocation and key strategic decisions, such as the assessment of potential M&A opportunities.” “What we said in the past is that we look at companies and brands that are iconic brands that we can grow significantly for the long run,” he said.Ĭil served as the president of Burger King since 2014. Schwartz was questioned once more toward the end of the call but didn’t waver, bringing the word “opportunistic” up again. We’ve proven in the past, we can do a number of things and it’s something that we’re going to continue to monitor into the future.” And there’s no set formula, but we like to be opportunistic and we’re always looking at valuable uses of our capital. We’ve been very disciplined with respect to our capital allocation, having a good balance of investing back in the business, returning capital to shareholders both through dividends and share repurchases.

He added later: “We’ve always been opportunistic when it comes to the M&A. “I think, we’ve proven historically, we’ve been very disciplined and balanced when it comes to capital allocation, whether it be increasing our dividend or repurchasing shares or acquiring additional brands that we’ve very successfully done in the past and we’ll continue to operate with this balanced approach of capital allocation,” Schwartz said. “As you begin your new role, is there anything that leads you to believe RBI does not have the capacity for fourth brand?” an investor asked. RBI wasn’t asked about that specific possibility and didn’t come close to hinting at any individual deal. The news surged the struggling pizza chain’s stock close to 8 percent at close. A report surfaced Wednesday, per a Deal reporter, that Papa John’s was mulling over selling to RBI. Schwartz was asked to elaborate on his additional M&A responsibilites during the call. RBI was formed, in name, when Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway was brought into the fold following an $11 billion takeover of Tim Hortons in 2014. RBI has also more than doubled Burger King’s adjusted EBITDA from $454 million back in 2011 to about $950 million on a trailing 12-month basis as of Q3 2018.Īny deal RBI might make from here on will be industry shaking, like its 2017 $1.8 billion purchase of Popeyes. Its net restaurant growth accelerated from roughly 170 restaurants per year to more than 1,000 per year, bringing the total to 17,796. To rewind, on the latter note, 3G Capital’s success since taking control of Burger King for $1.56 billion nine years ago is significant.īurger King’s systemwide sales have increased to more than $20 billion. They are longer-term directional plays: key strategic decisions, capital allocation, and the assessment of M&A opportunities. The change will give him a chance to focus on some areas that didn't quite fit into the day-to-day grind. One is the announcement that Schwartz will take on additional responsibilities as a partner at 3G Capital. There were a few developments and targets that prompted the change, RBI outlined in the call. “I’m going to still be deeply, deeply involved in the business going forward,” he said. For instance, Schwartz said, he plans to “be way more active” than a typical chair. Why did RBI shake up its leadership structure? Not for the typical reasons you might see a company of this size rearrange its C-suite. Chief technology and development officer, Josh Kobza, also shifted into the company’s chief operating officer post. Jose Cil, an 18-year Burger King veteran, was promoted to Schwartz's former spot, effective immediately. Earlier in the day, Restaurant Brands International, the parent company of Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeyes announced that Schwartz left his position to take the role of chairman and co-chairman of the company’s board of directors.

Daniel Schwartz has no plans to become the CEO of another company, he said Wednesday during a special conference call.

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