Popeyes Ousts CMO Matt Rubin Amid Eight Quarters of Sales Declines

Popeyes has dismissed chief marketing officer Matt Rubin less than a year after his appointment, as the fried chicken chain confronts same-store sales declines in seven of the past eight quarters.

Two other marketing executives have also left the company, according to a system message seen by Nation's Restaurant News. Popeyes named Barbara Linn, a longtime Burger King marketing executive, vice president of calendar, category, execution, and field marketing.

"Our business performance, particularly sales and traffic, is not where we need to be," Peter Perdue, the brand's U.S. and Canada president, said in the message. "Despite significant effort across our organization and system, our results are falling short of what we believe Popeyes is capable of delivering."

What does the leadership change mean for operators?

Perdue, who joined Popeyes as president last year from Burger King with a mandate to improve restaurant operations, will now personally oversee marketing while the company searches for a new CMO. He said he will focus "a significant amount of my own attention" on the marketing team, agency partners, and franchisee advisors.

"We have great food, deep brand equity, and loyal guests, and I believe Popeyes should be leading the chicken category in the U.S. and Canada," Perdue said.

Operations will shift to chief operating officer Chris Padoan, mirroring an arrangement RBI has used at its other brands.

The timing signals more weak results. Parent company Restaurant Brands International reports third-quarter earnings Thursday, and the marketing shakeup suggests same-store sales have now fallen in eight of the past nine periods.

Multiple operators told NRN on Wednesday that Perdue has made progress on the operational side of the business since arriving. The marketing side is another story.

Why are franchisees frustrated?

Since the 2019 launch of the Chicken Sandwich, Popeyes has opened roughly 1,000 additional restaurants, many of them in non-core markets outside the brand's Southern home base. One operator, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the marketing has not kept pace with that geographic expansion.

"We've got to have marketing and creative that resonates outside of central cities and the South and more broadly across the country," the operator said. "There are opportunities for us to execute. But we've got to tell people about this product."

Does the RBI playbook actually work?

RBI is betting that a president-led marketing intervention can repeat results it has already produced twice within its portfolio.

At Tim Hortons in 2019, brand president Axel Schwan shifted his focus to marketing while the company searched for a marketing chief, a role that ultimately went to Hope Bagozzi. Schwan left operations to Mike Hancock, who is now brand president at Firehouse Subs.

At Burger King last year, president Tom Curtis took on more marketing responsibility during a leadership change that ended with the hire of Joel Yashinsky from Applebee's. Curtis relied on Perdue, then Burger King's COO, to run operations.

In both cases, the shift preceded accelerating sales. Burger King's same-store sales have been positive in every quarter since its marketing change.

Franchisees appear willing to give the move a chance. "It'll definitely benefit the system," one franchisee said. "In my opinion, change always brings out the good."

What changes for Popeyes in the near term is the accountability structure: one brand president directly steering creative and media strategy while a COO holds the operational line, and a CMO search underway that Perdue says must find someone who can lead marketing's contribution to long-term growth.