Dunkin’ Brands (DNKN) CEO Nigel Travis’ total pay package fell by half last year as the restaurant company saw comparable sales growth slow at its flagship brand amid intensifying breakfast wars.
Travis, CEO since 2009, got total compensation of $5.4 million in 2015, a hair above half the $10.2 million he got the year before, according to Dunkin’s annual proxy statement, filed with regulators this week. The difference owes largely to $5.7 million in stock awards he got in 2014. He got no such awards last year but at least his base salary was $1 million, a slight increase over the previous year.
Though Dunkin’ has grown tremendously on Travis’ watch, there are signs that Starbucks’ (SBUX) efforts to improve its food, and McDonald’s (MCD) move to bring back its all-day breakfast in the autumn are squeezing its Dunkin’ Donuts brand, which generates nearly 80% of sales, with Baskin-Robbins accounting for the rest: comparable sales at its U.S. Dunkin’ Donuts stores rose 1.4%, its fifth year of slowing growth by a metric that strips out the impact of recently closed or opened stores. Still, thanks to its expansion, Dunkin’ Donuts’ total systemwide U.S. sales rose 6.2%.
Dunkin’ Brands reported sales of $810.9 million last year, up 8.3% over 2014. The company opened 440 new Dunkin’ Donuts and 55 new Baskin-Robbins locations around the world.
Travis is not the only restaurant CEO to see a smaller compensation package last year: the co-CEO’s of Chipotle Mexican Grill @cmg also got about half as much.