Name: Art D’Elia
New title: Chief operating officer, U.S. and Canada, International Dairy Queen
Previous title: Executive vice president, international, Domino’s Pizza
D’Elia’s new role includes overseeing roughly 275 Dairy Queen employees in operations, training and marketing to bolster franchisee sales and profits while maintaining and growing the DQ brand, according to a press release. He will report to president and CEO Troy Bader.
Prior to joining DQ, D’Elia spent seven years at Domino’s Pizza in various leadership roles focused on international business. He also served as chief marketing officer at the pizza chain for over two years. He served in his most recent position as executive vice president, international for over two years, resigning in October.
Before Domino’s, he spent over seven years in various marketing positions at Danone, including a period as marketing director for the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. He also spent nearly seven years at PepsiCo in marketing, corporate strategy and development roles, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“[D’Elia’s] proven record of success in the quick-service restaurant industry paired with compelling marketing leadership in consumer packaged goods will elevate our franchise business to the next level and deliver on our vision to become the world’s favorite quick-service restaurant,” Bader said in a statement.
International Dairy Queen has a system of over 7,700 restaurants across over 20 countries. The chain is actively growing its system, opening DQ Blizzard and Burgers last year in China with local franchisee CFB Group. That store is the first of the brand’s restaurants in the country to offer both hot food and treats. The operator expects to open 180 of these locations in China by 2034. It already has 1,500 DQ treat restaurants in the country.
Last year, the company hired Gregg Benvenuto as franchise development executive for the U.S. and Canada where he is responsible for market planning and franchise sales.
