The Queensland company behind Gloria Jean's, Donut King and Pizza Capers says sales growth has been slowing in recent weeks as the retail environment becomes "increasingly challenging and dynamic".
Retail Food Group also on Thursday promoted head of retail Matthew Marshall to the role of CEO, effective July 1. Peter George will continue as executive chairman for two more years as part of the succession process.
The company said while sales since July 1 were up 8.5 per cent to $478 million, in the past 21 weeks sales growth has moderated to just 2.2 per cent.
"The impact on trading conditions of successive interest rate hikes, together with general inflationary pressures, has become more apparent in H2," the company said.
"We expect these factors will continue to influence the domestic trading environment for the forseeable future."
Retail Food Group's other brands are Brumby's Baker, Michel's Patisserie, Crust pizza, Cafe2U and The Coffee Guy, as well as a supplier of coffee products under the Di Bella brand.
Mr Marshall will be paid a fixed salary of $600,000, including superannuation, and could earn up a maximum of another $750,000 in long-term and short-term bonuses.
RFG said he had led the company's retail strategy through the COVID-19 pandemic and had extensive knowledge of all aspects of company operations.
In December, Retail Food Group agreed to pay $13 million to settle allegations in the Federal Court that it had misled certain franchisees when it sold them loss-making stores from 2015 to 2019.
Mr George said with the resolution of those "legacy regulatory issues" and a stronger balance sheet, the heavy lifting of RFG's turnaround had been accomplished and the company was in a firm position under Mr Marshall to pursue growth opportunities.
At 1.50pm, RFG shares were up four per cent to 5.2c.
