Troubled franchisor Retail Food Group's longest standing director has resigned and will take on a dedicated role consulting to the owner of the Gloria Jeans, Michel's Patisserie and Brumby's brands instead.
RFG announced Jessica Buchanan's resignation on Thursday afternoon, and said the move was in order to "facilitate her transition to a dedicated operational consulting role".
RFG executive chairman Peter George said Ms Buchanan's new role would "allow her to directly drive the execution and delivery of the many strategic initiatives she has played a key role in formulating".
Ms Buchanan has been on the RFG board since 2012 and has also been consulting to the company through her marketing firms Brands R People 2 and Consumerology for several years.
She has billed RFG close to $276,800 in consultations fees since 2014, annual reports show.
The Age and Sydney Morning Herald last week revealed that Ms Buchanan raised conflict of interest concerns among some senior RFG managers when she started her own private food brand, called Naytiv, and tried to have it sold into RFG's struggling franchise networks.
RFG's other board members knocked back the proposal in March this year.
Ms Buchanan was one of only two directors to survive a boardroom and management clear-out that has occurred since late 2017, when The Age and The Herald revealed that many RFG franchisees were struggling to survive.
Since those reports raised questions about the sustainability of the company's business model, RFG's share price has dived from $4.40 to 20¢, and it is now trying to negotiate a bail-out deal to pay down its $260 million debt.
Mr George said Ms Buchanan was "widely recognised" for her expertise in consumer marketing and that product innovation would be critical to the "revitalisation of RFG’s franchisee network which will, in turn, underpin the operational turnaround of RFG”.
The resignation reduces the number of directors on RFG's board from four to three.