Smith and Brinker's efforts were initially effective,but, after their respective departures, Pillsbury relaxed or discarded many of their changes and scaled back on construction of new locations. These actions stalled corporate growth and sales declined again, eventually resulting in a damaging fiscal slump for Burger King and Pillsbury.Poor operation and ineffectual leadership continued to bog down the company for many years.Pillsbury was acquired by the British entertainment conglomerate Grand Metropolitan in 1989.