Tim Hortons...

History
1964-89:

The chain's first store opened on May 17, 1964, in Hamilton, Ontario under the name "Tim Horton Donuts"; the name was later abbreviated to "Tim Horton's" and then changed to "Tim Hortons" without the possessive apostrophe. The business was founded by Miles G."Tim" Horton, who played in the National Hockey League from 1949 until his death in a traffic collision in 1974. Horton had an initial venture in hamburger restaurants.

Soon after Horton opened the store, he met Ron Joyce, a former Hamilton police constable. In 1965, Joyce took over the fledgling Tim Horton Donut Shop on Ottawa Street North in Hamilton. By 1967, after he had opened up two more stores, he and Tim Horton became full partners in the business. Upon Horton's death in an auto crash in 1974, Joyce bought out the Horton family's shares for $1 million and took over as sole owner of the existing chain of forty stores. Joyce expanded the chain quickly and aggressively in geography and in product selection. The 500th store opened in 1991.

Ron Joyce's aggressive expansion of the Tim Hortons business resulted in major changes to the Canadian coffee and doughnut restaurant market. Many independent doughnut shops and small chains were driven out of business, while Canada's per-capita ratio of doughnut shops surpassed those of all other countries.

1992-95: Merger with Wendy's


In 1992, the owner of all Tim Hortons and Wendy's Restaurants in Prince Edward Island, Daniel P. Murphy, decided to open new franchise outlets for both brands in the same building in the town of Montague. Murphy invited Joyce and Wendy's chairman Dave Thomas to the grand opening of the "combo store", where the two executives met for the first time and immediately established a rapport. Murphy's success with combining coffee and doughnuts with Wendy's fast food led to August 8, 1995 acquisition of and merger with TDL Group by Wendy's International, Inc., an American company. Joyce became the largest shareholder in Wendy's, even surpassing Thomas. TDL Group continued to operate as a separate subsidiary from its head office in Oakville, Ontario, although Joyce eventually retired from active management to pursue other interests.

The sale was widely commented on in the media. In 1995, the Toronto Star had a story reflecting on Tim Hortons "selling out" to Wendy's with "the spectacle of another great Canadian icon, one more priceless chocolate coconut cream-filled dutchie glazed cruller Timbit of our precious heritage, gone to Yankee burgerfat (rounding) out the menus of the two chains by blending Tim Hortons morning meals and snacks with the strength enjoyed by Wendy's in lunches and dinners; burp; and nobody around to pass the Maalox?"

It's a great Canadian institution and coffee , I've been to Hamilton and their Keele Street outlet
You are welcome to drop one down my chimney
I have a special tool designed by God to catch ring donuts

Happy holidays to the lucky country from the warm one

Most posters outside of North America are clueless.

^well, Bb said that Tim Hortons will be established in PI, so *maybe* I'll try it, if it's somewhere nearby. I won't scour the malls in Manila just for a coffee & donut. Too many Dunkin Donuts around (but I don't like them - too sweet).

@bb - why did they remove the apostrophe fron Horton's?

Tim Hortons coffee is awful. Bitter, acidic, over roasted piss in my opinion.

There is one outlet in Dubai.

Not a fan myself...

2002-06: Regaining independence

Tim Hortons franchises spread rapidly and eventually overtook McDonald's as Canada's largest food service operator. The company opened twice as many Canadian outlets as McDonald's by 2005, and system-wide sales also surpassed those of McDonald's Canadian operations as of 2002. The chain accounted for 22.6% of all fast food industry revenues in Canada in 2005.

Under pressure from major investors Peter May and Nelson Peltz, in late 2005, Wendy's announced it would sell between 15% and 18% of the Tim Hortons operations in an initial public offering, which was completed on March 24, 2006, and subsequently said it would spin off to shareholders its remaining interest by the end of 2006. Wendy's cited increased competition between the two chains and Tim Hortons' increasing self-sufficiency as reasons for its decision, but the company had been under shareholder pressure to make such a move because of the strength and profitability of the Tim Hortons brand. Peltz in 2008 acquired Wendy's after pressuring them initially to spin off Tim Hortons.

Shares of the company began trading on March 24, 2006, with an initial public offering of C$27 per share, raising over $700 million in the first day of trading. On September 24, 2006, Wendy's spun off the rest of its shares in Tim Hortons, by distributing the remaining 82% to its shareholders. On the same day, Tim Hortons was added to Canada's benchmark stock-market indicator, the S&P/TSX Composite Index, and to the S&P/TSX 60. Despite maintaining its operational headquarters in Oakville, the spun-off holding company, Tim Hortons Inc., was initially incorporated in Delaware.

As of March 2006, Tim Hortons commanded 76% of the Canadian market for baked goods (based on the number of customers served) and held 62% of the Canadian coffee market (compared to Starbucks, in the number two position, at 7%).

The line-ups for the drive-thrus on a cold Canadian morning are famous, or infamous, depending on your take...But we Canucks are a patient lot, though I couldn't fathom staying in the half-hour lineups at 4:30 am in Fort McMurray, oil country, where it's common to get yer 40 below zero and coffee served all in the same hand...The line-ups would spill right out into the major thoroughfares...Often they have to redesign the access and intersections to make things work...

Love 'em, or hate 'em, it's up to you...But I know that every cup of plain coffee I've had at Starbucks is the worst possible brew on the planet...Having been a bartender, I know that the taste of the shit stuff can so easily be concealed with "the mix"...So once you add whipped cream and handcuffs, it begins to look a lot nicer...Oh, and stilettos, Katie...With little black lace thingies...Heh...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by crepitas

There is one outlet in Dubai.

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Only one?...I've a Thai friend who keeps teasing me with Tim Hortons pics...

For Katie...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by katie23

why did they remove the apostrophe fron Horton's?

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This is becoming a trend in the English language as well. Even in England, the apostrophe keeps disappearing from possessive brand names, Boots Chemists being the best example (named for a man named "Boot").

One of the problems is that the placement of the apostrophe is difficult even for native speakers, particularly if the name ends in an "S" or is also a plural (like Meyers's Whiskey). Given that there are usually other contextual clues to show that the word is a possessive, in informal use the apostrophe is often left out. It's still required for formal uses, but again you're likely to get it wrong in a complex case such as when your discussing whether a particular dog belongs to the Jones family.

"Boots" is a good example. Again, it was originally "Boot's" (belonging to Boot) but it's pronounced identically to "Boots" (a pair of rubber shoes). People often thought that the family name was "Boots" and since you usually don't double pronounce the "S", it was often spelled "Boots'" or "Boots's" in error, which often led to real howlers like "Bootses'"...

And:

The company had removed the apostrophe after signs using the apostrophe were considered to be breaking the language sign laws of the Province of Quebec in 1993. The removal of the apostrophe allowed the company to have one common sign image across Canada.

^ it's amazing what you can learn from a Donut thread.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by wasabi

^ it's amazing what you can learn from a Donut thread.

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Holy or Malcolm in the Middle , where is bye the way stick at Hortons in Dubai?

Back in the 80ies, I lived near the busiest Tim Hortons in Canada. It was in Scarboro just off Hwy 401. Sometimes I would head out to my boat at 3am or so, and stop for a Thermos of coffee and a few muffins.

The parking area would always be full of big trucks and the place would be buzzin. (There's a hell of a lot of truck traffic on Hwy 401) I don't remember ever seeing that place not busy any time of the day or night. Must have been a goldmine.

I actually considered a Tim Horton franchise in BC but never closed the deal, mainly because I did not really like the locations available at the time. Another excuse for never getting rich.....:)

2014: Merger with Burger King

On August 24, 2014, US fast food chain Burger King announced that it was in negotiations to merge with Tim Hortons Inc; the proposed $18 billion merger would involve a tax inversion into Canada, with a new holding company majority-owned by 3G Capital, and the remaining shares in the company held by current Burger King and Tim Hortons shareholders. A Tim Hortons representative stated that the proposed merger would allow Tim Hortons to leverage Burger King's resources for international growth; the two chains would retain separate operations post-merger. News of the proposal caused Tim Hortons' shares to increase in value by 28 percent.

On August 25, 2014, Burger King officially confirmed its intent to acquire Tim Hortons Inc. in a deal totalling CDN$12.5 billion (US$11.4 billion). 3G Capital offered to purchase the company at $65.50 per-share, with existing shareholders receiving $65.50 in cash and 0.8025 shares in the new holding company: per-share—all-cash ($88.50) and all-shares (3.0879) options were also made available. The agreement planned to result in 3G Capital (which held a 71% majority stake in Burger King) holding a 51% majority stake in the new company, Tim Hortons' existing shareholders owning 22%, and Burger King's owning 27% with the new entity based in Oakville and listed on both the TSX and New York Stock Exchange. Per the agreement, Burger King CEO Daniel Schwartz became CEO of the company, with existing Tim Hortons CEO Marc Caira becoming vice-chairman and director; Burger King itself still operated out of its existing headquarters in Miami. It was announced the deal would form the third-largest fast food restaurant company in the world. On October 28, 2014, the deal was approved by the Competition Bureau of Canada, but had yet to be approved by Industry Canada. The Bureau ruled that the deal was "unlikely to result in a substantial lessening or prevention of competition."

Former CEO Marc Caira reassured the integrity of Tim Hortons following the purchase, stating that the acquisition would "enable us to move more quickly and efficiently to bring Tim Hortons iconic Canadian brand to a new global customer base." On October 30, 2014, various media covered a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives study which suggested that Burger King’s proposed takeover of Tim Hortons is "likely to have overwhelmingly negative consequences for Canadians."[41][42] This study analysed Burger King's private equity owner, 3G Capital, past takeovers of Burger King, Heinz, and Anheuser-Busch and declared that "it has a 30-year history of aggressive cost cutting, which could hurt Tim Hortons employees, small-businesspeople, Canadian taxpayers, and consumers."

The deal was approved by Minister of Industry James Moore (of the governing Conservative Party of Canada) on December 4, 2014: The two companies agreed to Moore's conditions, requiring that the Burger King and Tim Hortons chains retain separate operations and not combine locations, maintain "significant employment levels" at the Oakville headquarters, and ensure that Canadians make up at least 30% of Tim Hortons' board of directors. Tim Hortons shareholders approved the merger on December 9, 2014; the two chains merged under the new parent company Restaurant Brands International (RBI), which began trading on December 15, 2014. According to CBC News, "how the government will enforce [Moore's] conditions is unclear."

Tim Hortons---- licence to print money.

Coffee and beverages


Tim Hortons' first stores offered only two products – coffee and doughnuts. Aside from its coffee, tea, hot chocolate, Hortons now serves other types of drinks as well, and in the mid-1990s the chain moved into specialty and premium items such as flavored cappuccino, iced cappuccino, and iced coffee.

Originally featuring Pepsi products via fountain machines, the retailer changed in the mid-1990s to Coca-Cola products. For a time they offered bottled and canned Coca-Cola products, but switched back to bottled and canned Pepsi products in 2007. PepsiCo replaced the Coca-Cola products on United States restaurants in 2011, disappointing similar longtime PepsiCo rival Dunkin' Donuts. Dunkin' Donuts moved to Coca-Cola products only for United States restaurants in April 2012 because of this.

Despite an expansion in their food offerings around 2009, the brand remained heavily dependent on coffee sales. In 2009, it was reported that 60% of their sales occur in the morning, and of that more than 50% is coffee. The coffee served is a blend of 100% arabica beans. The "original blend" is a medium, balanced roast that is the most popular served coffee in Canada. The chain has an "always fresh" policy where coffee is served within 20 minutes of brewing.

In November 2011, the company announced that they would be adding espresso machines in 1,000 of their locations, later that month. Lattes were added to Ontario stores on November 14, 2011. In February 2012, they offered a new beverage, White Hot Chocolate, in select branches.[citation needed] On April 16, 2012, the brand launched frozen lemonade, in two flavours: original and raspberry. In May 2014, they first offered frozen green tea.[citation needed] On August 15, 2014, the company added a dark roast coffee blend as an alternative. In the summer of 2015, they introduced a frozen drink called Creamy Chocolate Chill which was essentially a chocolate milkshake topped with chocolate whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate syrup. In addition to the Creamy Chocolate Chill, they also launched a Maple Chill, a maple milkshake topped with regular whipped cream and sprinkled with maple flakes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by BaitongBoy

Tim Hortons' first stores offered only two products – coffee and doughnuts.

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It was, and still is a "cop magnet" chain...It's the doughnuts that gets 'em...Heh...

Sometimes the police cars are lined up outside while the barstards scarf down the doughnuts inside...

What is it with cops and doughnuts?...Mind you, I've binged on the fookers, too...And they're not expensive...

What do the Thai coppers eat?...Or police all over the world...

Nothing like a good healthy meal of coffee and doughnuts...Argh!...

^I think the Flip cops have coffee and pan de sal (from Spanish, bread of salt). Pan de sal is commonly seen in small mom&pop bakeries, and is considered as the 'poor man's bread'. If the bread doesn't have any filling, it's sometimes dunked in the coffee. Weird, I know. ;)

Thanks for the clarification about the apostrophes. As to the stilettos.. heh.. :D

^ Pics would be good, Katie...I'd show you mine, but I haven't any...A switchblade, but no stilettos...

Canadian cultural fixture


Tim Hortons is popularly known as "Timmy's" or even "Timmies". The ubiquity of Tim Hortons, through the wide expansion of its outlets, makes it a prominent feature of Canadian life; Canadians eat more doughnuts per capita and have more doughnut outlets per capita than any other nation. Tim Hortons' prevalence in the coffee and doughnut market has led to its branding as a Canadian cultural icon. The media routinely refer to its iconic status, despite this being a relatively recent development; there were only a few outlets before the chain's expansion in the late 1990s and 2000s. A series of Tim's television commercials promotes this idea by showing vignettes of Canadians abroad and their homesickness for Tim Hortons. Noted Canadian author Pierre Berton once wrote: "In so many ways the story of Tim Hortons is the essential Canadian story. It is a story of success and tragedy, of big dreams and small towns, of old-fashioned values and tough-fisted business, of hard work and of hockey."